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We took the kids to a local pub a few weeks ago for an afternoon of family-friendly live blues. When Itai got tired of listening to the music he pulled out his cat's cradle string and tried (with little success) to interest one of us in playing with him. The woman at the next table took one look and literally jumped out of her chair to teach Itai her party trick - she had a way to do cat's cradle solo, with no partner, using her two hands and her teeth! As someone who never got past the basic steps myself I have to admit it was pretty cool and I love the sense of high drama in this image, you'd never imagine that she was talking about something as ordinary as cat's cradle.
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You can see here too, for better or for worse, how Israelis don't hesitate to jump into a stranger's life when they feel they've got something to say. Happily that day was one of the "for better" ones, and over the years I've developed a thick enough skin that there aren't too many of the "for worse" ones. (That and the fact that my kids aren't babies anymore - mothers of babies attract criticism like flames attract moths ("Put on his jacket, he's too cold! No, he's too hot, take it off! No, dress him in stripes, or plaid, or..."). The worst was the time some supposedly well meaning woman took a look at my infant's bright red face and informed me that I had let him get terribly sunburned. "Umm, no. Actually lady, he's pooping right at this very moment. Happy? Would you by chance like to hold him now?" On the other hand, there are moments like this. It's worth a thousand negative comments to get one morning like that one, and it's the reason I have been able to live here for twenty years without going mad.)
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