I wanted to share yesterday's wonderful experience at Yafo--Joppa--by the sea. Yafo is a mixed community of Christians, Muslims and Jews just South of Tel Aviv. We spent the day 'walk about' visiting the Ilana Goor museum.
The museum is a renovated hostel and also the artist's home. And what a home! She gutted the building in the 1970's and started to renovate, keeping those wonderful oriental and mid-east details. Archways and brick from a by-gone era frame the rooms which are tastefully furnished with the occasional Henry Moore, Giacometti and her own wonderfully inventive work. She is an intelligent and playful omni-artist. And she lives in this beautifully restored hostel. (I caught a glimpse of her with a colleague lunching under the shade of a palm tree).
The sculpture garden on the roof top is wonderful. There one can view the Sea, take in the face of an ever changing Yafo, hear the call to prayer. Property prices for a 40 sq metre flat by the sea is now over 4 million US$ at the current exchange rate. Two years ago when I was visiting the region, a young colleague told me she had bought a flat at a very reasonable price and I should do the same. If only!
Sleep still eludes at 5.16 AM local time, but common sense does not.I am off to bed. G'day! LankBlue²
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Sleepless in the Mid-East
I am sleepy! It's 4.37 a.m. and the Mediterranean Sea laps the shore line outside my bedroom window.
It is hot! The sun is beating down at 32° C in the day. We seek shade in the hotel lobby, lounge or pool side. Travelling's been kept to a minimum because we are both sick. Great! But sickness has it's reward: Reading! Yes, superb, uninterrupted reading.
My friend Jennifer lent me Woolf in Ceylon, the tale of Leonard Woolf, husband of famous Virgina, who was a Ceylon Civil Servant. The book is by Ondaatje--not of English Patient fame--but his brother.
In WiC, Ondaatje accomplishes a three fold task. He presents a summary of Lankan history; writes about his own experiences in Lanka and interweaves these around the story of Woolf & his days in British 'Ceylon'. Ondaatje also has some great old photos of Lanka.
I love these tales. It makes me want to read Woolf's own words in his autobiography, Growing. It's great to read Ondaatje, but why not get the tales from the horses mouth, as it were?
The Hon. Wilhelm Woutersz, Foreign Secretary (Ret) & very civil servant, loved his outstation assignments in Ceylon. Unfortunately, my dear cousin died before he could complete 'the telling'. One can only hope he, too, left diaries and journals which may one day become Woutersz Abroad.
Hmm. I like that title. Sounds like a job for me to pitch into!
Good news. Sleep descends. LankaBlue²
It is hot! The sun is beating down at 32° C in the day. We seek shade in the hotel lobby, lounge or pool side. Travelling's been kept to a minimum because we are both sick. Great! But sickness has it's reward: Reading! Yes, superb, uninterrupted reading.
My friend Jennifer lent me Woolf in Ceylon, the tale of Leonard Woolf, husband of famous Virgina, who was a Ceylon Civil Servant. The book is by Ondaatje--not of English Patient fame--but his brother.
In WiC, Ondaatje accomplishes a three fold task. He presents a summary of Lankan history; writes about his own experiences in Lanka and interweaves these around the story of Woolf & his days in British 'Ceylon'. Ondaatje also has some great old photos of Lanka.
I love these tales. It makes me want to read Woolf's own words in his autobiography, Growing. It's great to read Ondaatje, but why not get the tales from the horses mouth, as it were?
The Hon. Wilhelm Woutersz, Foreign Secretary (Ret) & very civil servant, loved his outstation assignments in Ceylon. Unfortunately, my dear cousin died before he could complete 'the telling'. One can only hope he, too, left diaries and journals which may one day become Woutersz Abroad.
Hmm. I like that title. Sounds like a job for me to pitch into!
Good news. Sleep descends. LankaBlue²
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