At long last...

Apologies, my friends, for the long break since the last post. Unfortunately, I can't blame the hiatus on any writers' strike -- the union left bloggers out of the contract talks, so I am left writing in the same pitiful working conditions as before.

In fact, the situation has only worsened since my Dell Inspiron could not be roused out of sleep mode two weeks ago. Because it was still under warranty I searched for the nearest Dell service provider, who happened to be based in Ramallah. I decided to check for the second closest and found one who was based in Herzilya, a town just north of Tel Aviv. Why there is no service provider in Jersualem -- not a single one -- I still do not understand. Long story short I rented a car, drove to Herzliya, got extremely lost when I decided to try a short cut and now two and a half weeks later I am still without my laptop. Today Asher from Dell delivered the unhappy news that the motherboard they ordered and had hoped would fix the problem was itself defective and they would have to order a new one. In a cruel irony, the name Asher in Hebrew means "happy"!

The other reason for the long delay between posts is that the past few weeks have been crazy. The first week of March I met Emily in Italy, then I came back here and had a week to put the finishing touches on my Albright presentation that would summarize my research here in Jerusalem, and then my mom and our family friend Elizabeth arrived for Holy Week here.

It would be too much to describe my trip with Emily and my adventures with mom and Elizabeth in Jerusalem, but here are some captioned photos to give a little taste of the fun:
Here is Emily in front of the Venice train station just after our arrival. Behind her is the Grand Canal.

Here is some charming public art in Venice: Bring on the carnivale!

Emily was very enthusiastic about the pizza in Italy!

Here we are looking out over the Florence skyline.

And later on the Ponte Vecchio with the Arno River in the background.

Me in Rome enjoying a cappuccino for breakfast.

Emily sitting in front of the Gesu (Jesuit) church in Rome.

Sometimes I feel like the Vatican is always looking over my shoulder...


Emily waiting in line to enter the Vatican Museums.


Emily makes a new friend.

I am overcome with violent jealousy.


Here are my mom and I at Tel Dan in the extreme north of Israel with Lebanon stretching out behind us.


Here are mom and Elizabeth making their way down the steep Mount of Olives.

And finally here is mom and me in the Garden of Gethsemane.

It's been an awesome few weeks, and these pictures are just the beginning. Hopefully, I'll get back to posting regularly on the blog now that things have settled down a bit. In the meantime, here's to a happy Easter!