HELP NEEDED - Invasion of the Egrets

Little did I know when I sculpted these bird-women last year that they would come to be  a reflection of things to come; invasion of these disgusting Egrets/Herons was just a season away...
Pardes Hanna, specifically the area known as the Wadi, has been taken over by a huge flock of these messy, nesting, noisy, smelly birds, which have moved into the pine trees just a stone throw from my life. Unfortunately, throwing stones at them endangers the passers by between my terrace and the trees and its a risk I am on the verge of taking!
The local authorities are at a loss as to how to solve this health hazard and environmental affliction, though from my research I know that cutting off the tree tops is a viable solution. Meantime passers by, parked cars me and everyone around the building I am in, are dealing with a mass of messy smelly droppings and I am about to go shopping for an air gun or a chain saw.
 Someone told me that they are a birdwatchers delight, right in the center of town. As photogenic as they might be, they are bringing my blood to boiling point and I am begging

for help to get rid of them. I know, there are helium balloons, ultrasonic sirens, nets, been to that website, read it and heard that these are ineffective.There is evidently no national organization that will deal with it - ANY IDEAS ANYONE????

Can't Hurry Love

Twice a year for a couple of months there is nothing but the studio in my life. Covered in clay all the time, I keep coming up with just one more thing I want to do ( and dry and fire !) before the Open Studio date. Then comes the deadline of no more pieces...because they just wont dry in time.

I have reached that point but ideas are still flowing and the call of the clay is too strong to resist. Once again I am faced with the inevitable truth that you cant rush clay anymore than you can hurry love. Which doesn't mean we dont try ...

But in fact, its the clay that makes the decisions for me mostly, deciding when and what it wants to become; many of the pieces just got bigger and different.

I am looking forward to hearing your input.

This is an invitation.

Suddenly today - change as a way of life

Suddenly today I needed to change the look of my website

Does the need for change creep up on us, simmering slowly till is bursts out - manifesting itself as a need for immediate action? Or, are some of us just brats in terms of immediate satisfaction?
I have moved house about 15 times, not all of them through need. Somtimes - well, after moving rooms and furniture enough times, one needs something more Novel. A new city, a new country, and new job, a new life..
Living in Jaffa was enough of a challenge, the house never got finished . I could probably have stayed there forever...but I can't prove it.
Change, change, change.
It has taken me six months in Pardes Hanna to realize that I don't want to move.
I will have to make all the changes within the area I own, and plenty can still be done. Unless I have to make a change, I can really imagine living my life here. ( I might deny this later...)

But change is a necessity for me and so, for today, I had to go with a change to my website. Satisfying for now. Probably not the final look.
Hope you like it.
Any ideas for more changes?

Sundown, Pardes Hana

Finally. Just over a month since the big move, I am at HOME again.

Sometimes the worry and concern about something we are going to have to do is far greater than the actuality.
This is not, definitely not, the case of my latest move.

Packing of home and studio in August was an impossible strain . The anxiety surrounding the dates of entry and exit and all the scenarios that had me sleepless at night however, failed to materialize. It didn't help to foresee all the possible problems because naturally the difficulties all popped up where they were NOT expected.

There were some unpleasant surprises in the apartment too. When you buy intuitively as I did, that is bound to happen. If I had brought an expert to check it, I probably would not have bought it - what a shame that would have been. I am taking risks and reaping the benefits.
So instead of the planned investments ( fixing the elevator) I have had to spend my budget on things I didnt know would need to be done. Its a gradual process, giving the apartment my personal feel, making it my own home. I love the process, and I am adjusting to some of the surprises and inconveniences and eventually, I hope I will just not notice them anymore.

The building itself is really neglected and ugly. I knew that, no surprise here.
Kickboxing twice a week for 45 minutes on the floor beneath you, can shake you up, and tinkle the glasses in the cabinet - at least I know when to expect it.... It is an unexpected fact that the drainpipe from the terrace would be an annoyance to the gym on the ground and basement floor, even though it did occur to me to worry about the owner being a feared and well known neighbourhood feature.

Waking up to the smell of freshly baked croissants at 5 am ( from the Goren bakery which is the building closest to my bedroom) is a shock I was totally unprepared for along with the trundling of a cart probably laden with baked goods, that sounds like I have woken up in a 19th century village.
I did worry about pigeon nests, and now I have them... soon to be dealt with.

The potential of the terrace was a strong factor in my choice of the apartment and it is truly fulfilling its promise. Candle lit dinners, morning coffee, evening wine all on the terrace, talking to my newly planted box garden of hopefully all the herbs I could hope for ( basil, rosemary, louisa, laurel, lavender, oregano, thyme etc) and watching the birds settle in the trees down the road at sundown, these are the prize for me at the end of the impossible move, which I could never have done without the help I got from Sharon the Packer and Organizer (get her phone number from me ), my amazing sons and daughters in law. My garden is thanks to my sister Erica.

Now I am waiting for the studio to be set up on half of the terrace. The electrical installations for the kiln are in process.
I can't wait to set up my studio and get back to working in clay. I have no idea what direction two or three months of total abstinence will take me. After this major change I am excited to start!

I am nearing the end of my extreme adventure. I have been on a vacation from the realities of livelihood for almost two months and its been good. The next chapter is about to begin .

Change, change, change

At last its a signed deal.
I am moving to Pardes Hana at the end of the summer. Looking forward to change once again, and to having my own place to paint and repaint and celebrate with wall color and plan pieces to fit where intended and make it look like it really is my Home.

Hopefully to separate ceramic dust from home space though the studio will not be far away, so I will still be in it first thing in the morning and with my last energy at night...

To sum up the four years in this rented apartment(was going to be for one year when I moved in): it is not a place I would stay in any longer, not even if the landlord were suddenly to tell me I can stay in it forever rent free !

Pardes Hana closes a circle for me. I hope that the changes I can keep making in my own apartment will be as much as I need.... and that it might be a long time before I have to pack and move again.

Its a little far for some of you, but there will be much more I can offer you there!!