As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know. ~D. Rumsfeld
..... over the Rainbow. Lately I have been very sad. I try not to be but I can't help it. So sad, it makes me tired, feeling exhausted. I wish I had time to go to my beloved sea but even when I find a stolen moment to have a quick peek at him it is in a hurry. Yesterday I was the only one to walk the Boulevard in the pounding rain. He was wild like the turmoil within me. But I had no time to stay and fast walked the stretch I, coincidentally, had reached while having to fix things "in town".
This morning I woke up to hear and see the streaming rain and depressingly grey skies. As I walked away from the balcony, which is the only place in this house - that I called home for 24 years and which I am to leave this week forever - where one can look further away than the 10 meters parting us from the higher buildings surrounding us, I saw "IT". A gloriously beautiful Rainbow. He was so large and bright and soft looking and so inspiring..... I stood there for some time and saw large white birds fly across it (probably Egrets). It was like a band-aid on my wounded soul.
Someday I wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me......
After a night of thunderstorms and lots of rain (for which I am very happy because of my dear plants and trees who are wilting until now in this horrible dry winter) - I looked up at the grey skies lined with tens of small dark grey sheep clouds and............. the sun came out from behind one of those at exactly that same moment as I looked up..... Warming me.
seeing it collapse because you refuse to accept the gradual changes that are taking place over the years and keep on having hope. Family can go sour at times, be horrible at times, but family IS family, no???
what happens with a person then? her dream suddenly exploding because she refused to accept things were totally wrong right from the beginning? she gets thrown back to "THE BEGINNING", before it all started... how it was then, dreaming and daydreaming, WISHING things were how she imagined things to be. Not being able to accept 'reality'. That the 'other' NEVER was who she dreamed he was.....
living a dream ain't easy in this world. It hurts. Constantly..... Continuously.... Relentlessly.
My regular walk to the Nemaal. Only that at 07:00 a.m. it was just 13 degr. C. Something I absolutely couldn't feel. Didn't seem like such low temperature at all. Over the bridge the 3 cranes, building those so-called "luxury" flat buildings, were working full-speed and when I looked up at the crane directly above me, high in the sky, I imagined myself bungee-jumping from it... [photo 1].
Lapwings are coming back to the Yarkon river. I saw 2 of them, flirting together...
Three more fruits had fallen off Fairytaletree. Plus there was one fruit that had wrinkled up as though it had been wet and shrunk. A bit further down the route the white Roses in a bush on Pinkas were sunbathing so very daintily it seemed those aristocratic looking beauties were simply begging to play photomodel :D I granted one her request [photo 2].
The beach, the Nemaal and the sea were gorgeous. As usual :-) [photo 3].
On the way back towards the moniot sherut I took some photos of shells. There is a place near the Marina where the sea brings brings them in to rest in the sand and sun and it's full of shells. That's the rest of the photos (I lost count of how many I took. One of them is of the line of shells with my shoes at the end, hahahahaha.... those pretty Chinese shoes I just bought yesterday and who succeeded "the test" -of walking a stiff walk and stay comfortable. I didn't want to get them ruined by seawater the very first day I was wearing them).
Heading out to the office I used to work in and where my lawyer is situated to ask some questions (which I of course didn't even get the chance to ask when I arrived there) - and swaying between the crushing fright of my uncertain future and the ultimately gorgeous 'here-and-now' moments I experience InRealTime, I photographed a few of the probably thousands of wonderful things surrounding us that normally seem to hide behind the daily routines ....
Here are the things I immensely enjoyed from today - watch it through my eyes:
1) photos 1, 2 & 3: look at him :D (sooo sweet) sitting there on the concrete banks of the Yarkon river, a Shag - just having dived in that river to chase after fish and now sitting still - his wings spread out in order to dry himself in the wind - as a human being spreading his arms in order to get his arm-pits dried.
2) photos 4 & 5: a bird looking like a "Vlaamse Gaai" - who I've seen only once when in the Netherlands for only a few seconds - came flying to this spot as well. After I took the photo and watched it - he more looks like a duck BUT ducks don't stand that tall on their feet and.... don't 'soar' in the air as he (and his friend - as in photo 5) hopefully demonstrate.
3) photos 6, 7, 8 & 9: Powderpuffs.... They look as if they are rather prickly - but they are sooooo soft. If you touch them with your fingertips you don't feel anything at all, that's how soft they are. See how it's facing the sun - enjoying his (short) life, taking out of 'the moment' what is in there... It's a tree that reminds mostly of desert trees (shape as if a stone fell on them) but their beautiful flowers have more in it than standing up to a dry atmosphere, it holds a color of delicacy, of pureness of softness that answers harsh conditions without letting those dictate them to be harsh as well.
4) photo 10: the kitties -of whom there are so many close to that tunnel near the T.A. Arlozorov railway station- eating from the catfood I distributed after seeing how frustrated a kitty got from not being able to catch a pigeon she had her eye on. As soon as I spread out the catfood her sisters and brothers came out of the bush-bush there. Food, Man! Survival....
5) photos 11 & 12: on my way back from the unsuccessful mission at my lawyer's and at the other side of the road - the dazzling contradiction between the completely dried up (forbidden to water gardens in Israel now) and leafless tree while it is growing the most dauntless, bright and vivid colored flowers in it at the same time.
update: the 'duck' turned out to be an Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus)
Right. I go around it. As long as and whenever I can. I 'disappear' into the surroundings of my environment when walking to and being at the sea. Escapism pur sang. And it's great..... until I have to get back to reality and face it ...
Today's escape to the sea was delightful. Even before I hit the end of the street I am still living in, I dissolved into my surroundings. It was lovely at 07:00 a.m. on this Shabbath. Hardly any people around, many birds with their songs and flowers waking up under the soft early sun in a gentle blue sky.
Before the bridge I thought I saw a 'Skedia' but now, thinking of it, I don't think so anymore, the flowers, after all, don't resemble it. The flowers (and mostly buds) in that tree did capture my heart and brought me in ecstacy though. They looked so tender and fragile. Their color a subtle lilac.... [photo 1 & 2].
As I walked along I also saw a few people going to synagogue [photo 3].
And, near Bunny-Hill I already started to watch out to see if those little rascals were around... and they were :D [photo 4 of one looking at me as if he's asking 'what do you want from me?' and photo 5 of one that followed me and observed me].
Around them were Blackbirds flying from one dry, leafless tree to another. The branches of those trees made it hard to detect them as [photo 6] shows.... They're so cute though!!
And at the end of that little patch of nature in concrete Tel-Aviv I saw that some kind of animal had had a good meal eating practically 3-quarters of a pomegrate that was hanging in a tree there [photo 7].
As I approached Fairytaletree I saw 1 of the 3 fruits he had hanging in the middle since April last year when I started noticing it, had fallen off. Absolutely a memorable occassion so I made a photo of that as well [photo 8]. Of the trio only a duo is left now [photo 9] and I wonder how long it will take for those to drop...
The sea was gorgeous as ALWAYS. No real waves but still re-confirming his presence by splashing water over the balustrade. The last photo [photo 10] I made as a time-stamp. Winters are getting warmer and warmer over here and I know this for sure. This sight of a 'summery' scene is what this winter has been all about. I can distinctly remembers that in the past Israeli winters were watery cold (inside the houses) and much, much, much more rainier and overcast.
though i'd love to stay here i see not many options are given to me. perhaps it's fate. perhaps it's pre-destination. i see i'm heading back to the netherlands. though my heart is here.
No beachreport today but a 'report' of the wonderful green plants and trees growing in the garden of a relative of mine in Rishon Le-Zion.
The first photo is of a "Zdabb" - it's a Turkish herb and has a wonderful fragrance to it (I think so and the relative thinks so, but the relative's wife doesn't think so) - and is used in many natural medicines in Turkey he said. In Iraq (where he was born and lived until adulthood) they called it "Zdabb" - he had no idea how it is called in Turkish or English or Hebrew....
The second photo is of a herb Jews use for the "Havdalah" (exiting Shabath) on Saturday evenings. Hadas (Myrtle in English) - Coming out of the synagogue people rub the leaves and sniff up the exquisite lovely fragrance.
The third photo is of a (part of) a lemon tree. The leaves, when rubbed, give off a very strong odeur - very fresh and uplifting. I took some off the tree and placed them in my backpack so when I open it a wonderful fragrance embraces me and influence my senses.
The fourth photo is of an Avocado tree that's at least 60 years old. Magnificent how it stands tall and although producing less and less fruits still refuses to 'go down'. I think "old gals" simply object to being being written off when losing more and more of their fertility.... :D
The last photo is of a tree he doesn't know the name of (and me not either) - but that shows new offsprings coming spring and those offsprings are so incredibly vividly bright green that I had to photograph the 'old gal' while producing her hay-colored 'keep me entertained during the winter' produce just to remember how very versatile and pleasing nature is if one is willing to take notice...
This is the one blog-entry that I sincerely wished people would already discover how to post on Internet and attach fragrances to their posts. ;-)
