Our Alex
The reason I haven’t said much about the Olympics is that Israel wasn’t participating in my favorites. I like the athletics, the running, of course.

And now there’s Averbuch. I’m very excited about Averbuch and I’m waiting to see it, all tense.

He’s gorgeous, for a start. And …er… well, he’s gorgeous, that more or less sums it up for me.

And it’s happening now. I wonder how long it will take, because we’ve still got to go running ourselves.

Update: Oh well. At least he's gorgeous.

posted by Imshin 20:08

Allison has been profiled this Friday on normblog. Nice.
posted by Imshin 15:44

You may notice something a bit different here. A few people had been complaining about my blog giving them problems, so Bish had a look at my template. He was up till 3:30 last night cleaning up the errors in my html, poor Bish. I hope things have improved a bit now. He also tidied up the fonts and some other things.
posted by Imshin 15:43

GOLD!

Some of us had to work :-(

I was so busy I didn't even have time to listen to it on the radio. Only heard when I got home :-((

But I did get to see him get the medal and hear HaTikva. F#@k the 'Guardian', it felt nice :-)))))

posted by Imshin 18:48

Here is a fence, built to keep apart two peoples of two different religions, two peoples who are not able to live together. What is it called, this fence? Is it called an Apartheid Wall? No it isn’t. It is called a PEACELINE.

John pointed it my direction. Thank you, John.

From now on, maybe I won’t call our fence a security fence, anymore; maybe I’ll call it a PEACE FENCE.

posted by Imshin 12:01

Laurence Simon is Full of Crap, but I’ll forgive him, because he has lots of advice on getting hugs out of cats.

This morning Shoosha ran passed me in the dark as I made my way to the bathroom and nearly knocked me over. I actually smashed into the corridor wall. Then when I got back to the bedroom, she was sitting in the doorway and I didn’t see her (she’s black, the lights were off). I trod on her, she squealed and scratched me, and then skulked away hissing, poor thing.

I’ll try the crawling-towards-her-and-smothering-her-with-my-favorite-sweater ploy when I get back from work. I’ll have to get the sweater down from winter storage.

;-)

posted by Imshin 06:42

More Yoav Biran (Foreign Office guy
Jonathan has been kind enough to let me know that Yoav Biran, director general of the Israeli Foreign Office, was interviewed by Haaretz as well. He doesn’t say exactly the same things, but some are similar. Any way, the point is that you can read for yourselves.

He fully accepts the assessment that Israel currently has no partner on the Palestinian side to negotiate with and is satisfied with growing realization around the world that is the reason for the freeze. "Recently, I haven't heard from any serious source, in quiet diplomatic conversations, any genuine thinking that Yasser Arafat is good and beneficial. Without much exaggeration, the whole world agrees he is an obstacle and if there is any argument, it is only on how to minimize the damage he causes." Biran thinks that the war in Iraq and the removal of Saddam Hussein were positive developments in the region.

Biran does not despair over the chances of improving Israel's standing. Despite the harsh criticism directed at Israel, he feels the country's position is still strong. It is valued as an important diplomatic player and its close ties with the United States are respected. He supports the initiative of Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom to strengthen ties with Europe and also feels that in the Arab world all is not lost. In his many conversations with Arab figures, Biran says, he has learned that since the 1991 Gulf War, most moderate countries do not see Israel as an enemy or a threat.

posted by Imshin 06:14

Took day off. Got up early with Youngest (yawn)and headed for Yaffo port. Despite early hour, were still about three hours too late to catch the fishermen coming in. Oh well.

We did get to see one fishing boat, but all the fish coming out of it were in coolers (I want my money back).

Youngest was only really interested in the stray cats hanging around, apparently still licking their lips after the morning feast.

Came home. Now waiting around till Eldest awakes (this could take a while), before continuing the planned activities of the day.
posted by Imshin 09:22

Important news: Israellycool has moved.
posted by Imshin 22:48

The Shoosha Blues
I ache to give Shoosha a hug, but she won’t have any of it. She’s just not a huggy cat. I have to accept this.

She has this gorgeous sleek black coat. I really need to hold it and stroke it, but I have to remind myself to hold back. This is not what this cat wants. I must not force myself on her. Sometimes I can’t help myself and I am bitten, or scratched.

Ho hum.

Eldest adores her, with or without hugs, and gushes over her endlessly, coming up with about twelve cutesy names for her a day.

Me? I ache for a hug.

Afterthought: Before you say anything, I once had a huggy cat. I know they're out there.

I suppose I'll have to make do with humans for hugs. Luckily I have three very huggy humans living with me.


posted by Imshin 19:55

Isn’t the women’s marathon something? They’re amazing these women. How can they keep up such a pace for such a long time? Two hours into the race and they’re far faster than Bish and me even dream of, in our little thirty minute jog in the park of an evening. And it's even hotter there than along the Yarkon River.

I’ve been enjoying the route as well. The scenery looks familiar, somehow. And what about that Japanese runner? Small, short legs, and she’s leading - inspirational.

Update: She won! Wasn't it suspenseful? And they're saying that number three, the American, is Jewish, but you can never believe these commentators on channel one. An Israeli runner participated. She finished forty-something. I'm dead proud of her too.

Update update: Is too Jewish, according to Dr. Funk, who was even kind enough to point me to the evidence.
posted by Imshin 20:06

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