Israel 4

March 14, 2019

Rain. Rose and walked through Joppa to the sea, in and out of driving rain. The beautiful sea sent up a mane of salty mist. A red cat ran to me when I opened my bag. He was used to having treats given to him when people open their bags, and I felt improvident that I had nothing. He let me pat his head, but he grumbled at me all down the beach. This trip has been fine and good and memorable. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Never have. The woman in the bookstore knew that the bird I had wondered about is a mynah.

Just after I went to bed, sirens began to wail. They wailed like a terrible old war movie. Then there was an explosion and the wailing stopped.  Discovered the next day that mortars had been fired from the Gaza Strip for the first time in several years. Most were filtered out by the defense screen, but one had landed, by the sound of it not far from us. War in a city is loud, and chilling.