How GPS will battle
On our trip to Italy, we decided to take with us a GPS – provided by an Israeli company and loaded especially for Italy. We could have rented a GPS with the rental car in Rome, but there is something special about a female Hebrew voice treating your vain attempts at following her instructions with […]
Ode to a fallen tree
A tree once so tall and mightystood proudly before our front doorits shade protected us from the summer sunits leaves and branches calmed winter winds Birds fed off its berriesentertaining us with their early songin spring its buds turned into beautiful flowerswhere people gathered to share their awe A black cat which long ago adopted […]
When will Israelis get a real weekend?
One of the first things I had to get used to in living and working in Israel was the fact that Sunday is the first work day of the week. Sunday is actually called Yom Rishon (“First Day”) in Hebrew. When it comes to naming the days, Hebrew is quite sensible: Yom Rishon (“First Day”) [Sunday] […]
The loneliness of a long distance writer
Loneliness is a state of mind. You need not be alone to feel lonely. Nor do you need to feel lonely if you are alone. Perhaps the greatest loneliness is not in living thousands of miles from the people closest to you, but in being surrounded by people every day who seem so far away. […]
Sir Andy Murray and Dame Kim Sears
So, that’s it. After a 77 year drought, Andy Murray – the bad boy from Scotland who once said, “I’ll be supporting anyone but England.” (referring to the 2006 World Cup) – has won Wimbledon for the Brits, and brought back that old English pride. Much credit has been given to his girlfriend of many […]
Working our way backwards through time
Will Google glasses one day allow us to relive past moments? Walk down a street, click (blink) on a date and observe all that happened at that point in time and space? Is this really that far fetched? And if we can go that far, why not a time machine that allows us to become […]
Facebook status: Grandparent
My daughter in-law, Sharon (with significant help from my son, Noam) gave birth to a beautiful baby boy and I am now a grandfather. Adva and I are still getting used to this new status. Grandparents… wow! Soon after being told the news,, a picture of the baby – taken with an iPhone – appeared […]
Someone pass me the remote
I grew up before the days of cable or satellite TV, in Scarborough – a small suburb of Toronto. Like everyone else, we picked up broadcasts by means of a roof top antenna, with a very limited choice of stations. There was no remote control at the time – just a knob that we turned […]
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 […]
Wake up and smell the flowers
No, they aren’t roses. These be wild flowers. Wild, but protected by the Nature Authority. Israelis may be a grumpy, aggressive, loud lot – but they sure like their wild flowers. On a beautiful spring day (can the 9th of February be considered spring?), we wandered about admiring the flowers up on the Carmel Mountain […]