All Qiuet On The Eastern Front

it is 8:00 p.m. in the holy city of zefat. my 'charge' has just left. i may have mentioned that for the past couple of months, i have been receiving in my home, a young 19 year old girl with asperger's. she spends every afternoon here until 8:00 p.m. i keep her well entertained and busy and then give her dinner.

she loves to go shopping, so i make sure that we walk over to the pharmacy and supermarket up here. sometimes, like today, we bus it to town. i get to check out my bank balance and she gets to check out the local stores. thankfully, it is a bit of income for me. i get to pay the electricity bill tomorrow. Whoopie!!

this evening, i treated her to a melted cheese sandwich and hot chocolate in town. who wants to make dinner anyway? i know i shouldn't be spending money on her but i can't help myself. anyway, we caught the bus back up and she was picked up by a driver a little while later. 'another day, another dollar', as we used to say back in the old country.

it has been rather quiet and peaceful here lately. no major drama to date. the kids continue to do their own laundry and i think they feel good about themselves. ashkanazi jewish mama is staying out of their way. i leave the mail and the various sleepers and pajamas that i often buy, on their door handle outside. i do not go downstairs.

my daughter-in-law has been staying at home with the new baby and my grandson has been spending the afternoons with her family. i have only, been called upon a couple of times lately, to bathe sahar up here in the big tub. i watched the baby last night for about an hour. she had been given a bottle by her daddy and was sound asleep. i am not comfortable with new babies. give me a couple of months.

i have been very tired in the mornings and only seem to rev up late in the day when my charge comes over. today it was warm and sunny so i decided to do my laundry. fortunately, my daughter-in-law wasn't home. i called first to ask her permission to use my maytag machine that is situated on her floor. afterall, i wouldn't want to disturb her during the day.

the kids have chosen to have shabbat here for the past two weeks. i was also given the job of watching my grandson on 2 consecutive fridays. what fun!!! i haven't asked the kids if they are planning to be here this weekend, yet. they usually let me know late on thursday evening, when the supermarkets are already closed.

my freezer is quite stocked with chicken parts, fish, and meat for cholent. i even bought several marrow bones to throw into the cholent. my son loves them. if they stay for shabbat, i will only need to buy potatoes, challah and veggies. i have recently come into a bit of a 'windfall' and i will be able to pay all of my bills this month. what a tremendous relief!

i am really going to make an effort to visit the seniors' center tomorrow. i haven't been there all month. not very nice at all! i have an infection in my gums, and i think that i will be losing more teeth soon. too bad, that i don't have the money to do a teeth makeover. i don't think i could suffer the pain.

the kids are playing house once again, and for the most part, enjoying it. i am keeping separate but equal in my space. they are trying to be more respectful and honor my privacy. my daughter-in-law, actually cooked this week and sent up a plate of food for me. maybe, there is a chance that i'll be looked after in my old age. perish the thought!

yesterday, i showed my upstairs studio to someone. she wants to do 'drums alive' therapy in zefat. the idea of people bouncing around with giant exercize balls upstairs, didn't really thrill me. it is not a gym. every little movement upstairs reverberates and sounds like elephants stomping on my ceiling. i ended up giving this person a motivational speech for nearly an hour. i didn't make one penny, either.

i did discover a wounded pigeon trapped in the apartment. it had pooped all over the place. i was finally able to catch it and put it outside of the apartment. i didn't know if it could fly so i didn't throw if off the roof. i once did that and the poor pigeon plunged to its demise.

yesterday, i simply, didn't have the strength to clean up the studio. i walked away, locked the door, and didn't look back. it is going to be way harder, now, to clean up the dried poo. just add it to my list of tasks to do before pesach. it's always something!