Last sahlab this winter

Gloomy gray skies

Newspapers are running articles for Purim events. Yes Purim is next week ... March 1 and 2, It's when kids (and more adults) dress in costumes and the "hamantaschen" cookies are baked and eaten. But more about that when Purim comes round. Well let's hope the feast will enjoy bright sunny weather because these few days the skies continue to be grey and gloomy.

My allergic wheezing and breathlessness is over but I still must continue with my course of prednisone. Already the swelling of fingers has started and the depression as well. Luckily one of our indian sisters is a professional nurse and she's monitoring my situation so I don't get too depressed which is one of the usual side-effects of prednisone. I had a couple of visits from my students yesterday when they heard I was sick. One of the bought me a cup of sahlab ... the turkish winter beverage made from orchid root. I like it. It's topped with cinnamon but I don't take the crushed nuts. It was the 2nd cup I've had this winter/Spring ... and the shops will soon stop selling it as summer approaches.

Yesterday;s sahlab

The day before there was an explosion in a pub in the New City. The oven exploded ... but immediately people jumped to conclusion as said it was a terrorist attack. The police and to announce that it was a gas leak. Then within 12 hours another gas leak in the southern suburb of Jerusalem. The  ground floor carpark was blown off and the 3 storey building almost collapsed. 2 elderly residents were wounded and 1 died. Again the police said it was an accident but diehard rightists are flaming the fires of hatred by insisting it's a terrorist attack. Opportunists of fear and hatred.

And the saga of the corruption probe into the PM makes a dramatic turn when now it's been revealed that aides have offered the judge the post of AG if she closed the case on the PM's wife. No one is shocked here. And it would come to nothing as long as the ultra-orthodox rabbis stand behind the PM. The real power lies with the ultra-orthodox rabbis.   https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5122753,00.html

The dreadful bombing of eastern Ghouta in Syria is terrible. Hundreds have died including children ... casualties because the govt. forces are driving out the rebels who control Ghouta. There are churches and christian schools in that area. Let's hope the rest of the population are safe.  https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/100-dead-in-syria-s-heaviest-one-day-death-toll-in-3-years-1.5828694