Happy New Year to all of us.

 Tomorrow is our New Year's Eve. In previous years there was always excitement in the air. As if something good was about to happen, lots of good hopes and a feeling that the future is good.

Excitement for our family meals, chicken soup with dumplings, chopped liver, gefilte fish and sweet challah.

This year we are still licking our wounds. And all the time the fear and anxiety that at any given moment someone will be happy to spoil our holiday again.

There will be festive meals and there will be forced joy. Because that's who we are, always rising from the ashes and moving on.

Here again

 I'm trying to get back here before I forget how to do it.

I guess it's like riding a bike or swimming, the body remembers. And I hope the mind does too...

It's quiet here now. The alertness doesn't go away. Always ready, and yet, it's a great joy to shower as long as you want and drive on the roads whenever you want.

Yesterday I saw a large flock of storks, they make all the way here and it's a sign that winter is coming.

The storks are not angry with us and have nothing against us, they just come because that's how nature intended.

It's still very hot here and the air conditioners are on from morning to evening. I miss the rain.