Dandruff in the Eyebrows

A few days ago, my granddaughter Shir asked me if I had dandruff in my eyebrows.  Somewhat bemused, I asked her why she posed the question.  "Because", she said, "when you are thinking you often rub them".

There isn't any dandruff in my eyebrows, which are very blond and quite bushy.  They aren't ever trimmed or shaped because the hair is so close to white that I'd look as if I didn't have any eyebrows at all, and, being a woman, don't have a beard to stroke when engaged in ratiocination [as Amelia Peabody would say]  So I rub my eyebrows.

Around 15 years ago I began, and maintained a blog called Antigonos' Annals for a few years, and then it lapsed.  Blogger has shut it down, although it's still online, and I wonder about beginning this, since I long ago realized that what goes around, comes around, and so much in Israeli life has really remained unchanged, even though at times it seems the country I live in now is utterly different from the one I first came to in 1976.  We are still engaged in our War of Independence, off and on, still one step away from governmental paralysis after uncounted elections [due to the lousy proportional representation we have here] and our politicians display the same outsized egos they've always had.  The school day is too short, the health system is underfunded, and while we now have a plethora of consumer items to buy, they are often either too expensive or out of stock.  And lastly, we've got the same character traits for which Israelis are renowned, and derided, for decades.  Improved quality of life hasn't mellowed us.

But there are differences, too.  I'm retired from the world of nursing and midwifery which was my profession for almost 50 years.  Our three children are adults, one is married and we have three grandchildren, another is embarking on a second marriage [inshallah!] this summer, and the third is living permanently in Manhattan.  In 1976, when I was 30, I was single, in reasonable health, and a gung-ho Zionist.  I'm now pushing 74, have a litany of chronic ailments [including type 2 diabetes and two titanium hips and spectacles], none incapacitating but annoying, and I'm still a gung-ho Zionist.  When I made aliyah, I used some of my "rights" to buy a 17 inch black and white TV -- Israel TV, one channel which closed at 11 p.m., only broadcast in monochrome -- now I have 3 LED color "smart" TVs [satellite channels in the hundreds but there's still nothing to see], one PC, three iPads, two iPods, a Kindle, a giant deep freeze, a microwave oven, airconditioning,  and a whole raft of small appliances, and a car.  I've got a husband, as well.  So, I guess there's been some progress.

Welcome to Maison Metpatpetet [that means "chatterbox" in Hebrew], or as my son, who obviously has been influenced by the Puerto Ricans in NYC, says, "Bienvenida a mi casa, El Balagano"  "Balagan" means "confusion" in Hebrew.