When Winter Wind Wears Desert Boots

It’s exciting putting out a new book. It’s hard to describe. It all begins with an idea, a small seed, which slowly grows and creates constant turmoil in my mind. The seed becomes a story – and then the story begins to write itself. It is then that I know that a book is inside […]

When the clock strikes midnight

“We are surrounded!” I wrote, fearing communication would be cut soon.“Get out of there, fast!” my wife SMSed back.I had visions of striking workers approaching with chains and burning tires.“Close the windows, lock the doors from the inside and turn off the lights,” I shouted to the other workers holed up in the building. “If […]

And now the book: Why I May Still Be Canadian

A few months ago, I was approached by a publisher to turn my blog – Why I May Still Be Canadian – into a book (paperback).“Turn a blog into a book?” I asked myself. “Isn’t that going in the opposite direction?”For blogs seem to be almost an antithesis to the printed word. One rests in […]

Taking the “new” out of New Years

We are already into the third week of the new year and I am waiting for something wondrous to happen. You see, I have this fascination for new years. Somewhat of a childlike expectation. As if something different is supposed to happen simply because of the way we artificially separate time. I can’t help myself. […]

Walking among the ibex

“Where have all the flowers gone?” my wife asked. “Flowers?” I suddenly remembered the image of an ibex walking past me the day before on my way back home from work, white petals sticking out of the side of his mouth. “Yes the flowers in the garden. All of them. Suddenly gone.” What had struck […]

Kibbutz by the Sea

Last week, standing on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean, I watched as the sun began its slow descent into the sea. The air was quiet, the colours of the kibbutz slowly changing into an evening hue. Fourteen years. Fourteen years mixed in the salty air, the sound of seagulls, the faint sound of a tractor […]

Where Ketchup will travel

This morning I found myself putting ketchup on my omelette. Something apparently to be frowned upon, here in the Negev desert, or anywhere else in Israel, for that matter. The last time people looked at me like that was when I put my salt on my watermelon. “Enhances the taste!” I said, to their shocked […]