Another rainy day

I mentioned in an earlier post on the endangered Kinneret that this year has been the driest on record in Israel.  The winter has been marked by mild temperatures, lots of sunshine, and very little rain. Great for walking and playing outdoors, not great for Israel’s water supply.  I’d have to look into it, but it seems Jewish practice in the Holy Land is to call for a national fast day when a certain amount of time passes without rain (during the period when the prayer for rain is said daily).

Last week we had a stormy (windy, rainy) few days, but when it was over, the word was that we would need six such storms in order to be able to water our gardens next summer.

Then, this past Friday, the sky opened up again.  Friday dawned sunny without a cloud in the sky, but about an hour after the kids were safely installed in their ganim and school, it clouded over, became quite dark, and began hailing.  All through Shabbat and into today, the storm has continued with almost constant strong wind, rain, hail, and this morning, wet snow.  Banana was hopeful she could stay home and build a snowman, but the ground is far too wet, and the snow quickly turned to rain again.  The sight of our sodden garden is delightful, with the kids’ wading pool (about 10 inches deep) nearly full of water.

(We took a winter holiday south to Eilat this year, but have promised the kids we’ll take them north another year to the Harmon, Israel’s snowy mountain resort in the Golan, for skiing and sledding.)

Banana has gone to gan and the other three kids are all home with colds.  I’m going back to bed after a night of 2 hours of sleep and 5 hours of being kicked, punched, and fussed at by a stuffy-nosed Bill.  But before I go, I’ve just got to say, “Baruch atah Hashem, mashiv haruach u’morid hageshem” (Blessed are you Hashem, blower of wind and feller of rain).

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