Pampering myself, I took a taxi from Hofit to Jerusalem: expensive but easy and comfortable, and I had enough buses for awhile. I am staying, for 3 nights at the St. Andrews Scottish Church guest house–inexpensive but comfortable and nicely located. My knee is much better, the warmer weather having had a miraculous effect, and I was able to take a long walk through the German Colony with its many wonderful old buildings, shops and coffee houses. The weather began to change, with rain and cold predicted for the weekend. I bought a banana, a persimmon, an orange and some cashews for a light lunch and returned to the hotel.
All of my friends, except Yona, live in Jerusalem, so I am visiting one family each day. Shabat dinner (Friday night), was a boisterous family event with Elliot, Yaffa, two daughters, sils, three grandchildren and lots of good food. I can’t remember when I’ve been with so many small children. Elliot is Steve’s cousin. He and I did some business together back in New Jersey and I hadn’t seen him for several years. It was fun to see everyone but much of the conversation was in Hebrew and was impossible for me. I am not happy in an English-speaking crowd, let alone one where I know only about a fifth of the words and can’t always understand the accents. I suspect one of the sils doesn’t know much English and that was the problem. I spent the time watching the kids.
Saturday morning I met Shalmit and Noya, her nine month old daughter, at the Israel museum. Shalmit was in Pittsburgh studying Japanese art history when she became part of my family, so Noya is like my great grandchild. We didn’t look at much art but spent the day talking while I played with Noya. Great fun; she’s a lovely baby. And even though it has become quite cold here I was able to walk the whole day without much pain.