Juliette of Jerusalem

As your days are getting longer, ours are getting shorter! Fall officially begins here this week, on Thursday, 1 March. (They don't wait until the Fall {or "Autumn," in Aussies} equinox for some reason.) This morning I had the 7 am Mass and was greeted by a magnificent sunrise. These are photos of clouds in the West (1-2). I couln't get a great shot of the sunrise and the Eastern clouds as I was late for Mass and some buildings were getting in my shot. Trust me it was gorgeous! I wish you were here to see it personally!

I met Juliette (3) very early after coming here to Australia. She loves the way I celebrate Mass, as I chant some of the parts as they did back in Israel. We became friends when she shared how she was born in Jerusalem and I shared I had visited once on pilgrimage. According to her, Jerusalem is "the best!" because Jesus was from there. (I didn't have the heart to tell her that technically, Jesus came from Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth!)

Anyway, she invited me over for a meal today (Sunday) at her home. All the food she makes from scratch. Cooking the raw chickpeas, mashing them up and then turning them into hummus (4) and falafel (6) and cutting up the parsley for the tabuli. All is done by hand (5). She doesn't like food processors or anything from the cans. I think she doesn't trust what they put in the stuff and wants to keep it all natural. Anyway, it was a feast for me, though she claims that this is food served when fasting! I tried to explain that one should never fast on a Sunday. As this was feast for me and fast for her, I think we both went away happy!