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The once private fields behind my Mum's place,  although we always went there for walks, has become an official Country Park. It's on my list of first places to go when we can travel again.  I wasn't going to write a Reasons 2B Cheerful post this week as I couldn't think of anything to write. We're cheerful enough but there's nothing happening. And then, suddenly, a few things happened. 1 Childhood Memories I got a message from an old friend from my childhood community, telling me about some members who have sadly passed away from the coronavirus. I was particulalry shocked and upset by one of the names - a man not much younger than me who I remember as a young boy. I wrote a facebook message including a number friends from the old days and we reminisced for a bit. Then Daniel came up with the idea of opening a facebook group for anyone who grew up in our synagogue in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Within a few hours we had over 100 members. Stanmore Synagogue was the

Here are my Reasons 2B Cheerful for this week. The linky link-up is with Becky on Lakes Single Mum.  1 We made sushi DD loves the sushi from the very expensive sushi place near us. It's the equivalent of £10 for six little sushi rolls. So we decided to make it ourselves. I bought the rolling mat, the nori sheets, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. We have rice and we have cucumbers. I'm nervous about using raw fish from the supermarket frozen section so I didn't defrost the salmon we have in the freezer. Nor did a buy very expensive fresh salmon or tuna for this experiment. Instead I bought the mock-crab sticks that one of the sushi-making videos on You Tube used. I cooked the rice. DD was offended by the smell of the rice vinegar that you're supposed to add to it. Honestly, I only added a bit. She refused to even taste the mock-crab let alone put it in her sushi. I made mine first with the mock-crab. I took a nice photo and ate it. It was ok. Then DD made hers with just cucu

View from my window (not tonight) Yes, we are in enforced quarantine until the 10th of June. Just as we started to socialise a bit, just as DD was getting back into the school routine, and the evening before I was due to go back to my school... we got the WhatsApp from DD's teacher. First some background. A big high school in Jerusalem had a few students who tested positive to corona. They shut the school and set up testing for all students. The closest primary school decided to close for a few days - until the situation was clear, because more than a third of their pupils have siblings in the affected high school. The official decision was that primary schools should remain open, even those with siblings in the high school. However, the parents committees of various feeder primaries, including DD's school, directed everyone not to attend until Tuesday (that's two days off) when the high school testing will be completed. The parents committees have a lot of clout. A few pup

Since yesterday and because of rampant corona cases in the education system, they changed the rule about which schools have to close. Initially it was if three pupils and/or staff tested positive. As schools with even one case were effectively shut (or shuttered - ugh!) by the parents associations and because the problem is bigger than they thought, all schools with any person testing positive have to shut and all the pupils and teachers need to be tested. Today 36 schools around the country were closed, including DD's school. Around 10,000 people country-wide are in quarantine - and that's just the ones who registered but doesn't include family members who are quarantining with them, like me.  We got a note from school saying that when they open, only children with documented negative test results will be allowed back. We don't know when this will be. For the moment they are urging everyone to be tested. I expect they will make decisions only when they know the extent

My Mum took this photo on her daily walk through Stanmore Country Park. We can only dream of such freedom. DD's school is pressuring all the students to take a coronavirus test. Every day there's a message about it. First they said that no child will be allowed back into school without a documented negative result. Then the principal announced that she had been tested and how it only took a few seconds, it didn't hurt, it was just a bit uncomfortable. Next it was announced that all the teachers had been tested. DD's teacher keeps texting me to ask if we've done it yet. And the class are meeting for daily zoom-ins where they're seriously pushing the testing. DD is feeling the pressure and keeps asking me to get us tested. I keep explaining to her why we're not testing yet. I've also explained it twice to her teacher but I guess he's also getting pressure form above. So here's the situation... Our health fund have called me twice and whilst they re

The pink flowers are radishes and the yellow flowers are lettuce. Grown from Kibbutz Alumim vegetables received at the beginning of April Birds have eaten most of the lettuce leaves... ...I didn't have the heart to scare them away.  There are, surprisingly, a lot of Reasons 2B Cheerful whilst stuck in quarantine, so here are some of them. Then if you fancy you can visit the linky on Becky's Lakes Single Mum for more R2BC posts. 1.10 days after DD's exposure to a covid positive pupil at school we are both still asymptomatic . 2. DD hasn't actually missed any school because although only 6 pupils from her class (but 83 pupils and 13 staff in the whole school) are in enforced quarantine, the Parents Association shut down the whole school. Well, it's open but only about four kids show up each day. I love it that when the government didn't close the schools because of the economy, the parents took matters into their own hands and closed the school for the health and

I  was playing with a photo editing app. This one seems to reflect how I feel atm. It's not good and it's not bad. Sort of in limbo. I'm writing my Reasons 2B Cheerful this week with somewhat of a heavy heart due to the way the long overdue and necessary fight against racism is playing out in the UK. This is not the post to explain - perhaps tomorrow if I dare. Today is R2BC day so here are mine.  The linky is with Becky on Lakes Single Mum and recommended for anyone else who needs cheering this up weekend.  1 Life of Brian I made DD watch Life of Brian with me. She didn't fancy it but within five minutes she was screaming with laughter. 2 Big School We signed up with DD's new school for September. It's actually called Middle School here but is akin to the American Junior High. We gave all the necessary information, chose Spanish as a third language (Hebrew is first, English second), and wrote the name of a friend she'd like to be in the same class with. No