Full moon

Full moon between
street lights

It has gotten very cold today. I don't think it went above 20 degrees. I had to wear my woollen beanie to keep warm. And my heater was on even during the day. And poor Buddy tries to hide under my pillow in the night in order to stay warm.

And it's a full moon again. Awfully bright but not as gigantic as in previous months. The chilly weather and full moon gives the night an eerie atmosphere. As we're back in solar time, the mornings get sunlight by 6am ... but till then, it's pitch dark. I had to celebrate an early Mass for a group of filipinos on a pilgrimage here. They have no priest in the group so their guide, Sr. Nimfa our former student, asked me celebrate Mass for them for the next 4 days. Tomorrow after that Mass at 6am I must go to preach a retreat to the anglophone sisters of Judea ... which is about some 40-50 of them, finishing off with a Mass at 12pm. Then I must rush back to my house because the chinese priests and nuns are coming for a Chinese Mass to commemorate our families, friends and benefactors, finishing with dinner. I have to cook. And I only have 2 and a half hours to cook. I have a good mind to buy some Arab Fried Chicken to solve end my stress ... but I have no money to buy it for 10 people. And not everyone likes it. So looks like I have to rush a 2 and a half hour cooking spree in order to make it for Mass at 4pm and serve dinner immediately after that. yes it's an early dinner, but 2 of them live far away and buses stop running at 7pm.

A funny (well depends on how you see it) video on the Internet ... a hippo from the Ramat Gan Safari (suburb of Tel Aviv) escaped when the Safari main gate was left open in the night. But it came straight back to the Safari probably because the traffic is so bad in Tel Aviv there was no where for the animal to go.  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.820703?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Tsunami sign

And a Tel Avivian posted a picture of a Tsunami escape route ... something I nor anyone else ever observed. So it's real ... tsunamis do hit Israel and there's an escape route. At least in Tel Aviv which is along the coast. No tsunami will reach Jerusalem ... we're far too inland and 470m above sea level. If a tsunami does ever reach here, it will be a blessing because the land is so parched from a 10 year drought. Any drop of water will help.