Cheaper Than a Dog

The Rose family is now blessed with one more - our very own "chilazon." (Snail, but chilazon sounds much cuter.)


This particularl chilazon came to us via our lettuce (always wash those leaves, kids!) Actually, there were two, but one, um, never quite woke up from its nap, and found itself hurtling down the chute with our leftovers from lunch. We think Yaakov might have actually frightened it to death.
Anyway, we found the chilazon on Shabbat morning, and WOW! Such excitement! Eventually, we (and all the "we's" here do NOT include yours truly) coaxed it into a large container, where the children happily fed it leaves. It was quite happy in its new abode. At least, I think it was, although it kept trying to crawl out. (Do snails crawl?) But Ariella just nudged it back in with the edge of a plastic cup. Silly snail!


This provided minutes of solid entertainment. Every few moments during lunch we were interrupted to hear Chilazon Updates.

"It's trying to get out!"

"I see it moving its head!"

"I can see its eyes!"

"Why are its eyes on its horns?"


Well! Who still has an appetite?


After lunch, the chilazon, like all good Jews, settled down for a nap. A heavy lunch of lettuce and squealing children will do that to you. Later in the afternoon, the snail was still sleeping. Uh oh. Cue foreshadowing music. I instructed Ariella to sing to it gently, which she did, singing a song of her own making and serenading our little friend. But to no avail. As of this evening, the snail is still "sleeping." Yaakov wants to bring it to gan tomorrow. I fear for the future of this little creature.

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In other news, Modiin held its annual Purim parade on Friday. Now, I know you're thinking, "Purim? It sounds familiar. When was that again?" In fact, it was only last week, but seems like ages ago. Like in that glorious time before Lisa called me up to "discuss seder." Anyway, the day scheduled for the parade was last Friday, erev erev Purim, and it was pouring rain. So they postponed it for this Friday. All the schools and gans finished at 11:00 in preparation for this exciting event.


My friend "Rachel"* and I decided we would walk over to the park together, where the parade was supposed to end. It's about a 15 minute walk from our apartment, so we figured we'd time it to get to the park at the same time as the parade. There was going to be all kinds of booths and entertainment at the park. I double-checked the location of the park with someone who's in the know. "On Emek Hachulah, right? Near Country Center?" Check, check.


We made it there, no problem, and saw a bunch of people milling around the park. We thought we were right on time. The kids started playing, and I found some shade and plopped myself down. After a few minutes of pleasant chatting, Rachel said to me, "You know, the parade hasn't come here yet."

"Hmmmm...." I said.

"And it looks as thought a lot of people are actually walking past the park."

"Hmmm...." I said again. It was true. People were streaming by our little park, but no one was actually stopping IN the park.

We chatted for a few more minutes.

"You know," I said, pondering, "there doesn't seem to be anything actually set up here. I mean, there are supposed to be booths and music and all kinds of stuff. I know this is Israel and all, but don't you think they'd be at least starting to set things up?" (The parade should have ended around 1:30. It was now 1:45.)

"Let me go walk down the street a little further and see if I can see anything," offered Rachel.


She returned after a few minutes. "Chalk it up to our ignorant immigrant-ness," she said. It turns out, that right on the other side of Country Center, is an even bigger park, where all the fun stuff was happening. It was now after 2:00, and the "fun stuff" was being packed away and people were leaving (hence the droves of people walking past "our" park.)


The kids were upset, partly because we had missed the actual parade, but mostly because all of those other people seemed to have artikim. So Yaakov and I bravely headed into Country Center, admist approximately 5,000 other Modiiners, and went straight for the Artik Store, fought our way through the crowds, and purchased 4 neon-purple "grape" flavored ice pops.


So all in all, I consider the day a success. Kids got to play in the park and eat artikim. I sat and watched them and schmoozed. Beats getting ready for Shabbos.


*Her real name

Sunday morning chilazon update: It lives! Trying to get out of its house again! Successfully dissuaded Yaakov from bringing it to gan.