While all the dirty bargaining is going on in the government, I take comfort in my friends. The other night it was the wonderful book club I’m part of, which changed my mood from black (politics) to white (wisdom and warmth).

Today too we were bathed in warmth and hope, having gone up to Nazareth to visit a sick friend I was worried about. Against the background of the Christmas tree, the nativity scene, the amazing landscape, and the incredibly beautiful home, we shared a beautiful morning as the recovering patient kept displacing his elegant Persian cat to serve dish after dish of sweets, fruits, liquours, tea, and coffee. When we arrived home, the alley cat who has adopted us greeted us in the parking lot and accompanied us to our apartment, which looked incredibly messy and dingy to me, with our genuinely vintage furniture and our view of other buildings. The cat ate our leftover chopped liver and went to sleep on the bathroom rug as I counted my blessings. But why didn’t I take pictures?