What happens in a populous city when the roads are completely free of cars? The people reclaim the roads.

Yom Kippur is the most solemn day on the Jewish calender. It’s a day of fasting, introspection, and repentance. Law and heavy social taboo discourage the operation of motor vehicles from sun down on the eve of Yom Kippur until sundown the next day.

So tonight, everything is different. The sounds of traffic outside have been replaced by the sounds of families in the streets. Parents are teaching their kids how to ride bicycles, and everybody is walking. Neighbors greet each other and congregate on traffic medians. The idea is to stay out very late, so that you can sleep late in the morning and the fast won’t seem as difficult. It’s so foreign outside, we don’t realize how ubiquitous cars are until they’re gone. It feels like we’re all in some post-apocalyptic movie. I love it, and I wish everyone had one day a year where they had to go without cars.

The Mother arrived safe and sound - bearing many gifts. Among them: my father wrote and published a small book for my brother and I detailing his formative years in the deep South in the 40’s and 50’s. It’s an amazing gift, and I’m looking forward to getting to know him better and also to getting a glimpse into the word he grew up in. I can’t wait until the next time I’m in the States and can sit down with my father and brother and discuss the book.

Mother also brought a MacBook Pro, which has been quite a lot of fun. I very nearly ruined everything by trashing my application folder, but fortunately I followed a piece of advice I picked up here, and used a non-admin account as my main user account. Thus the damage was easily rectified, and the lappy is back in action. It’s quite fun playing with a new (to me) operating system. That’s the geek in me.

Well, here’s looking forward to tomorrow - an island of calm in an otherwise very hectic season. We’re going to make the most of it.

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We’re in that odd little season between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur. For those of us at the Embassy it’s a time of great joy and of great stress. The “blooming of the Embassy” in anticipation of the Feast of Tabernacles results in a lunchroom packed with familiar faces from years past and a 24/7 work schedule. It’s an exciting time.

The Embassy is in an odd little season of it’s own. Our beloved Director of Finance is retiring. He’s been at the Embassy since it was founded 28 years ago, and he’s been Franklin’s boss for the past 6 years. It’s bittersweet as we know he’s going on to bigger things, but only time will tell how it will change the face of the Embassy.

My mother arrives on Friday, and we’re really looking forward to seeing her. Bless her little socks she’s bringing over a ton of stuff for Franklin and I: Aveda, polishing compound, macbook pro, airborne, t-shirts - all kinds of stuff. In the meantime we’re airing out her room and making sure everything is spic-and-span. For the record, I hate housework. Loud upbeat music helps.

I made a few tiny changes to this website as well. There’s a major overhaul coming, but it’s a ways off for now. In the meantime, please enjoy the twitter updates in the left hand menu (this is particularly great if you’re stalking me). Sadly, they will reflect my life more than Franklin’s, because he can’t be bothered with such online nonsense. Also note that we’re slowly phasing out the old gallery, and moving to flickr. Check out the links in the menu, and see what I mean.

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I very nearly lost my mind on the way from the office to the house today. Israeli driving is always unsafe in the extreme, but today no less than four separate drivers pulled the if-I-don’t-catch-your-eye-I-can-pull-out-right-in-front-of-you maneuver. I arrived home exhausted from slamming on my breaks and swerving to avoid people who were trying very hard not to look at me. I think that if it weren’t for the soothing smells of my Eucalyptus and Ginger skin (thanks Sinora!) I would be gibbering on the side of the road somewhere.

Rosh HaShana approaches, and I’m afraid I’m already doomed to repeat last year’s trip to the grocery store. Feast prep is keeping us quite occupied, and I spent this afternoon working on a video for the roll call of the nations. Right now I’m taking a break from manipulating a photo of an Israeli fellow that we bought from an internet photo service, and it’s hysterical to me that he has no idea that his face is going on the big screen in front of thousands of adoring Christians. I can tell by looking that his name is Guy. I’m pretty sure.

Well, I’m off to the office again now. Here’s hoping I survive the drive.

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Things I learned this week:

• It is impossible to buy buckwheat flour in Israel.
• There are thousands of ways to waste time on the internet and a podcast for everything.
• Adobe Total Training can be fun.
• There’s never time to begin writing seriously.
• It’s never too early in the year for a fall day.
• In times of great stress it is unwise to keep vast amounts of gum nearby.
• It is possible to do an entire week’s worth of grocery shopping in under 10 minutes if you are determined to do so and have help.
• My dog can comfortably hold up to 4 slices of french toast in her stomach, and it isn’t wise to leave unprotected food in her presence.

I’ve officially become a “switcher” - my new Macbook will arrive with my mother in less than two weeks. In addition to this, I’ve discovered a few more ways to express myself on the internet (twitter, blip.tv, and flickr, for example). I think actually that I’ll soon update this blog to incorporate some of these, and I may move the gallery to flickr altogether.

Other than that, the past few weeks have been filled with cooking, doing odd jobs for the feast (cutting out hebrew letter stencils and creating big-bangs), documenting my dreams, watching entire bygone seasons of popular tv shows online late at night, going to weddings to see good friends tie the knot, and compulsively chewing gum.

I’m such a sporadic blogger - I have to say that I’m pretty sure I’ve lost the vast majority of my one-time readership. If you’re out there and you sometimes read this, please leave me a comment so that I know who’s listening. It would be truly helpful for me.

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