Can you dig that?

This afternoon I went to Har HaZatim (Mt. of Olives) with one of our buses. They were supposed to be helping clean up some of the graves that are still in disrepair after having been destroyed by the Jordanians during their time in the area. We didn't get to do any work in the end but while we were learning about the area, an Arab man on a white donkey rode by. Jewish legend tells us that the Messiah will arrive on a white donkey and ride through Har HaZatim to begin the resurrection. I'm pretty sure it wasn't him, but....

Tonight I went to Beit Guvrin with the groups. It's a series of underground caves that is also an active archeological dig. I did not dig. I also did not crawl through the caves. The groups always find something - minimally, shards of pottery. Sometimes our groups find cool things like vases and statues. Tonight - just shards. (Why is this night different from all others?)

Tomorrow I'm headed back up North for 2 more nights. I'm not sure yet where I'm staying (I have a reservation, I just don't know where). I'm always excited to be up North. The weather's been good, it's beautiful, and the driving is easy. just fyi - this means no updates here :(

I'll also probably be in Tsfat for the first of hopefully many times this round. I love Tsfat, but I'm not really sure why. It's not for the bazillion steps. And it's not for the food. I think I like that they enjoy a liberal use of bright blue paint. On doors, on balcony railings, on window frames. It was because of Tsfat that I wanted the front door of our house painted blue. For those of you who haven't been there, Tsfat is like the Sedona of Israel.

I did decide not to buy any more prints from my favorite artist (Morris Dahan) while I'm there. With all of the money we've spent on framing, we could have brought him in to paint a mural on our wall instead. But it was exciting last week when I was up there that one of our staff people found his studio and bought one of the same seriographs we have. All this said, I'm sure I'll stop by and say hello and try not to look too closely to his new runs....