It's been raining cats, dogs and frogs since Friday.

Today Mummy made Ginger short-bread biscuits for Libby my niece and I.

I had been in my room studying and the smell had been wafting about.

Not too long after Mummy called me and she started cutting the flat short-bread and I ate it.

Divine, I tell you. Divine!

Nothing like fresh baked anything on days in which the sky is falling.

Mother Unit: "Why didn't you go to the Pride Parade today?"

Moi: "It's too hot" It is, it's something like 35C in the shade and the Parade began at noon... no thanks!.

Mother Unit: "Committed, eh?" /sarcasm

Father Unit (looking away from the exciting Tennis match on TeVi): "Are you trying to tell us something?"

Moi (mental *sigh*): "Huh? What? What are you talking about? I went out on a date with a woman yesterday".

Father Unit: "Oy" and he goes back to the game.

Moi: "What? I thought you wanted me to date".

Father Unit: "I don't mind you dating women, but why not try dating men again".

Mother Unit: "Yes, why do you have to be so exclusive".

Moi (is having a brain meltdown): "You wouldn't say that if I were only dating men!"

Mother Unit (is thinking of what she said): "Yes, funny how that is".

Moi: "Not really".

I think they're dreading the day I date someone long enough that I actually bring them to Friday night supper and such.
I think I'd be worried if my parents were uber supportive of everything I do, I mean, it's nice to know they're a normal hetero-normative middle class married couple who love their daughter enough to be accepting, if not ready to march in the Parade. Then again, I need to be motivated to walk in the Parade, because Dude... the heat!
As it is, the date went quite nicely and I'll be calling her back, so we'll see how it goes.

I know it seems I talk about it a lot, but it's really hot. There's a heat wave and it looks like it's not going to break until Wednesday. Kind of reminds me of the frost we had not too long ago.

I actually had something of substance to say, but it seems I have forgotten what it was I wanted to say...

Anywho, here's a song for all of you:



( The Lovin' Spoonful - Summer in the City )

But they were not.
Which is a shame, because they are so pitiful they don't need to be parodied.

#1 Will the stupidity know no end! Were there a GD who actually smacked His/Her/Its followers upside the head. The whole region from Southern Lebanon to Southern Israel has been experiencing tectonic shifting - earthquakes that is - there was quite a big one on Friday where Mummy and I ran under a door way, it wasn't that hard, but still left my knees a bit wobbly.
Those people who are somewhat detached from reality* are trying to find metaphysical reasons why this is happening in the Holy Land.
Obviously, the gays are causing the earthquakes.
Yup, there's the sounds, rational reasoning I like to find in my leadership (well, obviously not mine-mine, I'm not considered a whole human, being a woman and a queer one to boot).

#2 Ahmadinejad is continuing his paranoid anti-Israel rhetoric. Israel is a germ spreading the vileness of the West in the Middle East. Oh, that's nice, real mature Mahmoud, way to show a fraction of sanity one would imagine a statesman should posses.
Then again he was always rabid. I wonder if he's aware of the fact that by bombing Israel with the A-Bomb, he'd end up murdering a huge amount of his Palestinian brethren... those dictators never do think of that little glitch do they.

Yes, these are serious News articles.
No, I'm not laughing because I'm too busy mocking!

*Not all religious people are detached from reality... only those in government.

Yesterday afternoon Mummy went to fetch the Jerusalem Kids, because they spent the weekend with us. I always love when they come here, it's great fun to be Auntie.

Today the 'rents came (sister and brother-in-law) and we all decided to go on a short hike at a really beautiful national park on the coast (Sharon Beach (Hebrew link), if you're interested). It was a beautiful day, sunny but not too warm with a gorgeous breeze moving the sea-air around. The view from the cliffs was amazing, if a bit nerve wracking with a three year and a six year old running around pretending to be Superheroes, Elephants and wrestling on the sand (yeah, they brought most of the beach home with us).
We weren't actually near the Sea (unless the ten second drop into the rocks counts as near), but the yellow sand and yellow/light brown calcareous rock were also breathtaking, especially with the sand flowers and plants which were lush and filled with juices (which the three year old managed to spread over his hand), there were also huge Aloe-Vera plants dotted around.

Robbie was also there and we all hiked together, it was a whole lot of fun, even though I didn't really want to go out, but Mummy mentioned that I only go out at night and am slowly getting the complexion of a vampire, which is worrying, seeing as my skin couldn't be whiter unless I was an albino (rosy cheeks and blush don't count, that's circulation).
Also, seeing as Robbie decided to forego a hat (who doesn't bring a hat to a hike at noon?!), Leigh fumbled in her bag and produced a silk scarf for him to wear as a bandanna; I took pity on him and took the scarf and let him wear my denim "Kova Tembel" (bucket hat), and I wore the silk scarf as a bandanna.
I don't usually wear scarves on my head, I feel I look silly in them, but Leigh assures me I looked like a Radical Religious Jewish lady, so it wasn't so bad :D

Oh! And Edited to Add - 20:21 I went to see Atonement with my friend Shira last night, excellent, highly recommended. Keira Knightly must eat something, dude! And James McAvoy is going to be a legend one day, if he doesn't die young like other we know *cough*HeathLedger*cough*.

Though not as much as it was yesterday.
There is definitely a thaw in the air.

Wish I could say the same for the University talks. Still no resolution and if nothing happens on Friday the Uni gates are closing on Sunday until the second Semester.

Motherfuck.

I did get a chance to vent about it today; some guy with a camera stuck a microphone into my face and asked me what I thought about the strike.
I told him.
In many, many words.
It felt good.

Pity I didn't notice what network he was from, hopefully my sound-bite will actually convey my frustration with the process and not lay the blame solely on the Ministry of Finance or the Lecturers, since I feel both sides have been absolutely screwy!

I'm burned!

I'm all flushed around my cheeks, making me look sweet and charming, instead of fierce activist that I am!

I stood in the sun with my fellow students and lectureres (junior and senior) blocking the gates of the Uni and the sun was shinning and it was hot like effing hell.

Dude! It's December! It's the second night of Hannukah!
Where's my winter rain?!

Winter has arrived to the lovely stretch of Mediterranean and Desert landscape young Mel likes to call home.
Unfortunately said winter has decided to seek residence inside young Mel's house.
Yes, friends, LJers and country*insert gender here*, the upstairs of our beloved two tier flat is partially submerged. Though the water level has lowered significantly since I put my (nice, warm, toe-sock enclosed) foot into the icy shallows of the disgusting mix of rain and drain water, with a few rotting leaves here and there.

The plumber should arrive at some point after lunch.

I'm not sure how to go about writing about the olive picking today.
I wanted to write something with meaning and stuff like that, but thinking about it, just writing about it most likely meaningful enough.

I didn't know anyone, but everyone was very nice and told me where to go and what to do. It was very sad, the olive grove is cut off from the villages beyond the Wall and only the land owners have permits to move into and onto the land with a donkey and a old tractor, so we were something like 30 Israelis and 6-10 Arabs.
There isn't any "modern" or "efficient" way to pick olives, you pick up a big stick and beat the tree branches until the olives fall down. Problem, the branches are so thick because no one can prune them... you need special permit to prune the trees.
So we hand picked almost all of the olives in the three groves we visited today.
The tarp we used was holey and so many olives fell through onto the ground, eventually we just used our sandwich bags to collect them and someone was smart and brought shopping bags with which we used as well.

The first grove we were in was just adjacent to the Wall and right next to a check-point, there wasn't anybody there except the soldiers on guard duty who pretty much ignored us, but border patrol came to see us in the late morning, they glared a little but gave no problem what so ever, so there were no clashes with authority thankfully.

Some of the trees were so full of fruit, but there was no way to shake them loose other than to climb up and put them in our bags, so up the trees I climbed like a monkey - I don't climb trees, I never liked to and I was never good at it, but these olive trees really liked me, I even sat on the canopy and accidentally hit the people below me as I dropped the fruit onto the tarp they used to collect the olives.

During our break, when I bumped my head on a low branch and fell on my ass (which was funny I'll admit, though a bit humiliating) the Arab man in charge of us, Osama, made us coffee, oh my GD it was so good and I was so caffeinated and energized after I was running around and climbing up trees like a crazy person!

I'm not sure how much we actually helped them, more than they would have gotten otherwise, but there were so few people and so many trees, I just feel horrible for the situation that Wall puts them through.

I came home dusty, dirty, brambled and feeling really, really good.
And tired.