Shalom!

I decided against going down to one post a month, so here's the second April post. Will there be any more posts this month? Stay tuned as you anxiously wait to find out!

Meanwhile it is time for a tiny bit of catching up. Blake is now thirty five and he has three adorable children. He is an accordion teacher at a small community college in Texas and he was featured last week in the local newspaper for his impressive bottle caps collection. He is married to a gorgeous foot model.

OK, OK. It hasn't been that long.

We popped over to Israel for a while. The doggies were driven to a farmhouse in Scotland (there and back in one day by my chauffeur/husband) - to stay with our breeder friend where they can play amongst other Great Danes surrounded by beautiful green hills. We miss them, but you know what they say about absence and fondness. You know, so I am not going to tell you.

Blake helped watering the back garden real good before we left.

Israel is great this time of the year. Sunny and warm without being blazingly hot. Still not quite hot enough to go swimming, but hopefully soon. I love catching up with family and old friends and to let Blake spend time with his grandparents, but the best part for me is the food. Hummus, falafel and lots of meat. Omnomnom. I am not talking about the grainy Mediterranean-style "humus" paste you get in supermarkets, but the creamy middle eastern delight. And proper pita breads. Oh my, the pita breads! Not the crappy oval shaped crackers you can find at supermarkets that fall apart as soon as you try to put anything inside. I am talking about plate sized soft discs of pure delight that you can stuff up or tear up to wipe humus with. And... Well, yeah. It is also nice seeing family and friends.

Our time here is spent between an apartment in Tel-Aviv and my parents place which is further down to the south and unfortunately within missile range of Gaza. Fortunately so far Blake has been spared the lovely character building experience of being woken up at night by a loud siren and rushing to the safe room.   He hasn't however been spared the dreaded female mosquitos who feasted on every visible part of him the very first night there; mind you, I can't fault their taste.

Blake is a real trooper. As we expected, he loves the adventure. Break his routine and take him somewhere else every day and he thrives. We have been to lots of different houses with lots of people, children and pets and Blake can't have enough.

Politicians kiss babies. Blake kisses cats.

It is also the first time since I moved to the UK fourteen years ago that I get to celebrate a birthday in Israel. Blake will be celebrating his third birthday here before we leave. So that's nice too. My birthday falls on the 29th of April, the same day this couple in London is getting married and everyone is making a fuss about it, so I wouldn't want to clash and might just as well celebrate my birth as far away as possible. I was not invited to their wedding, but they were not invited to my birthday party so we are even.

The nice thing about the apartment is Tel-Aviv is the fact that it s right on the Yarkon River, so we only need to cross the road to rent a speedboat. So we did!

Aye aye, Captain!

Mickey