Ventilation

Happy Hebrew Calendar New Year to any and all comrades that celebrate (& those that don't)

Ours was busy. Friday night at a former colleague's for dinner. Beautiful setting out in the country, thirty+ people, flowing wine, flowing conversation, very good vibe, chill. Caught up with numerous people I hadn't seen in over a decade and met new ones. The not so good news: Many in attendance are top journalists who have been living in this region for ions. Some have been traveling in and out of Baghdad and neighboring countries for years. The consensus: The outlook for these parts ain't so good, mein kinder. Some are actively gearing up for the next showdown. Did I tell anyone anything they didn't know? Probably not.

Saturday night, another chill get-together at the Friday Soup Salon Lady's aka Dotty. Only this time she prepared a full on meal- incredibly moist stuffed chicken, sweet potato/regular potato mix, carrot soup... and it was fab. Other writer types in attendance included the coolio artist/writer Dan, the quick-witted Noorster and the benevolent Miriam, Dorothy's close friend. There were others - about 10 of us, I think - and the feel was good.

Now it's back to business as usual, whatever that means. I will post about landlords SOON because after reading both noorster and yael's documented experiences and going through my own FUN for the past year, I'm convinced we're on alien terrain when it comes to matters of housing and the tenant/landlord relationship. But that's another day.

Tia for now.