One cup filled with foam to the top with one shot of espresso on the side. 3 times a day. 3 kilometers of swimming in an outdoor pool every morning. Creamy cottage cheese on a whole wheat hazelnut cracker for breakfast. Social Club, Friday afternoon drinks at Shishko, Wineberg wine bar on Friday night, Bazel street just before midnight. Pomelo. Touring the vintage scene in Old Jaffa. Arabic salad in Pua’a cafe and mint tea right after. The French movie La Delicatesse with Audrey Tautou, Delicatessen restaurant in Yehuda Halevi street. Graffiti walking tour all over Tel Aviv and a stopover for coffee at Loveat, Gan Hachashmal. Bauhaus buildings all over the city, Bakeri on Yavne street and avoiding bread on Passover. The great Intouchables movie, the new building of Tel Aviv museum. The renovated Habima Theater and watching the sunset on the beach. Catching up with old friends, catching up with new ones, catching my breath in some points at night. Celebrating a friend’s birthday at Nanutchka, having a dessert at Rotschild 12. 2 pairs of jeans, one full shopping day with my sister and many afternoons with my nephew. Getting upset because of some bureaucracy issues, and yet, enjoying the old style of celebrating Independence Day in the streets of Tel Aviv….Priceless.
My Israeli friends already know how to spot laundry-hanging-out-on-wires for me. They already know which path and road to choose so I can have a great visibility of hanging clothes. They are patient enough to stop when I’m stopping all of a sudden, pulling my camera out of my bag and standing under the wires, waiting for a breeze and a windy wave to come by and animate the clothes. Some of them even pull out their iPhone cameras and take pictures of me taking pictures of laundry. (one day I should have a post only with those pictures). Some of them parting from me, giving me my time, my space and make plans to meet me later. In all occasions, there is always a picture to take.
Tel Aviv is filled with opportunities to take pictures of laundry. The warm weather makes it easier on those who want their laundry to get dry faster. Lots of old crumbling terraces that serve as a great background, air conditioners backs peeping out of the windows and electricity wires sliding down. Here are some images from my recent visit in Tel Aviv.
One shot of espresso and the rest is extra foam. 4 times a day. sliced lebanese vegetable salad, Neve Tzedek, Dalal cafe, Suzanna for lunch. Rotschild Boulevard, Montifiori Boutique hotel, Breakfast club, Pomelo. Salty cookies of Abadi. Beta cafe, The Carmel Market, Lulu cafe in Basel street on a Friday afternoon. The outdoor half Olympic pool at the Tel Aviv university. Little black dress, Abu Gosh’s humus, Jaffa flea market. A note and a prayer at the Wailing wall. Black high heels shoes of Shoemaker. Florentine, Alenby 99. Braserie, Leonardo hotel, cafe-cafe, c-cafe, Siatra sea and sun. The corner cafe in Masrik square. Tea with mint, tea without mint, Meyumana dance show, printing big sized prints for my gallery show ‘Next Stop Manhattan’. Breakfast at the seaport, Dinner at the seaport. Vanilia ice cream in Yehuda Maccabi street. A show in the Kamery theater, Mom’s dinners on a Friday night. Dad’s cooking on Saturday’s lunches. Noya’s Moroccan Fish, Body lotion of Laline, 3 books for the price of 1. One master card to pay for it all.and be back to Tel Aviv, even just for a minute…Priceless.
I know there is that sentence ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade’. As for me, I just love to eat the lemons! Just like that. Straight. I am spending the month of April in Tel Aviv, my home town, for a holiday visit and my friends took me to this new Italian restaurant, in the middle of the flea market in Jaffa. It was a Saturday afternoon, the market was closed and the streets were quiet. We were talking about life in Tel Aviv in comparison to life in New York, about the latest Graffiti exhibit that was just opened in Tel Aviv museum (Street Art in a museum?) and how Tel Aviv is getting equipped with street bikes.
The sun was out, I was eating my lemons and catching up with friends was just perfect.
This shot was actually one of the first ones which initiated my on going project ‘On the Table’