Our recent Sukkot holiday found us in one of the most beautiful areas of Israel. In the foothills of the Golan a series of rivers snake through the cliffs and canyons providing welcome relief to the searing heat in the summer and dramatic deluges in the winter and spring. The Hermon is Israel's highest…
The Great Escape
When I left Israel at the end of July, I left sirens and explosions, booms and rattling windows. Now I am back. The sirens have stopped, normal life resumes. I lived in a bubble for 5 weeks, little or no news, only sporadic social media use, a promise to myself not to read the hate or get…
And so it is
I am rarely lost for words. Ask anyone, I can talk...a lot. I can also write reams and reams. But I am lost for words. I am just so angry and frightened, horrified and sorry, terrified and just plain sad that for the last week or so I just haven't known what to say. Three…
When will it ever end?
I watched an episode of the fantastic series Mad Men the other day in which the character Roger told his shrink that life was a series of firsts and once you realised the firsts were few and far between you realised your life was almost over. Well I am certainly feeling very alive right now.…
It’s life Kate, but not as you knew it
My friend is a teacher back home and her Remembrance Day assembly this year is how wars affect families. She asked me to write about my family's experiences, she actually suggested I make a video to which I snorted and said no, although seeing as she is an English teacher I am a bit scared…
Reasons to Celebrate #5: Love
It seems only fitting that while the world around me goes mad, I should remind myself of the reason I am here in the first place. Love. Yeah you can scoff, but as life ticks on its worth remembering, as da Vinci said, ‘Life without love is no life at all’. Fifteen years ago in…
The Fear Factor
It’s not easy living here. There are a million reasons why, if you’ve seen the news in the past few days you know one of them. I am not political, I don’t think I am smart enough to understand the intricacies of the situation here. What I do know is that I live here and…
39 and Counting 