Saturday, July 30, 2005

spring safi


o. just sent me this pick of safi in the spring...as you can probably guess it's not what it looks like now;-) but then it might help us understand why the ancient philistines took such a shine to it.

Friday, July 29, 2005

third week ends

i'm in ramat gan again for the weekend. eating apples, listening to anni difranco ('educated guess' album).
s., o., and kerem berem are out visiting with a friend who is leaving.
so i have the apartm. to myself.
kerem did not leave without applying makeup. she discovered my mocha-strawberry lipgloss and compact powder while rumaging through my indian purse. at this was the historic moment when her mother's and her auntie k.'s feminist dreams crambled faster than a vagina cookie. she sits there pouting her little rosy lips, patting them with one finger, then opens the compact lightly touching her miniscule nose with the puff and admiring herself in the mirror.
why do i have this nagging feeling deep in my unabashed soul that all this is somehow my fault?

anyway, what a week this has been. arch. modified murphy's law did not fail yet again. we finally got to the good stuff in sq. 88A yesterday. complete vessels. and...other items which i'd rather not discuss in cyberspace. let's just say that patricia smith came to take a look. very charming, older lady, btw.

sorry my dears but i'm getting really tired. must take a break. will write more later.

k.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

elmo goes over to the dark side...

gets sloshed...
and loses control completely...
oh, elmo, elmo...and we had such hopes for you...

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

o. visited, in his consulting cappacity...

had o. working with me in one of my squares today. he told stories about every stone he found (he's a geomorphologist) and translated jokes from hebrew.

o.'s oxymoron quote of the day (these are his specialty): "i just wanted to ask you...before i damage the destruction". this time he even managed to put in an allitaration as well.

my new students are working well, knock on wood. the girls found a fragment of a basalt grinding stone in their square. me, i'm plowing on with my sq. 88A and its enigmatic, confounding destruction layer. the black ash layer now seems to be inside a possible baked clay installation (collapsed internally). good thing i like riddles and puzzles. i think...

i need coffee.

k.

Monday, July 25, 2005

e is for elmo...




joe (carrie've met him) is the area supervisor for area e. he's decided e stands for elmo. here is elmo on a typical digging day at safi...in first pick he's holding a freshly excavated flint blade...

new beginnings


so the second half of the dig begins. i'm wealthier in three fresh students. two american girls and and one german boy. 2 boys, 2 girls in total. i'm such a proud mom;-P i've opened two more squares. the fun has only just began.

after going through destruction fill in L81106, square 88A, we are now clearly in proper destruction layer of 9th cent. as indicated, e.g., by the most distinctive and black ash deposits that have started coming up most profusely. i really want to excavate those myself so must strategize and cast my net carefully, *insert demonic laughter*...


a bit of safi folklore...we put tennis balls on tops of grid point stakes to prevent injuries. and the dogs keep trying to take them off. we have four dogs on the dig, did i tell you? 2 white labs and 2 big israeli dogs, one white, one black. all the white ones are girls, black one is a boy. their names: nonah (in the pick), marooh, nikita, and leon. all cuties and big sucks. i've just taken a photo of marooh sleeping in our hall, taking advantage of the cold stone floor on a hot afternoon;-)))

must go do some work in the lab.

k.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

2 weeks in and still only scratching the surface...




this is the general view of locus 81106 with our unique base in situ... plus some closeups. the quality is horrid but it was done quickly at the end of the day before we took it out. btw, later we found the rest of it. it's really lovely, definetly phoenician style though seems to be of local workmanship. but you won't see proper pictures till i come back. i don't have time to develope my films here...i'll just tell you it's white slip with horizontal black stripes at base, neck, and rim and has a handle and a wide open mouth. also, interesting burn on one side, as it comes from a destruction layer fill.

k. spent the weekend in tel aviv with family, eating, drinking, sleeping to her heart's content. on friday we visited with a friend in herzliya. he has an apartment in an old hotel with an incredible view of the sea. when it got dark the sea was very dark silver and completely still. that, combined with some out-of-this-world red wine made k. want to dance. but she didn't.

came back to the kibbutz today, did some pottery reading with a.

can't believe the dig is half over.

k.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

today's cartoon (2)

curioser, and curioser...

today did not start auspiciously. first thing k. did after waking up was to burn herself on the coffee machine (one of those big silver, industrial ones, you know). big red, angry welt rose up on her pretty slip forearm in no time. the group of middle age german volunteers standing near by did not offer help, opting for a mysterious exchange instead. in german of course. europeans...

then we didn't bring enough jerry cans so ppl went thirsty till breakfast. at six o'clock the fog was still hanging around. sure sign of muggy heat later in the day. we weren't disapointed.

i'm left with one volunteer now. strangely we've accomplished more with just the two of us than with 3 before. i found something interesting though. a double handle that belongs, so says alex, to a bellshaped bowl from iron i. it's red burnish and black painted stripes on the external mini handle. apparently double handles like that don't exist in normal assemblages. nobody's seen anything like this before. seems to me all the weird shit has accumulated in my square 88A. i'll try to take a photo of it once it's dried.

but, so i don't get too happy, what i thought was a destruction floor (burned mudbrick and burned limestone) is staring to look like a fill used to level the surface for laying down a floor. so where is the floor, i ask? probably in archaeology purgatory together with the rest of that mutant bellshaped bowl. i certainly have no trouble coming up with six impossible things before breakfast around here.

anyway, i've taken to reading virginia woolf's "jacob's room" on the tell at breakfast (on loan from s.). imagining cambridge in the 1900s in the middle of israel's wild country is far less bizzare than i supposed it to be.
consider this quote:

"But intimacy -- the room was full of it, still, deep, like a pool. Without need of movement or speech it rose softly and washed over everything, mollifying, kindling, and coating the mind with the lustre of pearl (...)".

how is everyone doing?
k.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

princess responds

ha! some of you have called me a spoiled brat. ha! just cause i'm not dealing with the neolithic lack of whole vessels doesn't make me a princess. but, to be fair, we finally took out our, largely, whole vessel, there's about 1/3 - 1/2 of it preserved, the complete base and lower body. it's very unusual since, thanks to the tall base, almost like a stem of a vase. aren m. says it might be phoenician funerary container or smth. well, we found it inside a iron ii house. though the context is not exactly pristine. hmmm.

in other news, dever visited the tell today. was, apparently, impressed. ha, ha. the old fart merely missed being kicked into one of the deep squares in area a. strange and mysterious things happen on those digs.

today's blog is sponsored by the word "hafirot"= excavation

much love,
k.

Monday, July 18, 2005

oh, and here's a snapshot of k.'s work outfit

what your witch does on a dig

as you can see my hands are getting a little bronzed, a sure sign that i'm working hard. maybe i should take this opportunity and describe my working day.

we get up at 5am (*deep sigh of relief from k.*) brush teeth, drink a calming bevarage (i.e. coffee, tea, shoko) accompanied by animal cookies.
5:30, bus arrives, in go jerry cans, assorted equipment, assorted yet disoriented diggers, and jeff (the only cheerful person at this point in the day, he's mormon).
start working at 6am, after long climb and a fantastic superspeed sunrise. break the fast at 9am.
k. usually stays on the tell to enjoy a rare moment of quiet and coffee brewed on tiny portable gas stove courtesy of eitan. sharing of dried fruit and cereal bars all around.
happy digging till 1pm.
lunch at 1:30. pottery reading after lunch. shower after pottery reading. variety of afternoon activities of choice (and neccesity).
lights out usually ca. 10, 11pm. if behind with paper work, later.

and so it continues...
very non-exotic, isn't it?
k.

Sunday, July 17, 2005

what i keep on not finding

an oil lamp in area e (not kasia's).

this year's first look at the sea...



this weekend

there are stories and picks to share but you'll have to wait a bit...i need to prepare paperwork for tomorrow.
k.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

on 14th of july...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARRIE AND RYAN!

if you lived in france you'd have fireworks celebrating this day;-))) but since neither you or me are there (though i do have a new french roomate) cyber hugs and kisses will have to do. mwwuaaah!
k.

first thursday at safi


quick recount of today's events, backwards if you will. the traditional thursday bbq takes place tonight, before that a lecture by larry steger (carrie will know who he is). before that pottery reading. before that the working day. my square finally finished the cleanup and we'll get our two stone walls redrawn and photographed. also in north western corner there's a intact base of a jug(?) imbeded in the floor. hopefully the rest of it is still there too. the first find (from tuesday) was a whole bowl from iron iib with carinated rim. look it up. i promised my boys a large quantities of beverage of choice if they find me an ashtarte/ishtar figurine. they found one over in area e, east of our area a. damn them. it's fabulous, with distinct face and hairdo and arms hanging losely down her sides !
i have no idea when and if i'll have any picks;-((
that's all for now. maybe i'll write later.
lehi,
k.
ps. photo above is an example of tell safi fauna sitting on one of the sandbags that the crew fills with their sweat in addition to dirt.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

bad news

there's been a bomb today in natanya, which is a coastal city midway between tel aviv and haifa. 2 dead, aprox. 30 wounded. welcome to israel.
anyway, it's been only 2 days of digging but it feels more like a week. i'm still very jetlagged and not much fun to be around. i really don't know if i manage to write a proper post till the weekend but i'll try.
hope everone is doing well at home. it would be nice to get an email/comment or two. hint, hint. m. p., thanks for thinking of me sweetie.
leila tov,
k.

Monday, July 11, 2005

so the dig begins

o.k. this is going to be really short today. arrived safely, was picked up by s. and k., they took me to ramat gan for a quick rest and breakfast at their home, where k. showed me all her picture books and her room;-)))))))) this child is adorable beyond belief. then s. drove me to the kibbutz where everyone was already unpacking and getting organized.
now that i think of it there is a number of things i could talk about here but we only have one comp. connected at the moment so i have to be considerate.
anyway, i have 2 squares, 2 boy students/volunteers. it rained this morning on the tell. yes, that's right. it rained in israel in july. freaky. i lost my trowel. it better be with the communal trowels in the shed or i'm fucked. fuckity fuck.
ok. gotta go.
love,
k.

ps. in case of emergency (like what, kasia?) (or if you like spending money frivolously) here is the number for my mobile: 10-15-945-011-972-52-598-4436

Thursday, July 07, 2005

overheard

mother: "have some cake, kas."
kas: "mmmhmm...good...but i've heard rhubarb can be poisonous in certain conditions or doses..."
m.: "eat, child, eat...i made this cake especially for you'

as for tomorrow...



My plane takes off at 11:25pm. arrive in budapest at 2pm, leave for tel aviv 10pm on sat., get out of the bloody economy class at 3:45am on sund. ufff!
s. with k., the bunny are picking me up from ben gurion airport at 6:30am.

thought i'd update you today as i don't think i'll have time or will tomorrow. and don't expect anything till sund. *at the absolute earliers*.

everyone cross your fingers so the customs don't frisk nor f**k with me too much! this is important, so don't your forget.

lehi,
k.
ps. 'lehi' = c ya'

thursday where k. is

After listening to the news this morning i just don't feel like i could be witty at any stretch.
anyway,
mostly busy day today, shopping with mother (for her bday party on sunday), laundry, packing (again '=/), ice cups on our way home. blah, blah, blah...

maybe i'll read some alexandre dumas ("ascanio") as entertainment. his prose is so richly juicy and joyful, everyone admitts freely to their love of and constant desire for food, drink and sex. maybe a.d. was more product of king george's times rather than victoria's, afterall he lived from 1802 to 1870, so his 'formative' yrs passed before albert kicked the buckett and vicky decided to take everybody else down with her? or it's just that he was french. what do you think Nis?

k.

skojarzanka dla fila


zdjecie zrobione z dachu nastarszego w miescie liceum

Zobaczylam w gazecie promenade filadelfijscka w toruniu i dziwnie mi sie wydala podobna do tego miesca w saskatoon...

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

language lesson #1

Some baby hebrew for you:

'maim' = water
'motzetz' = pacifier
'ima' = mom
'aba' = dad
'kelev' = dog
'naalaim' = shoes/sandals
'gan' = kindergarten
'shemesh' = sun
'todah' = thank you
'bevakashah' = you're welcome

;-)))))))))))
k.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

link bummer

o.k. this is the last post today, i promise! but i've been trying to set up a link to the most popular (and my favourite despite its cheese factor) israeli radio all day long. you can see the link on the right but it doesn't work for some reason. ????????. they play a mix of israeli and english music with some news and traffic info. the talking bits are especially educational. k. used to practice/learn hebrew via galgalatz air waves. maybe it was the persistent image of some young, sexy army host that initiated that studious attitude. who knows... it's a mystery.

anyway, if you still want to check it out go to www.walla.dk/main.htm and you'll see various columns. go to "radio" and then to "galgalatz".

btw, 'galgal' means 'wheel'. or 'wave'.

erev tov, this time for real.
k.

evening edition

This particular post is dedicated to Nis/Nes as she was the first person to give yours truly FEEDBACK.

so, today's my parents' 30th anniversary. that's right ppl, the dear old folks are still in their domestic union, as our fav. mr. klein likes to call it. anyway, after father washed off this morning's grime of house renovations, we went for the celebratory lunch to a tearoom located in old mississauga. hmmmmm. great food again. which was followed with a short stroll through centreville (C. family), photographing of architecture, family, and old tombstones (kasia c.), nap, each in hers/his own comfy spot (all the Cs again).

alas, their anniversary gift will be presented to them late (difficulties with finding the perfect frame). as mother, however, got her bday present early the average comes out as allright.

enjoy your jane austen n. and m.! i've finished pullman #3 (sally lockhart series). i was right. it is the best so far. now i'm plowing through a pile of polish lit. assembled by la familia.

how the hell am i supposed to get any work done, i ask you?!

well, it doesn't help that everyone is in a competition to make kasia put on 20 pds. the more numerous the meals the sleepier she gets.

ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........

today's cartoon

komentarz do ponizszego...


"paradoks to orgazm rzeczywistosci" (M.G.) Posted by Picasa

for F.A.

Skonczylam wlasnie "tarot paryski". pierwsze opowiadanie gretkowskiej, przeczytane w wieku 17-18stu lat, wydalo mi sie okropne. bylo okropne. ale ta ksiazka to co innego. jak tu sie nie zachwycac taka erudycja?

dzis 30sta rocznica slubu rodzicow -- lunch w herbaciarni, fotografowanie starego cmentarza. prosze nie pytac dlaczego taka kombinacja, tak wyszlo.

Monday, July 04, 2005

someone got fresh with me today


on our way to lunch... Posted by Picasa


Fled the house today to go to queen st west for a lunch with natalie (1st cousin). we left the car in a closed down street and walked the rest of the way. i think n. was a bit annoyed with me cause i kept stopping and walking sideways. i was admiring the old toronto architecture, you see. i know the historical archaeologists will appreciate this. there are lovely stain glass works everywhere, not to mention the brickwork and the turrets and the carvings...godess help me if there is a future shop in my path in the next little while.

we arrived, slowly but surely, at a cafe/restaurant called 'fresh'. and, quel surprise, we were refreshed with a completely veggie meal and raspberry lemonade. i mean, what's better than the cool green interior of a neighbourhood eatery while outside the humid heat mixed with day's worth of pollution and construction induced traffic passes by? not much, my friends, not much.

so i leave you with this image for now...

k.

Sunday, July 03, 2005


i c u Posted by Picasa

As u can c this is work in progress. bear with me, will ya?

t.o. gives me a headache...

Good thing i do enjoy irony. though privately, i think it was the plane ride not the pollution that set my sinuses and consequently my head on fire. but no matter. i still have enough sense left not to attempt to argue about this with saskatchewanians. right. so long weekend was spent in bad, feverish and groweling. gggrrrr.

in positive news, kasia c. has had a fast one pulled on her on arrival in parental home. jacob did not go away with numerous girls and a tent afterall. indeed no;-))) there was supper, drinks, late night storytelling. hugs all around.

little brothers...

those of you who have visited with my family (o.k., just carrie than) will be interested to know the house is in uproar, half the kitchen gone, everyone running around like mad, holding their heads and muttering to themselves. aah, holidays with la familia...

i would write more but i can feel the fever creaping back.
good night.