Greetings, y’all. It’s been a busy past two weeks. The kids were home from school for a week during the Sukkot holiday, so we fit in several outings and events during that time to keep us from going stir crazy in the apartment. As a public service I did not take any photos of the kiddos and I watching Avengers Endgame: Encore Edition With Two Additional Scenes So That Audiences Don’t Go ‘But wait!’ When They Watch Avengers Doomsday.

Let’s dive in!

There’s a new, fluffier neighborhood ginger cat coming round for meal service: Miley.

Someone pantsed a mannequin at the mall. That’s just rude. Or…was it the other mannequin?

Okay. Sukkot and sukkahs. Sukkoths are temporary dwellings put up during the holiday of Sukkot, meant to represent the shelters used by the Israelites during their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. There are criteria to be met in order for a sukkah to be considered kosher: three walls of wood, canvas or metal, with a roof made of organic material like branches or palm fronds.

This sukkah, spotted in a neighborhood near the kids’ school, really captures the spirit of the sukkah.

In an urban environment it is not surprising to see balcony-based sukkahs such as these.

I didn’t do as much sukkah sightseeing as I wanted to, but there was a noticeable encampment of them near Christy’s church in the Old City. This is one view of several sukkahs set up on an adjoining square.

This is the view from the other side of the square. That is the bell tower at Christy’s church in the background.

During Sukkot, sukkahs are equipped with temporary beds for those who want to sleep in them overnight. It is expected that all meals are taken in the sukkah during the holiday (see the Blazin’ Boards ad in my previous post), so there is quite a bit of entertaining that happens in the sukkahs during the holiday (which lasts for a little over a week).

Party on. Google Translate was all over the map with this: “Bashar”, “fragrance”, “island”, “in no time.”

This was festive.

This was at the IKEA in Tel Aviv…

…which reminds you to let our your inner girlie.

During the Sukkot holiday you will see many people carrying the Four Species used to celebrate the holiday: a citrus fruit (eg, a lemon), a date palm frond, myrtle twigs, and willow twigs. You will see these being carried in specialized cases like this young man is holding.

Or you improvise.

We also attended a 175th Anniversary celebration for Talitha Kumi School in Beit Jala. It started as a German Evangelical Lutheran girls’ school (“Talitha Kumi” translates roughly as “Get up, girl!”) in 1851, and became a co-ed school in 1980.

The night’s headline act was Apo & The Apostles.

The kids were diggin’ it.

We also squeezed in another trip to the beach in Tel Aviv. That’s us fair-skinned folk there at the water’s edge.

You’ll also get varying schools of modesty existing in the same space.

As well as those seeking a moment of Zen.

We wrapped up the weekend with a silent sunset tower climb at the Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives. That’s Sadie on the right, watching the sun drop behind the high-rises.

Lest anyone was worried about her letting the solemnity of the moment affect her too much.

We were unprepared for these bells going off at 6:00pm. They wuz loud.