Baptism of the Lord

Intense fog over the City

The weather continues to be very cold though the rains have stopped. This morning the entire City was enveloped in a thick fog ... so thick you could hardly see the Ghawanima minaret some 30 meters away and it's the highest and most prominent minaret in our area.  The whole of the Mt. of Olives was invisible. I've not seen such fog for some 20 years. Meanwhile crowds are flocking to Mt. Harmon to see the snow and the Sea of Galilee rose by 3 cm. Roads in the desert are blocked because of flash floods that bring stone and boulders rolling about. It's always dangerous to go to the Dead Sea or the desert during this time as water from the cities flow down into the low-lying deserts.  People have been hurt because of the storm.  http://www.janglo.net/index.php?option=com_adsmanager&page=display&catid=99&tid=435699&utm_content=buffer3cf05&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Selling cheap winter clothes at
Zion Square

It's quite some time since I went to the New City and today I thought I should go and get some fresh air. It was a little sunny but cloudy. There was only a little wind but it was cold nonetheless. A good 2kn walk to the asian grocery was peasant but all through the City there were garbage strewn all over and toppled flower pots and broken tree branches. Puddles of water are everywhere but people are back join the streets. Only the cafes and restaurants are quite empty. In the middle of Zion Square there were several men emptying cartons of winter clothes and blankets on the ground ... selling them for 50 shekels only. That's incredibly cheap and crowds of elderly were gathering there. I wonder if it's legal to sell things like that. The police across the road could see everything but did nothing.

Well Christmas is over as we celebrate the Baptism of Christ. The franciscans held the traditional procession in Jericho to the Jordan River and solemn Mass was celebrated at the small chapel. This Christmas is is shortest we've had ... Advent was practically only 3 weeks as Christmas fell only one day after the 4th Sunday of Advent ... then Epiphany fell on the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas and the Baptism a day later. Usually there would be a week between all these feasts. Now I'll have to pack up my Christmas decorations.

There was some confusion in Jerusalem today as municipality workers called a strike. No one was sure the extent of the strike. Only now in the evening are we told that garbage collectors and other general workers went on strike but schools decided to open. That's because the Ministry of Finance has not paid them salaries. It's terrible because life is so expensive here ... from food to rent to electricity.  http://www.janglo.net/index.php?option=com_adsmanager&page=display&catid=99&tid=435700&utm_content=buffered62f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer