Blogging Again

 it is 7:00 p.m. in the holy city of safed.  i lit the chanuka lights about an hour and a half ago. there are only a few neighbors that lit chanukiahs outside.  i lit my metal chanukiah with the macabees holding torches. i  used small glass bowls of olive olive and cotton wicks.  i placed it right off of my cooking area and i placed an electric plastic chanukiah up against the window ledge facing the street; for my neighbors to see.  it was my mom's from her home in brooklyn.  i have been alone this chanukah and it feels a bit creepy. the grandkids used to light my chanukiahs here before they moved from safed. i had no desire to polish or schlepp down my silver chanukiah. i was in a silly mood, anyway.

i arranged for a few friends to come up to my area tomorrow evening; for a chanuka get together.  tomorrow is the last night of chanukah.  my friend's home is warmer and cozier so we will meet there.  she also has an electric piano and tons of songs to play.  its about a 7 minute walk from my house.  i have not had a walk in a couple of days.  i do take the dogs out a few times a day, but i do not leave the immediate area with them.  they go nuts when they see other dogs or cats and tend to drag me. they are definately; having a hard time. they follow me from room to room and they seem a bit distressed.

my friend will will try to make latkes and i will try to make whole wheat spaghetti with tomato sauce and a greek salad with lettuce, black olives, red peppers, spanish onion and feta cheese.  the traditional greek salad is made with chunks of cucuumbers, tomatoes, black olives and feta cheese.  in israel, people use shredded lettuce.  i prefer the cucumbers and tomatoes version.  however, one of my friends has food issues so i am playing it safe with those food items, i know that she eats.  for instance, she does not like any dressing on her salads.  she only takes lemon wedges.  the traditional greek salad comes drizzled with olive oil.  so we will leave it off of the salad and serve the oil separately.  my potato latka making days is truly, history.

i need to shop tomorow for whole wheat spaghetti, feta cheese, parmesan cheese, black olives,red preppers, lettuce and red onions. i was finished praying and reading psalms and threw on my coat to hit the supermarket nearby; when it started raining hard. the street lights were off and it was very dark and foggy.  i decided to shop in the morning.  it is hard crossing the roads here.  sometimes, i feel like i am living in the wild west.  the city recently repainted the stripes of the pedestrian crosswalks but unfortunately, most people do not stop for seniors.  i am afraid to cross with the dogs so i wait until i see no more cars. they rebricked the streets up here and did a poor job near the bus stop.  i find myself, tripping all the time..

i stopped blogging because i was on facebook all the time.  i spend hours viewing posts about the war and anti israel demonstrations all over the world and i comment on many posts.  i also repost many videos that i find relevant or outrageous and it leaves me very little time to blog. i have taken to reporting hate speech; recently.  i was depressed, outraged, traumatized and miserable for awhile.  i didn't have any strength to blog.  i did not want to share atrocity stories.  the government here has pretty much; taken care of that.  i also took to my bed for a week, several weeks ago.  i was pretty trashed.  the people here were so demoralized.  none of my female neighbors left their homes, except to grocery shop.  i noticed that no one was dressed, either.  women stayed in their pajamas. 

last week, i mustered up the courage and bussed it to jerusalem for my grandaughter's bat mitzvah party.  the travelling was swift and peaceful.  jerusalem, as well as safed; have been pretty quiet throughout the war.  we have 'skirmages' on the lebanese border but so far it has been rocket free, here. we pray that it remains, so.  we do hear booms all the time and our planes flying over.  it is our background noise.  sometimes, it feels like i am in the twilight zone.  i volunteered once to make sandwhiches for the soldiers but i did too much and burnt out.  i haven't returned, yet.  i took on praying and reading psalms for the soldiers, hostages ad my fellow countrymen.  it takes up a good bit of my day.  i don't sleep long but i am in bed every night at 800 p.m.  i am in my house by 5:00 p.m.  i am not a fan of the dark and daylight savings.

i managed to meet up with a friend at the mall in jerusalem.  neither one of us were in the mood to go to a movie. it was a shame because it was senior's day and half price.  i only had some water and we laughed and discussed the war and our problems.  it was good to be together for awhile. the mall was noisy and crowded but still, we laughed and emoted.  i had no patience to check out the shops.  by the time we knew it, it was time to get back.  my friend had to struggle in heavy traffic back to her home and i had to deal with the bus in the dark, back to my son's home.  i did buy the kids some very fancy and costly donuts.  i ended up waiting in line for almost an hour, to buy them; to boot.  i passed my favorite second hand clothing store but i was way too tired to go in.  i had waited out a strong downpour and didn't want to chance being outside for another one..

i left the next morning back to safed.  i have been tired since i returned.  that's how it goes.  war is tiring.  reading the news is exhausting.  commenting on facebook is endless.  staying up til 3:00 a.m. every night is ridiculous.  i get out occasionally and take my 40 minute walk.  it now takes me nearly an hour.  i am eating way too much and sitting way too much.  i have definately, put on some weight.  i am behind in all my doctor's appts.  i do not travel to tel aviv these days.  i have a list of all the things i need to organize.  i managed to mop the floor today and i did laundry yesterday.  one day at a time.!!