Divine Mercy Sunday

Gloomy grey sky at only 15 degrees

It's Divine Mercy Sunday today and our sisters, the Faustian nuns, are celebrating it in a big way. Right now at the Basilica of Gethsemane, the Archbishop is presiding a solemn Mass for the diocese and our sisters have organised it all.

The weather has made a U-turn ... dropping to 15 degrees now. Yesterday it was double that ... 31 degrees. Jumpers and hoodies are out again. The weather is crazy ... that's what everyone is saying. Many people are coughing and sniffling ... and still others severely sick.

Booza Rukeb

Well yesterday's heatwave meant that the ice-cream seller had good business. The guy who walks around the Old City selling Booza Rukeb certainly did. Booza Rukeb is a local arabic ice-cream made by the Rukeb family decades ago ... and sold by hawkers carrying the ice-cream in boxes. Booza in arabic means ice-cream. Since then many other people have manufactures this ice-cream in the name of Rukeb. Like days of old, the hawker ring a bell and shout "Booza Rukeb" and people come out of their houses to buy it. After 2 decades living here, yesterday I finally had a taste of it. Not especially creamy but it had a dose of rose water which made it very fragrant. Not bad in a heatwave ... but I won't say it's my favourite.

News is that Gaza society is on the verge of collapse as the corrupt Hamas administration has siphoned off all the money to fund its own interests, leaving the Strip without electricity, water and other essential amenities. As usual, when the people become dissatisfied with Hamas, Hamas will pick a war with Israel to distract attention.  http://www.timesofisrael.com/gaza-hospitals-on-verge-of-blackout-amid-energy-crisis/

Let' hope this Divine Mercy Sunday will bring some mercy and hope to our land.