Rain

This weekend, it rained. In Jerusalem. In September. It’s been a very early-autumn atmosphere the last week or so, warm during the day, with some scattered clouds, obscuring direct (and sweat-inducing) sunlight; and then cool at night. It’s been a lovely change.

But Friday, in the early afternoon, I was walking to lunch with Lisa, and she kept saying, “Oh it’s going to rain today. We’re getting our first rain today. I just felt a rain drop? Didn’t you just feel that? It’s going to rain today.” I was slightly dubious, although the clouds scattered in the sky did look and feel ominous and dark, like any rain cloud that is very pregnant with rain and cannot wait to expel it’s little baby droplets. But I shrugged it off: it’s September! When does it rain in September?

Well, apparently in 2008. We’re walking through Independence Park on our way to Tmol Shilshon’s scrumptious Friday morning brunch buffet, when I see droplets on my Naot, staining my leather. Uh-oh. I look up, and get two drops right in the eye. Jerks. So, yes, it’s raining. Well, at this point rain is a generous term. It’s sprinkling; but it’s still warm and slightly muggy. It feels very much like LA weather.

The rest of the day it sprinkles a little, but nothing too extreme. Friday night, as I’m heading to bed after a wonderful Shabbat dinner, I hear a crash and an explosion of rain. Not just a sprinkling, but instead a downpour. A real raining. It’s a very pleasant sound to fall asleep to.

Saturday, Meredith and Ari come over for a French Toast/movie/challah-making lazy Shabbat, and when they walk in, they’re pretty wet – because they got rained on. And then periodically throughout the afternoon, the skies open up and throngs of rain come crashing down. It’s marvelous. Apparently it rained all over the country, and in my book this is a great sign. Israel desperately needs one wet winter to help ease its water shortage, and if this is that winter, it’s going to be a doozy.