So the hiatus went on quite a bit longer than I expected. I found myself wrapped up in following the US election and since that’s not the point of this blog, I didn’t want to post my thoughts on it here. On top of that, this strange year turned out to be the year of the cat.

In June a cat came to me begging to be rescued – it was in terrible shape and couldn’t eat. So I brought in the vet for her immediate teeth problems, then got her spayed, and tried to release her. She wasn’t having that, so she’s stayed around.

Another cat started showing up for food, and at first I thought it was a male, but then it started to get mysteriously fat and oddly shaped. Yep. Preggers. I tried to get her in to be spayed, but because of the lockdown, there were no elective surgeries.

Meanwhile, my #2 cat was extremely sick on Erev Yom Kippur. She needed emergency surgery because she had an intestinal blockage. With the holiday and the lockdown restrictions, she got her surgery at the clinic, but my living room was converted into a cat hospital. I had to give her injections and keep her hydrated via IV. Turned out she had eaten a hazelnut. Where she got it I’ll never know! (She’s doing great, by the way!)

Two weeks later – 10.10.2020 – the first kitten popped out. After the shock of the first one, Mama Cat (I named her Ralph because she kept throwing up during her pregnancy) suddenly knew exactly what to do. I had already set up a nest for her and the other three were welcomed into the world over the next two hours.

Mama Cat Ralph took fantastic care of them and let me help sometimes. The three females have been adopted. The single male may not find his way into an advertisement via Facebook – we’ll see how things go.

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I was surprised to find that my visitor numbers here for 2020 were higher than ever even though I haven’t put up new content for 6 months.

I’d like to get back to writing on the blog, but there’s not much new happening in Israel right now. We are currently in a semi-lockdown and are looking toward elections in March. We had an election in a semi-lockdown already, so that’s not new. One good thing is the new statistic that we can see here in Israel related to COVID-19.

Vaccinations! It should be noted that this reflects first dosages of a 2-dose vaccination, but it’s an amazing start. The best part is that it’s more than double the number of cases we’ve had here in Israel.

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In looking back over 2020, I’m grateful that I had work that I could do from home. I’m grateful that I had internet to keep me connected to the world and to keep me entertained when I wanted to drop into a series and forget about all the craziness. I’m grateful for the green space that I have access to around me; I’m not sure lockdown would be as easy for me if I didn’t.

I’ve probably embraced my introvert (anti-social?) tendencies a bit too much this past year. Maybe I’ll work on that. I’ve definitely embracing lounging around and my waistline (and every other line) have reflected that. I will commit to shortening the lines and lowering the number on the scale.

May we all have good health in 2021!
May we all count our blessings and heal our wounds!
May we have the strength and patience to carry our burdens!
And may 2021 be better for all of us!