Goodbye Kevin

Pahd Krapao

 Tuesday evening the superior of the Capuchin friars invited me over for dinner. They have a lovely plot of land in the western side of Jerusalem ... several buildings and a small pine forest and a large farming area. It's very tranquil and quite unlike the rest of bustling Jerusalem beyond its walls. The Superior Fr Kevin has ended his term and will return to India next week. I was one of his first friends when he arrived 5 years back ... I was to preside the Mass of India's Independence Day with some 3000 indians, when he arrived and I asked him to preside instead. He has been a good friend and very helpful by allowing us to use the capuchin monastery for retreats and conferences. He even used the monastery to house quarantined religious coming from the airport. He's very generous. We will all miss him greatly and wish him a fruitful ministry back in India.

I'm still basking from the great lunch at Thai House on Tuesday afternoon ... just a simple meal of home food is all I need to make my summer happy. I had Pahd Krapao or stir fried basil with meat on white rice. It's a poor man's food back in Thailand ,,, any available meat roughly chopped and fried with Thai Holy Basil. I love it. And it's topped with a sunny-side-up egg.

The big news around the country is ... a crocodile has been sighted by Israeli soldiers along the Sea of Galilee. It might have escaped from a nearby crocodile farm ... and that area borders with Jordan. Soldiers form the 2 countries are co-ordinating in their search for that reptile.

We just learned that an Israeli NGO has hired planes to save christians in Afghanistan. Very magnanimous. The tensions at the Gaza border seem to have subsided after 4 bights of bloody clashes. Up north there is no news of clashes with Syria or Lebanon. Maybe things are getting better. But next week begins the series of Jewish High Holy Days that stretch a good 4 weeks .... anything can happen.