Pro-Pockets and Fanny Pack

A lot of people recognize me by my silhouette. On weekdays I almost always have a "pouch" or  "Fanny Pack" on. Few women's clothes come designed with pockets, and the pockets are rarely large enough to safely store one's smartphone.

Even when I'm home I buckle up my small Fanny Pack, so I can have my phone cum pedometer on me. And when out of the house, my keys are in a pocket or the pouch. The other day when visiting a  Jerusalem public toilet, I spotted these on a counter.

I hope that the owner rushed back quickly for them. There was no guard or person who could be considered responsible at the building for me to hand them over.

A few years ago, I spotted an expensive ring on the edge of the sink outside of "restroom" at a "food court." I took it to the closest food place and asked the worker where there was a nearby security office. He told me to ask a young religious (Jewish) woman eating at a nearby table if the ring was hers. He guessed correctly. Orthodox Jews ritually wash their hands before eating bread. For this "washing" one must take off rings. Many rings get lost when the owner leaves them by the sink instead of putting in a pocket or mouth.

Found It!

The other night I discovered that one of my earrings had disappeared. It must have fallen out of my ear during or after taking a walk with a friend. It's a big silver one, which has fallen out/off a few times. But all the other times I'd hear it, or notice it on my clothes and it wouldn't be gone for long. I just figured that its luck had run out. I thought of putting a note in the Shiloh group email, but was too tired.

I carefully checked the jacket and sweater I had been wearing. And then I sort of forgot about it.

Then the following evening I took another walk. When I got to the bench where my friend and I had sat to talk after walking I decided to look around.  Of course. You guessed it.

There was the earring waiting patiently in the dirt, not harmed at all, Baruch Hashem, Thank Gd.

The Case of the Missing Fruit (Date-Coconut) Balls

One nice dessert I can make sans working oven is Fruit (Date-Coconut) Balls.

Fruit (Date-Coconut) Balls

They are amazingly easy to make and relatively healthy, non-lactose/dairy and totally vegan. All you need is date spread and desiccated coconut. Mix ingredients until you can form into balls, and then freeze. That's it. You can add cinnamon, cocoa powder and other things if you want. I've added sesame paste to make it a "full meal." Since the date spread may be of varying consistency, and you may be adding other things to it, I can't give exact measurements/quantities. 

I made them to serve on Rosh Hashana, at meals with guests.

We had an enjoyable meal, and then it was time for dessert. I took out the cake. No problem. But then I went to the freezer to get the Fruit (Date-Coconut) Balls. I couldn't find them. I remembered very distinctly taking out a bag and packing them away into the freezer. I pulled out everything, once and then again. No bag of Fruit (Date-Coconut) Balls. Luckily the guests were good friends who had been over many times before. Finally I gave up.

We finished the meal with the chocolate chip cake which I had made with my granddaughter and something else I had in the freezer.

After they left, I reviewed in my mind everything I could possibly have done with the fruit balls. I had used baking paper as the work surface and then got out a clean plastic bag, and... Eureka! I had folded up the paper and bagged them all wrapped. I couldln't find them, because I was looking for a bag with dark balls, not a bagged white paper package.

It was right there on the freezer shelf in front of me all the time. ↓⇓

If I hadn't been so hysterically stressed, I would have easily seen them. ➡➜

This wasn't a disaster. If I had misplaced the main course, that would have been more of a problem.

The following day I saw my neighbor and told her that I found them. OK, next time, Gd willing, I'll serve the Fruit (Date-Coconut) Balls. Actually there are enough for quite a few meals.

The Saga of The Missing Bus Rides

Can this only happen to a Baile Rochel?

For someone who of my generation, knows nothing of computer/internet technology besides how to turn the various newfangled machines on and off, I still haven't a clue how a little card like this is the same as money when I travel here in Israel. I don't know how it usually at least pulls out/credits the right sort of fare and knows how long since I first got on the train or bus.

To me it's still science fiction in action when if you lose one, you can go to an office which has a computer program which can reproduce your account, so you don't lose money. You do have to pay a bit for a new card, though. And a couple of years ago, I discovered that the "paying machine kiosk" by the lightrail can show you how many rides and "packages" of rides the card is "storing."

When I first started using the Rav-Kav, רב-קו, I was always very nervous about being on the lightrail and discovering that it was empty. There's no place to pay on the train, and if an inspector comes on to check before you manage to get off to pay, you're fined a lot of money.

That's why I kept refilling the card with packages of twenty 20 rides long before I had finished a package. The card isn't all that smart. It doesn't finish a package before starting a new one. When I began to check I'd find three or four packages being billed. It would say something like:

6 rides
8 rides
3 rides
20 rides

I quickly got into the habit of checking, and then from one day to the next I was horrified to discover that the full package of "20 rides" had disappeared!!! Nobody had an answer for me as to where they had gone. I figured that some computer geek had hacked my account and stolen them.

A few months after that I began to get suspicious about the fact that rides seemed to get used up too quickly. Then I discovered that sometimes instead of getting the free within 90 minute transfer, the bus or train had billed another "package." After that I made a point of getting to absolute zero before buying a new ride package of 10 or 20 depending on how much cash I had to pay the driver. Yes, I had stopped trusting the machine by the train.

Last week I knew that I had reached zero on my previous bus ride, so when I got on a bus I was ready to pay. The driver was nasty and told me to put my card on one of the machines in the bus, since he didn't want to waste time. But I insisted that there was a good chance that I'd have to give him cash for a new "package." I put my card on the magic surface expecting a red light to flash indicating "empty."

Imagine my great surprise when it was green, and a receipt popped out saying I had 19 trips left. Yes, that package of twenty 20 had been there in my account all this time. Whew... I hadn't been robbed!!!