Arbor Day

My potted anemones in bloom

Tu B'Shvat is Arbor Day for the jews ... the new year of the trees. It started this evening and will end tomorrow evening. That's practically the beginning of Spring. The trees are bursting with buds ... new leaves and many start with blossoms instead of leaves. Another sure sign that Spring has come is the blossoming of the ubiquitous red anemones. They're an incredible sight from far away ... especially in the fields and deserts that suddenly bloom overnight after the rains. The Chinese New Year which heralds the Spring is in 2 weeks time ... well I guess because it's heavy snow in the Far East so Spring comes a little later.

White rice dinner

Usually Arbor Day is celebrated with walks in the nature reserves and picnics in the parks ... enjoying the blossoms. But the dark grey rain clouds and cold - it was 6 degrees today - was very discouraging. So it's partying indoors tonight ... or in the pubs.

Well in this gloomy cold evening I just wanted so much to eat some hot white rice ... but I don't want to wash up in the icy cold water ... so the alternative was to go out and buy it. A good 2km walk to the Sushia mini-restaurant at the corner of Hillel Street. But it was well worth it. Nice hot white rice with some fried beef. Well I guess it was some sort of comfort food as I really needed something to fill up after a very stressful day. The library fire alarm broke down and was wailing all morning. The students who were studying for the exams were disturbed and the profs were obviously angry and of course I had to solve the problem ... like the elevator breaking down as well. It was a mad rush looking up for contracts and guarantees and countless phone calls ... while trying to calm the students and profs. Well most of it is solved and this evening I really deserved this hot dinner ... eaten alone in my office with no one to disturb me.

Back to the mass deportation of african asylum seekers, nobody wants to do the job so the govt. is on a big recruitment drive to hire anyone to do it. It's like bounty hunting.  http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Interior-Ministry-to-pay-civilians-9000-bonus-to-deport-African-refugees-540110

Even the lawmakers got into a fight at the parliament (Knesset) over the deportation issue.   https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-s-interior-minister-third-country-will-accept-african-asylum-s-1.5769852

And we're getting a warning of a major water crisis this year despite the rain we had last week.   https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/israel-is-getting-closer-to-a-severe-water-crisis-1.5769555