I Think This is What Normal Looks Like

With a reduction in Covid restrictions the last three months has seen us visiting the UK twice, mainly to see our parents and sons, and an increase in family and friends coming out to Israel. Both Samuel and Ben came out, more to see Eliya than us I suspect but it was lovely to have them (and Gila, Tzvi, Eliya and Alexander) with us. My brother David and his wife Jenny came for a month and it was lovely to have quality time together. Gila particularly appreciated having Davie there to help her with her revision. They were unlucky with the weather which was very wet, even for an Israeli winter. However, we still managed to find dry days for bird watching and walks and of course some fine dining!

I went on a trip with friends to an extraordinary art exhibition at The Tel Aviv Art Museum by a Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama.

After a relatively wet December and January, spring has arrived and flowers are starting to bloom everywhere. Fifteen minutes walk from us is a nature reserve known as the Iris Reserve, after which our street, Ha'Irisim (The Irises), is named. The black iris which blooms there is extremely rare, growing in only a few places around the world, and only for a few weeks in February. We didn't see them at all last year so were very excited to see them this year. Our lemon tree still has fruit from the winter crop but also blossom buds. I've been growing avocado from the stone and recently repotted them outside, next to my herb garden and they look very happy.

My new challenge for the winter has been indoor climbing, "bouldering" to give it its formal title. Samuel has been doing it for some time and I really fancied it after seeing his pictures and watching it at the summer olympics. He took me to the climbing centre in Burnt Oak when we were in the UK in January but I was excited to try the centre I had spotted in Netanya when Davie and then Samuel visited us.

Another winter project has been working on a family Haggadah. The Haggadah serves as a guide for the Seder, the ritual meal held in most Jewish homes at the beginning of Passover. Today---and throughout the centuries---Jewish men, women, and children assemble around the table for a complex meal, which commemorates the Exodus from Egypt and the importance of freedom from slavery. Although we tell the story of the Exodus in the same order every year, and have done throughout the generations, Haggadahs can vary hugely, from the illustrations to the commentaries. The children have ones aimed specifically at them and there are more and more special interest ones. They vary depending where in the world their users come from and my parents use Haggadahs from their childhood where the translation is from Hebrew to German, rather than English. My mother's has hand-painted illustrations and my father has written in the back of his a German rendition of Had Gadya (A Lamb), a song traditionally sung at the end of the evening. I am collating a personalised family haggadah to include family stories and sayings, favourite illustrations, songs and poems, and family photos taken over the years at Passover. Particularly relevant to the story of freedom are the copies I am including of documents relating to my parents own exodus from Germany. I am adding in modern commentaries especially relating to refugees and equality and have asked the wider Cohen family to contribute. With Passover fast approaching I'm nearing my self imposed publication deadline.

I continue to enjoy pottery and am working on improving my mugs, although I took a break to try my hand at egg cups (inspired by The Great Pottery Throwdown). It was great to take Samuel along for a session as he and I have watched the Throwdown together over the years. I have learnt to throw 'off the hump', and made the egg cups using Raku - they didn't come out quite how I expected!

Hope to see you here soon!