Views from my windows

I'm leaving Israel in only a couple of days - unfortunately, I must return to the U.S. and to my job and the mounds of work it requires. But in the meantime, here are some views from the windows of my apartment. I was inspired to do this by Andrew Sullivan's long-running series of photos of window views sent to him by readers from around the world. I also thought of doing this early this morning. It was a very cool and pleasant night in Jerusalem - the heat wave of last week finally broke - and I left the windows open and the fan off. I woke up at about 5:45 a.m., which is about the time of sunrise. I got up and looked out the window of my bedroom and saw a several cats sitting and cleaning themselves, including one cute pair next to a tree, one of whom was licking the other. I should have taken a photo then, but instead I went back to sleep. When I woke again several hours later, when it was already much warmer, I looked out the window and saw one pair of cats, one switching its tail, the other, younger one, chasing the tail. When the older cat got tired of this she jumped up and pounced on the kitten and they rolled around for a while in the dirt. Very sweet.

So here's a picture out that window into the yard between my apartment building and the next one.

View out the dining room

View out the kitchen window

View out living room window

View out bathroom window

Travels around the world

This cartoon from Ted Rall expresses perfectly what people say to me every time I decide to go to Israel....