InteGRATion into GRATeFULLness
Singing&Sounding keeps me Sound

Es tagt der Sonne Morgenstrahl

to former song to next song

2010 - Mika's and My Heaven-on-Earth

October 13, 2010, Though Immanuel today returned from Los Angeles at 2 PM, I stayed on in order to meet my niece's family the next day. Before sculpting & composing the photos of this evening, I came across a sweet sequence about father~~daughter, which expressed zest and full-fill-ment - in January 2009, as if this was announcing another sweet sequence, this time not at the piano at Bet Nehemya, but at the new dinner table in their new flat at Shoham, teaching-learning photography... First I drew out my son about special experiences at L-A. He told marvellous things and I was so happy for him. After some time Mika - who had retreated to her drawing-chest in "my" room - came back with a round clipping, called "an invitation".

"Look, Savta! Abba on a bicycle in America!"

she photographs herself and Abba behind chair and glass

she photographs Savta and her little salt-shaker: "the face (the 3 holes for the salt) is not visible!" she complains

Now Abba says: "If you get better at photographing, I'll give you this camera as a gift!"
He starts to teach her some functions, which she hadn't yet learnt to use on Savta's camera.

October 14, 2010,
The day, on which I'll meet my niece' family again,
in order to first drive to Ramat-Hadar, to Yanina,
and then to Shoham, to Immanuel, Efrat and Mika.

I feel pressured and therefore wake up already at 5:45 AM.
Immanuel, too, comes down early, in his case it's the jetlag!

The last two days it was me, who brought Mika to kindergarden.
Today, of course, it's Abba, who is priviledged to do this "job".
Mika makes an effort to tie Nella to her leash, before they leave.

Though Regina had let me know --- when we met at the beach of Tel-Aviv,
that they wanted to meet only me and Regina's cousins, - no other people,
they were ready to encounter my old friend Yanina (73) and her husband.
I wished for them to experience a bit of what Yanina had once said to me:
"We are both holocaust-survivors, you from your side, I from my side!"

Navigating in the center of Israel was extremely difficult for me, despite Internet maps.
I, who have 3 licenses, including the license for driving a truck up to 15 tons (my bus),
have rarely driven a car in the last 15 years, and all the familiar tracks have changed.
On this day I had to feel the enormous pressure of helping Ralf to find the way 3 times:
From Tel-Aviv to Ramat-Hadar, then to Shoham, then to a youth-hostel in Jerusalem.

Regina, my sister's eldest daughter, her husband Ralf, both born in 1964, and their twin daughters: Christina and Dominika. Immanuel shows videos on his laptop with Elah (now an actress) and with Alon (now in the Navy). Mika made a drawing for the twins and presented it to them. At this stage she is frustrated with the speechlessness to which she is condemned. "Could you talk just a tiny bit of Hebrew?" she begged during supper.

As to the twins, I till the last day never managed to know,
who was who, though Tina and Domi are quite different.