Another book, travel, and good food in Boulder

I've just finished another book, Blood Brothers, I need to mention to others. I heard about it at a dinner recently where the guest of honor was a Palestinian Christian who spoke of the difficulties of living in the occupied West Bank. This book came up. It is the autobiography of Elias Chacour written in 1984 (new edition in 2004.) He is a Palestinian Christian (a Melkite - never heard of this sect before) and was born in a small village of Galilee. He makes lots of references to Jesus growing up in the same area. He weaves in the horrors of the War of Independence (so named by the Israelis) and a childhood in an idyllic setting. He went on to become a priest, studied at Hebrew University (first Palestinian admitted) and in Paris and returned to Galilee with the life work of reconciliation between the blood brothers - Arab and Jew -the commonn descendants of Abraham. It is a story of faith, hard work, small successes at the personal level against the backdrop of massive political and economic forces that control the Israeli-Palestinian mess. It provides a glimmer of hope, of personal valor, and human decency in that Zionist controlled country. I had a very personal response to the story - a combination of a number of years when I thought I'd go into the Episcopal Ministry, the realization in 1977 of how the average Americans view of Israel has been corrupted by the Jewish Lobby and the press, and the fact Israel was established in 1948 when I was 20 so I have lived my adult life with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as background. I think it is worth reading by everyone and particularly thought of Matt as I read it.

We leave for NH on Wednesday -three days in Boston with Paul, Saturday in Portsmouth seeing the Davises and Millers (separately), then Concord's Holiday Inn for two nights, and Anne's from Tuesday through Thursday and back here the 18th in time for Saturday's Boulder Philharmonic Concert.

This has been Denver Restaurant Week and 17 local Boulder Restaurant joined in providing us with some fine food. They offer a three course dinner for a set price - $26 pp. We go for our third dinner tomorrow night and they are at upper quality places - Greenbriar Inn, Arugula, and the St. Julien Hotel have been our choices. Pretty neat price if you don't have a drink!