i wanted to do yoga at home this morning. (but the pictures are from another occasion) i decided to start only once there would be some peace and quiet around.first of all, i needed to call the tax office in sweden, and the swedish embassy in israel. you know the drill, waiting in the phone line, getting transferred from right to left before you achieve what you needed to do. then i made the starter for my sourdough bread, cause it needs a lot of hours to rise. but for it to rise, it needs a nice, warm spot. and when i got out of bed this morning it was around 13 degrees indoors, and pouring rain outside. not the optimal climate nor for the sourdough, nor for me. hence, i needed to make a fire. so i went outside to chop&staple some wood. back inside, i could not manage to get the fire started. i tried all my tricks. in the end, i even fell for the cheapest one, which is to throw a little bit of oil onto the logs. which made the whole house smell like barbeque. by the time i had the fire going, i jumped out of my pajama into something warmer and more suitable, and made sure to put up the ‘please don’t disturb’ sign on our door. i managed to get through some sitting meditation,cat stretches, a few variations on the sun salutation & trikonasana when someone knocked on the door. i waited a second to give whoever was outside the chance to read the sign, and by the end of that second the door opened. in came one of my neighbors and her son, looking very guilty she explained ‘i only saw the sign once i opened the door’.

well, this is a little bit how it is to live here. for good and for bad. a constant practice of yoga, because life is very dynamic and you never know what will happen. and apparently the little i managed to do was enough to feel my muscles like jelly and my mind a bit calmer. have a good day!

our chickens started laying eggs. still very few, but oh what a joy! and they are running happily around, screaming and singing all day. i like the fact that when it gets dark, they simply return to their chicken house, without any fuss, and just go to sleep. no need to chase them around& hunt them down. and of course, we are convinced that they taste very different, ‘our’ eggs…

my tuesday was much better than monday. at work we finally had the guts to open up a discussion about the working process, about the rehearsals and things that haven’t been going the right way. it was like releasing the vacuum in a jar of jam. afterwards, things felt a bit easier and more hopeful again.

4xprofile

spend my sunday evening with these four creatures. which one does not fit into the picture, and why? (have a wild guess!)

i had an emotional monday, let’s hope that tuesday will be better….

it happens oh, so early this year. the almonds are already blossoming, even without having reproduced their leaves. weird. hey global warming!

but this night came the rain again. makes it extra difficult to get my ass out of bed and jump on the bus down to babylon.

so long folks. wish you a nice monday.

the westbank

taybeh is a palestinian beer, from the taybeh brewery close to ramallah. tasty…

what can you do, in a region which has so many difficulties? we keep asking ourselves this question. well, one thing which seem important, is to focus on positive projects. like planting trees. trees are investments. in this case, they could improve the soil of an area which is heavily troubled by erosion. aswell as give fruit. the permaculture project we visited, bustan qaraqaa is planting trees and they also develop systems for rain catchment among others.

in the orchard, i found this lovely scare-crow.

we went for a long walk in the neighborhood. and with each few houses that we passed, another pair of kids would join the walk. in the end we had quite a group of them following us around, practicing their english…

meet david bowie. the farms newest memeber. he chewed on every little bit of me.

there’s so much more i could write about being there. it is an intense experience. and it triggers so many thoughts and feelings. you can end up feeling hopeless or miserable against a powerful system, or you can try to focus on the things you as an individual (with another bunch of individuals) actually CAN do to improve the situation.

i found this quote at the farm, easier said then done, but i guess this is our challenge in life. no matter where we live, or what we do…

‘peace. it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. it means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart’

lovely surprises

arrived back home to this amazingly beautiful bag! in my favorite colors… i love it! and it is so much me, imagine that i got it from someone who never met me?!

you made me extremely happy toril, thank you so much for this gift!

tjicktjack

this week i spent almost no time behind the computer. as you might know, it is kinda new for me. luckily, there's such a thing as scheduled posts.
but i feel behind, i didn't have time to read my favorites as often as i usually do. ohoh. what an addiction, this blogging..

well, this is just a quick note for goodnight, tomorrow jericho!

kisses&misses

 

i can miss the smell of a darkroom. of all the liquids. of taking time, so much time for each picture. one film was usually 36 little treasures. you never really knew what you would get, once developing the film. of seeing a picture slowly growing out of complete whiteness.of shading and working with your hands to get the wanted effect. hmmm. those were the times.

old signs

 

i keep collecting them, these old signs i find here and there. those little souvenirs from a time before this. when things felt and tasted different. i’d love to take my glasses to dan optic. he has this little hole in the wall, some dusty shelves with a few models of glasses in the window. no big flashy brand posters. and i am sure he is a reliable optician. and if i was that kind of girl, id probably pay a visit to institut de beauté, i imagine sitting in a red leather chair listening to the gossip from the ladies around me while the radio is playing some nice tune in the background.

a few moments in tel aviv

   

i spend so much time walking in tel aviv. dragging my feet and bags around. sometimes enjoying, all these beautiful images on the street. little secret corners. something painted on the wall. clothes and furniture abandoned. and windows, i love windows.

and sometimes i enjoy less. the traffic, the level of intensity, the noise, the rush. i feel lost within it. especially, since i don’t have my own place here, yet. and discovering more and more, that i am a country girl after all.

these days, strolling in tel aviv felt so different. i was still so extremely busy with coming back to myself after one week of intense time in sweden. this time, i felt even stronger than ever, how two different worlds they are. the life in sweden, the life here. i don’t manage to remove the gap between the two. usually, i more emphasized the essence of living being the same, everywhere we go. people with fear and love, trying to live life to the best of there abilities. which is usually quite similar, no matter where we go.

and yet….so different. that’s where i am at right now. in that gap in between two realities.

goodmorning

and now, back down again. on the bus, and of i go.

a few days of tel aviv, and on thursday we are going to the westbank! i am excited! i hope i can stay connected….

have a lovely day you all!

birthday picnic

 

 

we did a birthday picnic today, in the kibbutz i used to live in before. it is always very special to return to there. that’s the place i lived in for the longest, after i moved out from my parents. i guess therefore, i became extra attached to that place.

it was a day with loads of laughing. and even after the picnic, it continued back home with other friends. i am on the verge of collapsing from tiredness, hence i find everything extremely funny….

also, it was a day of dealing with confrontations/ or dealing with the confrontation of someone not wanting to be confronted. still, you end up with a feeling of confrontation, even when it is stays unspoken. oh.oh. oh.

i’ll be back

i spent a few days in tel aviv, like a turtle carrying plenty of stuff on my back. moving from one place to the other.

had one performance, a few rehearsals, but plenty of time to carry my shell around and walk the streets. i wrote and thought a lot.

but now i am in the middle of baking a birthday cheesecake for a friend, injecting coffee to recover from night traveling, and catching up on favorite blogs. so, i’ll be back…

such beautiful blue eyes she has, my sister. and look at those snowflakes in her curls!

my candy mandala. leftovers from a visit to the cinema, this is what we saw.

 

the greatest toy ever, my camera has been upgraded! this one is so nice&heavy in my hands. i feel more connected to the picture while using it. i usually take plenty of close ups, and with this one i get even closer. mr c, (mr canon! ha! or rather mr leica) -you rock!

snyggo

a picture of a picture. isn’t she beautiful my lovely mother? i am always amazed to see how we all got a little bit of her inside our own structure. and a little bit of our father aswell, of course… (i better search for one of his pictures too,to prove my point)

sourdough is one of my new hobbies. nothing to be ashamed of. this little creature living in my fridge, similar to a tamagotchi which needs to be fed and cared for. and later it becomes a tasty bread. the kneading is nice therapy aswell. this was the only creative and positive thing i managed to do yesterday….

 

mr rooster has become a big boy, he is a proud singer by now. the ladies started to lay eggs, and he is protecting them where ever they go.

exchanged the dead amaryllis for some dying tulips.

 

and this metallic flower is never dying.

still not a day for self portraits. it is more fun to shake your head above the camera instead. today my sinuses are feeling a bit better…

‘not a day for self portraits

sometimes it is so annoying to have to deal with yourself. 24h a day. 7 days a week. 52 weeks a year. all this time, i am stuck with myself. no matter how i turn, my tail will always be behind. today i hardly left bed. being a combination of tired, sick and feeling empty i just pull the blanket over my head and hope that once i wake up again i will be a bit more inspired&cheerful.

sometimes i wish i could crawl out of my skin. i would leave it behind like a pile of woolen stockings in the corner. until i feel like crawling back in again. but even more often i feel like closing down my brain. pressing the mute button and being completely silent.

since i can’t do any of above, i just hide out in bed today. so long my friends.

i♥thepostman

miss pink, thank you for an amazing package! this morning i lit one of the candles and the frame found a place next to the bed. the timing is perfect, i try to practice ‘home is where the ♥ is’, which is not always so easy when my ♥ is in so many places… i miss you!

‘why do people have to be this lonely? what’s the point of it all? millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. why? was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness?’

i just finished reading ‘sputnik sweetheart’. it makes me extra melancholic. today i need to get going again, pack my bag and change reality. my sinuses are not looking forward to spend hours in the plane. oh no…

happy new 2010

so another year has passed. always seems kinda strange but then again not. so many things happen after all. an time does nothing but passes. fine by me. i am curious what 2010 will bring. how will we feel? what will we do and choose? i’d like to be a little bit cooler. regarding most things.

any grand plans for 2010? or petit plans?