Well...It Did

So I started to write this last night, but the power kept going out, as it had been doing the night before last. It was a lot of fun for it to snow in Jerusalem, but I really hope that's it for the season. And I'm a huge lover of winter and snow storms. Starting Tuesday afternoon it was incredibly windy and remained so until Thursday afternoon. And this wind was bitter, and it literally got into my bones. Couple that with precipitation that sporadically changed from rain to freezing rain to sleet to slush to ice to hail to snow and backwards and forwards and somewhere in between and you have a big, nasty mess. If we could have a calm, peaceful snow that falls overnight giving way to a beautiful and windless day, then by all means bring it on. But from what I can tell that is not how it happens here in Jerusalem. Overall, most people are saying that we got about 4 inches of snow. I had good intentions about getting up early Wednesday morning to go walk around and take pictures, but the wind was fierce and blowing around all of the mixed precipitation that I mentioned above, and I just didn't feel like braving it. I expected it to let up, which it didn't do, so I finally got bundled up and walked to the windmill park to take some photos. Afterwards I had to walk to a meeting I had scheduled with someone. I arrived quite wet from all of the slush on the ground and in the sky. When I left I walked down the hill to a main road to catch a cab home, and no sooner did I blink when a car drove by and gave me a full body splash from a giant puddle. I was soaked and freezing to the core and had to wait another 10 minutes until a cab would stop. I have found that trying to catch a cab in Jerusalem when it is rainy or snowy is about as easy as it is to do the same in New York City, i.e. nearly impossible. The snow et al continued through Wednesday night and Thursday morning. I left the house early Thursday afternoon to go to the shuk and got to take some more photos, and I happily stayed much drier than I had the day before. Families, kids, couples, singles...pretty much everyone was out at some point enjoying this rare occurrence. I was asked to take pictures for other people -- I wasn't sharp enough to count to 3 in Hebrew, so a big loud "smile!" was my cue that I was about to take the picture. A few things that I'm not used to seeing: 1) a snowman standing next to a palm tree and 2) people removing snow from sidewalks by hosing down the snow and using a large squeegee to push the slush away (everyone in Israel has tile floors and cleans them with squeegees). Today was sunny and warmer, yet some snow has continued to stick around. Jerusalem is nothing but hills and valleys, so some areas never really feel the kiss of the sun. And the extended outlook: the low 60s the beginning of next week. I used to be a cold weather person, but living in a country with stone and tile everything and in an apartment with no central heat has made me quite the complainer, so a dose of the 60s sounds wonderful. Maybe Los Angeles weather won't be such a bad thing after all.

http://www.dropshots.com/Marah# Look for January 30 and January 31 for pictures of the snow. I'm pretty sure I've put other pictures up on the site but haven't told you about it, such as my photos of Christmas Eve in the Old City of Jerusalem and Bethlehem -- I still need to blog about that. I plan to do some upkeep in the near future and will let you know when there's new stuff to look at.

Shabbat shalom from J'lem!