What A day It Has Been

it is raining. it is 9:00 a.m. on friday morning in the holy city of zefat. i wanted to blog my day for you yesterday, but i ended up with sahar, my grandson, for a few hours until almost midnite. i answered some emails, watched a little t.v, had some cottage cheese, and finally konked off to dreamland.

i actually remembered a dream yesterday. i should have written down all of the details for my homeopath. it's been ages since i dreamed or at least, remembered one. i tend to dream in color. my last couple of dreams have been about people dying or being taken to the hospital. how cheery!

i went to the seniors' day center yesterday about 10:30 a.m. i had wanted to get there a bit earlier, but i 'futzed' around the house for awhile. i washed up all of the dishes and pots that had been sitting in the sink since the previous shabbat. i then took a very long hot shower. it is freezing in my house and i needed to defrost my feet.

i searched high and low for enough change to take the bus but i couldn't come up with the 4.40 shekel fare. i called a taxi and grabbed the last 200 shekel bill that i had saved to pay a bill. of course, at that time in the morning, no one, including the driver, could make change. so we drove around town until luckily, some kiosk person gave me small bills.

everyone at the center was so very glad to see me. i got there just in time for a rosh chodesh party. i went right into action. i hugged everyone and grabbed a tambourine and started to dance. i met an old acquaintance of my mom's. we hugged and kissed for awhile. it was her first day at the center. she is a most elegant and gracious lady from france. she's had her memoirs from ww11 published. later on, i was left alone with the group for a couple of hours, while the big wigs had a conference. everyone was pretty tired from the party so it was pretty much, an easy gig.

i had made up with my new male 'friend' to meet up for lunch. he definately, aims to please. i could have been wined and dined at any of the various locations of my choice. did i want meat, journey, ambiance, history, snow, or lake kinneret?. so many decisions, so little time!

i hate to travel and i have fear of car rides. i practically, never leave zefat. going to town for me, is an event. i am, just, not used to being around men for any given amount of time. i admit that i do live a semi cloistered life but i am not a nun. having said that, i will continue.

i opted for a restaurant in rosh pina, which has a good kashrut certificate and is only about 15 minutes away from zefat. my kids eat there all the time. i had wanted to check it out for awhile. it is in the middle of a maul. it is not gourmet but it does have a varied menu and a bar. we had our choice of places to sit. did we want a small round table in the middle? or perhaps, we wanted to sit on velvetine couches in the middle? but what about the small square tables against the windows? did we want to sit outside on wicker chairs? after all, they did have huge kerosine heaters.

i let the man choose the seating. after all, i had chosen the restaurant, which was obviously, not up to his standard of bon vivant. actually, he had chosen this restaurant. i had made two suggestions. the other was a dairy restaurant in amarim, a little further away than rosh pina. we finally, sat next to the window and stared at the wicker chairs and outside patio area. the smells of the food were beginning to nauseate me. we both decided to go outside. we got up and made our move to the patio. we then asked the waiter to light the heater. after a few moments, and a whiskey, we asked the waiter to turn off the heater.


i was offered wine. i never drink in the middle of the day. wine also, gives me a headache. i already had a searing pain in my right eye and along the side of my face. i was not a happy camper. neuralgia is a bitch! i ordered coffee. i didn't have my glasses so i couldn't read the menu. i then decided that i wanted a dessert type coffee. after all, when do i get out? i decided on an irsh coffee. my gentleman caller, also decided on one. the young waiter was clueless. he never heard of such a thing. he had already put in the order for a regular coffee.

my friend had to enter the restaurant and speak to the woman at the bar. they were all out of irish cream so he brought back a shot of whiskey. we shared it. half went into my coffee. after that, i didn't feel any pain. we finally decided on the menu. we were going to share a platter of fish and chips and an order of shashuka. it's basically, a spicy tomato sauce with cooked veggies and poached eggs. this one came with eggplant. it tasted like moussaka without the meat.

the shashuka was pretty tastey, but the eggs were rubbery. i thought that i was eating cheese. the fish was also tastey but it didn't resemble battered fried fish at all. it was very much to my liking. we didn't touch the salads. i had a nice whole wheat roll. i've decided to cool it with the strict south beach diet for awhile. my last binge cost me another 10 pounds. i am now allowing myself to eat aything that i want as long as i stay away from chocolate spread and cookies. i haven't had any in 3 days now.

i was offered dessert but i declined. i was quite satiated. we left and went back to his old house to visit his daughter and have some tea. he gave me a tour of his recently built tzimmers. it was so great being back there. i have such happy memories of when we used to hang out there. that is, with my boyfriend and this man's wife. this was my life just before i became a mom and grandmom.

he offered to drive me home. i think i should have just jumped in a cab but it was raining rather hard. he showed me a house in my neighborhood that he had designed. i wanted to say goodnight. he wanted to come in for coffee. my house is cold, and the dogs have been using the foyer as their personal bathroom. i was tired. i had been on this date for 6 hours. i think that is a lot of time for a first date. i had also been out of my house for about 9 hours. i was done.

as we pulled up to my house, i saw gal taking sahar out of the car. we made a turn at the corner and then parked. a little later, i caught the sight of gal leaving. i wanted to get out of the car and ask her where she was going, but i din't want to be a busy body. i also, didn't want to announce to her that i was on a date.

i went inside after a very heavy conversation. my gentleman caller wasn't so pleased that i refused to have him in for coffee. i called down to zvi to ask if the kids were coming for shabbat. i got a tirade! apparently, gal had been locked out of the house for half an hour with sahar. i had left my key on the window sill but she couldn't find it. how exactly, i was to blame for her being locked out of her house is still a mystery to me.

she was mad at me, too. how dare i have a life. i felt like a dog. i was so guilty. first, zvi was knocking on my door and i didn't answer. how dare i sit on my computer and not hear his knocking! how could i allow my daughter-in-law and grandson to sit in a cold car for half an hour? how could i not leave my front door key on the window sill for them?

i took this as a sign from above to cool it. after all, everyone knows that bubbies aren't supposed to be meeting men and drinking whiskey in the middle of the day.

chodesh tov! and shabbat shalom!

i will be eating left over noodles and chicken with the dogs, this shabbat.