A Short Walk

A short walk to the health clinic this morning yielded these chance views:  Some beautiful blue flowers on a fence...

An amazing white flower with long purple spikes growing out of a wall...

And three sweet young children, sitting in the window and singing. In Israel, our windows are large, probably to let in ventilation because central air conditioning is a rarity, and also to let in the abundance of light, which we love. Because the windows are so big, each one must be covered by iron bars, so children won't fall out.  This gives a lovely place for them to sit and watch the world go by.

This little scene brought tears to my eyes. Today is the 9th day of the Jewish month of Av, a very solemn day for the Jewish people, as we recall the tragic events of our history--the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the exile of the Jews from Israel, the Holocaust in Europe, and other sad occurences. How many times our foes attempted to wipe us out! But here, in this window, is a sign of hope, of optimism for the future...children, a new generation, singing in the window.