Carmel feast

Typical alley with
lots of trash

We can feel the rising temperature these past few days ... and now we received news that tomorrow a heatwave will hit us. Temp will rise to 40 degrees and above. People are advised to stay indoors and drink a lot of water. Hope everyone takes heed. It's really no joke.

The rising temp is causing so problems in our side streets and alleys ... trash and garbage rot and stink very quickly ... rats and cockroaches are overrunning the neighbourhood. Only this morning I saw cats scratching apart plastic bags of garbage, chasing mice and generally most of these cats are sick. I find it difficult to walk along these alleys every morning when I go to the Convent of Ivrea to say Mass. It's very unpleasant. At 5am the temp can go up to 28 degrees. That's perfect for an infection.

Hematoma on my
palm and fingers

It's the 2nd day of library cleaning. We're till on the top floor ... and there're 4 other floors to go. 3rd floor is extremely large, covering 3 buildings. Good thing we have air-conditioning in there. Otherwise I'll faint from the heat and work. Today after transferring 100+ books, the veins in my fingers and palm burst. The hematomas hurt and swelled and I couldn't carry anything. Years of taking cortesones for my asthma have thinned my veins and they burst easily. I quickly soaked my hand in a cup of cold water and that reduced the swelling. Let's see if I can work tomorrow.

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel ... a solemnity for the carmelites. Our carmelite student Biju who defended successfully his PhD left for his home in India on the feast day. There was a big celebration on Mt. Carmel where the carmelites have their spiritual centre in the Stella Maris monastery. Tomorrow is our feast day of St. Bonaventure our 2nd Minister General and theologian. It'll be a big celebration ... and our sisters will bake a cake. That's a nice consolation from the heatwave.