We've been to Israel. We've been to Istanbul, but only for a few hours. On Tuesday, we return to Wyoming. In the meantime, we're in Switzerland.
We visited my Kabul friend Kate and her new husband Tim in Jerusalem. We saw most everything a Jew, Christian, or Muslim could hope to see in that city. And then we spent a few days further north, in Nazareth and on the Sea of Galilee.
The heat was around 110 degrees Fahrenheit when I forgot my guidebook at the Primacy of Peter (so-called by the Roman church because it was where by tradition, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Jesus, over barbecued fish, and then told Peter to feed his sheep thus establishing the papacy) site, and had to walk back and get it. It was evocative, to be there in those places, imagining the hardworking, musky fishermen who didn't have air conditioning 2,000 years ago.
We visited my Kabul friend Kate and her new husband Tim in Jerusalem. We saw most everything a Jew, Christian, or Muslim could hope to see in that city. And then we spent a few days further north, in Nazareth and on the Sea of Galilee.
The heat was around 110 degrees Fahrenheit when I forgot my guidebook at the Primacy of Peter (so-called by the Roman church because it was where by tradition, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Jesus, over barbecued fish, and then told Peter to feed his sheep thus establishing the papacy) site, and had to walk back and get it. It was evocative, to be there in those places, imagining the hardworking, musky fishermen who didn't have air conditioning 2,000 years ago.
Hosts and friends
Sea of Galilee
New dress
View from the Mount of Olives
I wasn't able to watch the Olympics full-time this year, but did managed to see a few events. My favorite human interest story was Katie Taylor of Ireland winning gold in inaugural women's lightweight boxing. Tim is from Ireland and friends with her brother. The Taylor family has a boxing tradition, Katie learned to shadowbox from her champion father, and he's now her coach.
Tim set up a fine projector system and we along with the whole of Ireland, the tv reports said "hundreds of thousands" of people, took the afternoon to watch the bout (though maybe only we were eating olives, sheep's cheese, and pickled almond spread on pita as snacks).
I basically know nothing about the sport, but Katie was down to her Russian nemesis in the middle of the contest and fought her way back to win. Her reputation is of a humble and extremely hardworking person who is grateful to God for what she has, the sort you imagine an entire nation being wholeheartedly proud to count a hero. It was fun to ride their coattails.
A stopover in Istanbul, Turkey, at the Aya Sophia
When I was young, we had a children's book about an anthropomorphic little animal who had "too much birthday." That is, too much of a good thing, occasionally resulting in tears. We're there now with this grand adventure, ready to get home* and sit a spell.
*To the home of whoever will have us, usually our gracious parents.
*To the home of whoever will have us, usually our gracious parents.
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