my carriage has become a pumpkin

among the notable things that happened this week (Kosovo is now independent, Israel lost at the Oscars...), I turned 22. horrible, to be sure. while, having lived four full days at this age, I have much to say on it, I shall write none of them here. first, my apartment is horribly bereft of chocolate. secondly, I done some reading, and I done wants to share some lines here.

a. from The World of Jewish Cooking by Gil Marks:
"The destiny of nations depends on what and how they eat."
- Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste

b. from this glorious book, A Pigeon and A Boy, by Meir Shalev:

"'What does a person need?' she proclaimed one day after the first spoonful of dessert. 'Not much: something sweet to eat, and a story to tell, and time and space, and gladioluses in a vase, and two friends, and two hilltops, one on which to stand and the other upon which to gaze. And two eyes for watching the heavens and waiting.'"

"Because that was what one did at home. One returned home, and said hello, and heard the answer, and entered. And then one had a bite to eat and was overcome with joy: we are home. From the hill, from the sea, from far away. That is what we love and what we know how to do."

"The Baby dared to speak up in order to point out that the participants were projecting a human perception of maps and directions and compass roses onto pigeons. But perhaps, he said, she is unfamiliar with all of these, understanding one direction only, and its name is 'homeward,' unaware that humans give this direction other names--sometimes 'southward' and sometimes 'eastward' and sometimes 'north-by-northwestward.'"



It is a very good book. You, dear reader, should read it, and we will leave discussing my old age for some other time.