Dawn at Wadi Qelt

I have to laugh at the profile pic I used -- an old pic in a rainstorm wearing a parka up in the cascades. I did bring a parka here -- thought I'd never use it -- until this morning. The plan was to get up at 4:00 and head out shortly thereafter to Wadi Qelt, the main route from Capernaum to Jerusalem back in Jesus's day. There we would read passages from scripture about the Good Samaritan who help the poor guy assaulted by bandits in Wadi Qelt so long ago. And then watch the sun come up over the mountains of Moab -- which today, of course, conceal Amman, Jordan.





Brisk breezes convinced me to pull out that parka -- and I did wear it for the first half hour or so. Dawn was stunning -- witness the pic above -- and the moments we spent were profound.







Then the Bedouin folks started drifting in -- first a one-armed guy in a white caftan, and then a couple of cute black donkeys, and finally camels -- vide supra. Nearly all of us succumbed to offers of one souvenir or other -- I, even I, bargained for a arab-style scarf for five bucks. American dollars go a LONG way stll here -- I have yet to change any money into shekels.

Following the Wadi Qelt Bedu, we headed off to fabled Qumran, to wander amongst the ruins a while -- MUCH too briefly for my taste, as I had hoped to climb up to one of the other caves, Cave Four is plainly visible from much of Qumran's ruins, but Cave One is a kilometer away, and the powers that be wouldn't let us take the time to run up to it.

Afternoon in Jerusalem ended with a most pleasant pot of coffee and scoops of ice cream in the garden of the fabled American Colony Hotel, just a block or so north of St Georges. Couldn't resist checking out the shops there, although most of us resisted temptation -- having already spent a bunch at Abraham's shop right across from St G's campus. Also got to spend a half hour with the new Canon of the diocese, Bob Edmund.