aspartame & gethsemane.
yesterday morning alli returned home farwelled by a deer in our across-the-street-neighbor's yard, after a crazy night of plane-missing (much like my visit to see her in MN summer '03). whilst out the last two days i felt much like i was missing a partner in crimes of the iPod car/DJ-ing and general gallavanting.
last night, i at long last finished hawwy pottuh six. (i spent the time you guys were racing to finish it the day it came out re-reading book five at my own pace thankee very much.) needless to say i had nightmares and went to bed a bit weepy.
today my dad and i rescued a baby field mouse from our lower level. it was adorable & hoppy. i was more afraid for it out in the big world of our yard than at the thought that its parents & siblings were still afoot in our walls. meece! i got an appointment/interview at a wee DC temp firm (take that not-giving-me-assignments Rand-shtad!) for monday thanks in part to my human resources queen bad-ass sista with the connections. i'm almost guaranteed work starting as soon as tuesday! yay! productivity! and in buying some new pAnts this afternoon i discovered i've dropped 2 sizes?!
and just so i can get to posting pictures of me and alli making asses of ourselves a'plenty...here is the rest of my trip abroad, in photos.
>>
tis me mum and...me. our last morning in israel, we walked from our hotel to the old city. it's at the king david citadel/museum. in its lowest level of archaeological excavation. and nope i'm not THAT much taller than her. she's 5 feet and a bit, and i'm 5 feet and a wee bit more than that. ha. anyhoo, we were on a bit of slanty ground.
mum & i went to jerusalem for three days in the middle of our cypriot adventure. we did a lot in the brief time we had, but it was great. we did mostly ecumenical christian sites/sights since my mom fancied 'em and they were important to both of us. beautiful and full of energy all around. also, i was a bit upset by the wall and things that we did when i was last there 10 years ago...but i felt we experienced a lot of cultural judaism in conversation with some amazing people and in the museums with information on the temple(s). and i got to speak-a-da hebrew wherever we went. people were much nicer about my attempting their language than say in paris even though i'm much more fluent in frAnch.
day 1 - the israel museum. here's the cistern-shaped exhibit mostly underground for the dead sea scrolls. it contains information, small samples and a whole facsimile of i believe the Isaiah scroll.
we even went through the prehistoric exhibit on Israel. including early man. i just wanted a picture of the stuff on gorillas in english & hebrew. hee. too bad i don't know a lot of scientific words b'ivrit. i can read the word for gorilla though. it's...gorilla.
mom on the beautiful walkway at the museum betwixt exhibits.
it was surreal to see van goghs and impressionists in jerusalem. yessir.
my ageless beauty of a mum. her profile is a bit jesserker-ish in my opinion here.
mmm. hebraic aspartame.
our dinner date our first evening, a professional friend of my mum's, Miriam. they looked like sisters with their matching silver hair and joy. Miriam took us to a fish restaurant, and mom had to do the parallel parking when Miriam gave up. mom got so OCD and into it that a passing truck of Israeli soldiers told her she was ok and should stop already! ha.
day 2 - the garden of gethsemane. the 2,000+ year old olive trees and all.
of all the places to run into someone from jewniversity, but of all people Jonathan Senker from hebrew10 spotted me and called out "JOJO!" i was so disoriented and confused. but he said even with my hat, big shades and scarf around my shoulders he'd recognize my hair anywhere. hee.
required israeli camel shot. which moved so crazily gracefully! and we watched it disappear so fast! i had no idea they could move like that. after i took this picture a friendly sort of tourist-attacking souvenir seller (who we'd already passed and talked to a few times between the grottos) told me i'd dropped something. i was really scared and confused. i thought maybe my digital camera was poking out or something. and when i said "what?" he said, "my heart."
mary's grotto. where she ascended. it was so beautiful and surreal to descend into. i love how these pictures capture the incense and drastic change in light. i bought alli a virgin icon card here, since she collects those sorts of things.
our trusty guide for day 2. libby. she bought the new scarf/shawl she's wearing in the market just before we sat down for lunch, in part so she could give me the green one i'm wearing in the picture below. it was hers that she lent me for the day, and she said it suited me me too well not to. it was very kind. she was a crazy ol' spiritual magpie artiste.
doop. tourist chic. i even haggled in the market for the enormous beads i'm wearing.
mum in love in/with the fabric shop.
this was on the side of a van. all i make of it is: JEWS AND FRUITS!
libby was on the jerusalem mayoral staff and as a political/peace-making/artist this quilt was one of her biggest and recent projects. it was a peace quilt, sewed by jewish israelis & palestinians. i thought it was gorgeous. and she was kind enough to take it out and show us in her home since it's first display is over.
libby had a mamma cat and kittens in her yard. it was one mean/ugly lookin' one too. but the kittens were incredible. so tiny.
day 3 - and our last. the view from the top and into the king david citadel museum's many levels & layers of historical excavation.
this picture truly deserves to be the biggest. the view from the citadel's tippity top across the old city. visible are the important muslim points and the dome of the rock where the temples once stood. my favourite thing i learned in the citadel's history exhibit was how whenever the crusaders took over the city a cross was put on the dome. ha.
i zoomed in to try and capture the mount of olives, the 5 arches hotel which is above 2,000 years worth of jewish graves. gah. that's what each one of those pebbly looking things is.
some archaeological things at the bottom of the inner citadel courtyard where no one but us seemed to be interested to go! i believe there are some parts of decorated columns from the byzantine era, and artillery/cannons (?) from who knows when piled up.
we returned to cyprus for 2 days and then i went home.
but before i did, i frolicked in the mediterranean some more. and as promised to some canadjan lovers, here is me my reflection looking slightly angry in a bikini. nyah!
le fin
last night, i at long last finished hawwy pottuh six. (i spent the time you guys were racing to finish it the day it came out re-reading book five at my own pace thankee very much.) needless to say i had nightmares and went to bed a bit weepy.
today my dad and i rescued a baby field mouse from our lower level. it was adorable & hoppy. i was more afraid for it out in the big world of our yard than at the thought that its parents & siblings were still afoot in our walls. meece! i got an appointment/interview at a wee DC temp firm (take that not-giving-me-assignments Rand-shtad!) for monday thanks in part to my human resources queen bad-ass sista with the connections. i'm almost guaranteed work starting as soon as tuesday! yay! productivity! and in buying some new pAnts this afternoon i discovered i've dropped 2 sizes?!
and just so i can get to posting pictures of me and alli making asses of ourselves a'plenty...here is the rest of my trip abroad, in photos.
>>
tis me mum and...me. our last morning in israel, we walked from our hotel to the old city. it's at the king david citadel/museum. in its lowest level of archaeological excavation. and nope i'm not THAT much taller than her. she's 5 feet and a bit, and i'm 5 feet and a wee bit more than that. ha. anyhoo, we were on a bit of slanty ground.
mum & i went to jerusalem for three days in the middle of our cypriot adventure. we did a lot in the brief time we had, but it was great. we did mostly ecumenical christian sites/sights since my mom fancied 'em and they were important to both of us. beautiful and full of energy all around. also, i was a bit upset by the wall and things that we did when i was last there 10 years ago...but i felt we experienced a lot of cultural judaism in conversation with some amazing people and in the museums with information on the temple(s). and i got to speak-a-da hebrew wherever we went. people were much nicer about my attempting their language than say in paris even though i'm much more fluent in frAnch.
day 1 - the israel museum. here's the cistern-shaped exhibit mostly underground for the dead sea scrolls. it contains information, small samples and a whole facsimile of i believe the Isaiah scroll.
we even went through the prehistoric exhibit on Israel. including early man. i just wanted a picture of the stuff on gorillas in english & hebrew. hee. too bad i don't know a lot of scientific words b'ivrit. i can read the word for gorilla though. it's...gorilla.
mom on the beautiful walkway at the museum betwixt exhibits.
it was surreal to see van goghs and impressionists in jerusalem. yessir.
my ageless beauty of a mum. her profile is a bit jesserker-ish in my opinion here.
mmm. hebraic aspartame.
our dinner date our first evening, a professional friend of my mum's, Miriam. they looked like sisters with their matching silver hair and joy. Miriam took us to a fish restaurant, and mom had to do the parallel parking when Miriam gave up. mom got so OCD and into it that a passing truck of Israeli soldiers told her she was ok and should stop already! ha.
day 2 - the garden of gethsemane. the 2,000+ year old olive trees and all.
of all the places to run into someone from jewniversity, but of all people Jonathan Senker from hebrew10 spotted me and called out "JOJO!" i was so disoriented and confused. but he said even with my hat, big shades and scarf around my shoulders he'd recognize my hair anywhere. hee.
required israeli camel shot. which moved so crazily gracefully! and we watched it disappear so fast! i had no idea they could move like that. after i took this picture a friendly sort of tourist-attacking souvenir seller (who we'd already passed and talked to a few times between the grottos) told me i'd dropped something. i was really scared and confused. i thought maybe my digital camera was poking out or something. and when i said "what?" he said, "my heart."
mary's grotto. where she ascended. it was so beautiful and surreal to descend into. i love how these pictures capture the incense and drastic change in light. i bought alli a virgin icon card here, since she collects those sorts of things.
our trusty guide for day 2. libby. she bought the new scarf/shawl she's wearing in the market just before we sat down for lunch, in part so she could give me the green one i'm wearing in the picture below. it was hers that she lent me for the day, and she said it suited me me too well not to. it was very kind. she was a crazy ol' spiritual magpie artiste.
doop. tourist chic. i even haggled in the market for the enormous beads i'm wearing.
mum in love in/with the fabric shop.
this was on the side of a van. all i make of it is: JEWS AND FRUITS!
libby was on the jerusalem mayoral staff and as a political/peace-making/artist this quilt was one of her biggest and recent projects. it was a peace quilt, sewed by jewish israelis & palestinians. i thought it was gorgeous. and she was kind enough to take it out and show us in her home since it's first display is over.
libby had a mamma cat and kittens in her yard. it was one mean/ugly lookin' one too. but the kittens were incredible. so tiny.
day 3 - and our last. the view from the top and into the king david citadel museum's many levels & layers of historical excavation.
this picture truly deserves to be the biggest. the view from the citadel's tippity top across the old city. visible are the important muslim points and the dome of the rock where the temples once stood. my favourite thing i learned in the citadel's history exhibit was how whenever the crusaders took over the city a cross was put on the dome. ha.
i zoomed in to try and capture the mount of olives, the 5 arches hotel which is above 2,000 years worth of jewish graves. gah. that's what each one of those pebbly looking things is.
some archaeological things at the bottom of the inner citadel courtyard where no one but us seemed to be interested to go! i believe there are some parts of decorated columns from the byzantine era, and artillery/cannons (?) from who knows when piled up.
we returned to cyprus for 2 days and then i went home.
but before i did, i frolicked in the mediterranean some more. and as promised to some canadjan lovers, here is me my reflection looking slightly angry in a bikini. nyah!
le fin