Stromata

Rain clouds at 1pm

The ceasefire definitely isn't working as Gaza fired 2 more rockets early in the morning into Beer Sheva, a southern city. Israel responded with bombings as well. Apparently there was an internal fight between Jihad and Hamas in Gaza ... Israel had targeted Jihad and when Jihad declared war, Hamas refused to participate. The internal conflict then seemed to be solved when Hamas fired the 2 rockets into Beer Sheva this morning ... to appease Jihad. Then we hear there was more internal conflict .. this time within Jihad's political wing that wanted a ceasefire and its military wing that wanted to continue fighting. Well as long as there's internal fighting, they have no time to bomb us.

1st Passionfruit

The weather has turned to winter ... very dark cloudy skies and cold winds. Looks like the heatwave is over. Let's hope it stays ... we need winter ... and lots of rain. It'll limit my walks around town as the stone pavements are very slippery when it rains ... but that's ok.

The change in weather has ripened the passionfruit in our courtyard. We ate the first one yesterday ... our indian sisters say it's a high quality fruit and the vine I bought and planted is a very good stock. Well I also took a lot of care by watering and fertilising it regularly. There are 17 fruit on the vine to date. Looking forward to harvest them all.

I hoping to get some rest this afternoon and then I'll have to prepare next week's lessons. Last night I met up with my U. of S. Africa group of profs and students. They're leaving tomorrow morning and we wanted to say goodbye. They're a great lot and I enjoyed the afternoon sessions and excursions with them. I might decide to pick up another degree with them again. UNISA is the largest distance learning university in the world. I studied archeology and greek and library science with them many years ago.