Epiphany

Holy Sepulcher
in the rain

The wind was so wild and strong all through the night ... and the rain was slashing the sky like knives. And I found my bathroom flooded. I thought a pipe had broken but after checking everything I found out it was the rain coming through the exhaust fan ... the wall was wet with rain coming in. And the electricity kept going off ... almost over a dozen times. And I didn't have a stock of candles ready. Awful.

I fell when the wind knocked me over yesterday. Last night my left hip hurt so much I woke up at 2am and couldn't sleep. Well it was also too cold. Found out that one of my best buddies working with security was doing night shift so we chatted for over an hour. Good to pass the time when you have a good friend to talk to. Would have been just as great to chat with another best buddy but he keeps Sabbat meaning no phones allowed.

Gold, frankincense
and myrrh

Well without electricity means no wifi as well. Good day to do some reading. However I had Mass at the Holy Sepulcher at 8am. Walked out in the rain and cold. Mass was quite crowded as many tourists wanted to attend Epiphany Mass. The side altar was beautifully decorated with the child Jesus enthroned and in front were gifts of "gold", frankincense and myrrh. Really creative and original. Loved it. So officially Christmas ends on Monday.

The whole neighborhood is talking about the book Fire and Fury and people searching bookshops to buy it ... but it's not in Israel yet. I guess even if some of the "facts" are not real ... most people already feel that way about Trump. The book simply put into words what people have been thinking all this year. Anyway in a surprising move on the foreign affairs department, Trump ordered a letter to the Israelis to curb jewish prayer on the Al Aqsa mosque compound so as not to provoke the muslims; at the same time asking the ultra-orthodox rabbis to allow other types of jews to pray freely at the Wailing Wall. https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-officials-advised-israel-to-expand-jewish-prayer-at-western-wall/

And as christians begin to wind up Christmas celebrations, here's a timely reminder that christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world ... but nobody wants to talk about it. Well you should be aware and spread this awareness.  https://www.newsmax.com/lelagilbert/christians-persecution-religion-north-korea/2018/01/03/id/834939/

And one funny bit of news ... hedgehogs in Israel are getting too fat ... so fat they can't curl up and protect themselves from danger. Why the obesity? They've been eating cat food left by people in the parks and woods. 10 wild hedgehogs were caught and are now on a crash diet before they will be released. Looks like humans are not the only ones with obesity issues.  https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5066328,00.html