Summer

Planting lettuce

Yesterday saw 781 viewers ... and I didn't update the blog for 2 days. The stalkers are not leaving me alone.

Well, we're in June and the summer weather is hitting us hard. Daily temp runs around 30 degrees but the nights are chilly. Yesterday evening at 6pm, I| had to wear a hoodie to walk home as there was a very strong chilly wind blowing. The holiday mood is in the air ... and I'll try this year to go on vacation ... like I've been trying for the past 10 years.

Vegetable planting doesn't stop even in summer. The other day I went down to our vegetable garden and the provincial house and they had transplanted lettuce seedlings into the ground. The melons are also fruiting, as are the grapes. Kiwi fruit will fruit only in winter but the vines are huge, growing by the shade. I like to take a walk around the vegetable garden ... it's a little but of greenery and life in an otherwise concrete jungle.

Tensions are potentially brewing as engineers are warning the wooden bridge bringing non-muslims into the Al Aqsa compound, is falling apart. But any replacement would provoke a strong reaction from the muslims who see this as another attempt to incur into muslim space. I guess there'll never be a shortage of reasons if violence is the aim. Last night a group of extremist jewish youths who pass by our street every Friday and Saturday to spit at us, decided to walk down our street at 10pm, vandalising arab cars and shouting zionist slogans. The arab neighbourhood came out and a scuffle broke out directly below my window. Police came to protect the jewish youths and sent them off while keeping the arabs at bay. And the youths walked off encouraged, emboldened and stopped at our door to spit at us.