War?

Rising concern as at 4pm we received news that Israel and Lebanon has exchanged fire - 6 dead and many wounded. Though many think it will not escalate, the proximity of Ramadan next week may serve as a flash in the pan to worsen the situation. Today's cross fire comes after yesterday's rocket attack into Eilat and Aqaba.

And the weather is not faring any better. The heatwave from the Saudi desert will continue to blow into Israel for the next week ..... terrible. The news reports that surprisingly the hottest city in Israel is not Eilat (by the Red Sea) as expected but Tiberias (north by the Lake of Galilee)! The joke going around is "If I knew how hot it would be, I'd have gone to Eilat to cool off" - Eilat being the hottest city in the country till this week.

It's so hot even the canaries refuse to brood. All have left their nests and abandoned the eggs. It's simply too hot. Today was 40 degrees again. Poor Mr. Fish refuses to eat. I might have to put an ice cube into his tank to cool him off. The sisters in our convent have gone to buy a standing electric fan to cool off. My room is like an oven - insufferably suffocatingly hot. My small electric fan isn't much of a help. Opening the windows brings in the mosquitoes - I was bitten over 14 times all over last night. And the muezzin wakes you up at 3.30am with his prayers.

A long summer this will be .....