It was too hot to cook. no question. and we had a bunch of grandchildren to feed. so we tried to make lunch reservations.
There were none.
In the Grand Cafe they said they don't make lunch reservations until after 3:30. so for some stupid reason we went over there, gave them our number and wandered around until one of us went back and just took a free table. But despite the friendly and apologetic waiter and the relatively rapid service (missing one of the kid's serving) I really didn't like the fare. I'm sick so that may be part of it, but the hamburger tasted like dog food, i had a strange feeling that the sushi should have been cooked up, and the noise was unbearable. so even though it is a popular place i will continue to hope for somewhere else.
Some friends invited us to a lecture at the Beit Hatfusot - more of a carefully planned duet between writers Eshkol Navot and Nicolle Kraus. It had a lot about spontaneity and creativity in it, and people were very impressed, but I am a suspicious little grouch and decided that a series of five minute questions that cultimated in exactly one hour could not be spontaneous. Spontaneity would be better represented in my five year old granddaughter who reminds me of a favorite observation by Nabokov. He said that Gogol was like the Russian mathematician Lobochevsky who discovered that if parallel lines do not meet it is not because meet they cannot, but because they have better things to do. A kid like that would never answer timed questions with answers about the liberation of their minds. but i have not read Nicolle Kraus' works, and should not have an opinion. i'm actually deep into Susan Cheever's biography of e.e.cummings and loving it.
May 4, 2018
After a woman called me long distance to ask where she can buy my book I decided to make a facebook page for it. There is actually a place you can buy it. here
and you can see the page here
May 5, 2018
"Will we be going to the protest tonight?" "If I have the energy." "No, we're going." Both of us have problems standing. Both of us hate the traffic snarls and the noise and the discomfort of being in a crowd. Both of us would rather our kids take over the responsibility of keeping the government in check. But neither of us are comfortable letting things go on as they are. it's like that point in the horror movies when the people realize the aliens are winning.
Nevertheless, although we drove all the way and really intended to go, we suddenly realized that we have checkups at 8 in the morning and we didn't prepare any of the documents we need for the next day. so we raced home, and spent the evening looking for documents. Bassa
May 6, 2018
Bassa. No one looked at Ezi's documents, even though the instructions to the medical tests specifically says he should bring everything. As for me, it was a bit of a nightmare. The way it works is that you sit in a lobby and get called from doctor to doctor. Me I was supposed to do a bone density test that was somewhere else in the hospital in addition to the usual battery, and somehow I got lost. I didn't quite get the vague instructions and found myself in the practically deserted underground tunnels. eventually i found my way but they couldn't really do their tests because of my metal hips and deformed back so i found my way back through the same tunnels and that might be what threw off my schedule, although the secretaries assured me I was on the mark. Anyway I started waiting around to be called. nothing. i kept returning to the girl in charge but nothing. so by the time i got to do my cardio-vascular test it was almost 2 in the afternoon and i had had only a light breakfast after my blood test at 8:30 in the morning. Hungry and tired, I stopped the test before the end. Anyway we were the last ones to leave and i was pissed. As we were leaving the cardiologist who checked my results (which I had no patience to wait for) came out on his way out. "Are you Gut?" he asked. "Yes." "You're in great shape."
results in 2 weeks. i hope i'm in good shape because i fear we're going to have to learn to run fast soon. and swim.
Maybe this is the reason there are so many events and parties now. I don't have time to breathe. For example tonight there was a party for the people who are hiking on the national trail - we were urged to come even though we didn't participate in the whole route this year. Every two weeks 6-7 kilometers on rough trails. and it seems we're the youngest in the group. they don't make them like they used to.
Tuesday is a big night for the publication of a hebrew translation of Anna Margolin's poetry. i promised to talk - but i have meetings all day tomorrow, and tuesday. no wonder i was pissed at having to spend 6 hours in a waiting room.
one thing more: yossi halevi's first page in the NYTimes today made Israel's argument so much clearer to the general reader. I loved it.
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