This is a picture of the beautiful Bahai temple and gardens as seen from below. These gardens, completed by the Bahais about 10 years ago (it was a several-year project), go from the bottom of Mount Carmel to the top. They are really spectacular. They are maintained by volunteers of the Bahai faith who come on pilgrimage to Haifa. They recycle the water from the fountains and are proud of the very small amount of water actually used! At night they are lit from top to bottom...

I'm embarrassed at how much I underestimated the importance of the Russia/Georgia affair. I'm sure by now you have read a lot about the situation as have I -- here in Israel the Russian threat is perceived as being extremely serious. Israel has lots of interests in that part of the world in addition to the fact that a large number of Israeli Jews come from there. There are many Israeli businesses invested there, for one thing, and now we have learned (if we didn't know it before) that there are oil and gas pipelines that run through these Balkan countries, deliberately sited to avoid Russia. I'm always appalled at how little I know. Perhaps you have to be a political scientist to know and understand all these things. I think I'm a pretty well-read citizen, but honestly, I know bupkas!!!

One thing is interesting about the situation from here: the Israeli government has been evacuating Israeli tourists from Georgia and now many Georgian Jews are seeking to immigrate. The fact that the government is evacuating Israeli citizens seems unusual to me -- does the US government evacuate US citizens who are traveling in places where there might be danger???

A couple of days ago I wandered around the lower part of Haifa with my camera (where I took the picture of the gardens)and came upon some interesting graffiti on a wall where things were being torn down. So the graffiti pictures are my latest contribution to your enjoyment of Israel!!!


A close-up: do you think this grafitti artist was dyslexic??? Or influenced by the fact that Hebrew is written right to left???


Love, Pat