"Autumn" in Israel

Last week the temps dropped to ... 70F, and people started wearing wool sweaters, sweatshirts, and heavy jackets! I'm still stifling, except at night, when it goes to about 65F!

Tonight, just at dusk, the power went out. Nothing to do but light a bunch of candles, finally do the dishes (!) and then sit in my little room doing sudokus, listening to mellow Chet Baker jazz on the computer, and drinking a nice red wine!

Am off to Vienna on Sat 6 AM --such uncivilized departure times here! Have booked my ticket to the Lipizzaner horse show at the Spanish Riding School (my little-girl wish come true!) for Sunday. We will do 9 concerts in 10 days, starting in Vienna commemmorating Kristallnacht, and finishing in Budapest for a closed reception dedicating a memorial to Daniel Pearl, where the US Ambassador will be in attendance.

I spoke with Rabbi Azari about Jaffo today--everything is up in the air. I wonder if I will lose that, too. Well, nothing I can do. He knows I am here to do whatever is needed, and heaven knows I have been patient. Why am I here?

Picked up another job, doing QA for a nice bunch of consultants who are building a business and website at the same time. Money is not great, but negotiable after 3 months, and I started today. It's more nit-picking, like I do for the National Institute for Testing and Evaluation (hereafter, NITE) (makes it sound like a spy agency!) I like the people I work for, and it is all from home, which is nice. So I think I have put together mostly a living wage.

That's it for now...more after the trip!