Last week Jerusalem, Israel, was a winter wonderland,
snowing hard enough that even friends from Norway and Canada commented.
However, by Friday afternoon it had warmed enough that
our snowman was not looking so good and had lost one radish eye.
A few dirty old piles of snow and ice are still around,
while piles of downed branches line many Jerusalem streets.
Large limbs of trees fell near the Prime Minister’s residence,
and many large trees like this one came down because of the weather.
In the Davidka Square, all the newly planted trees were ruined;
only one branch was left dangling after the snow damage was cleaned up.
When the sun came out and temperatures warmed up, not everyone
seemed to be bothered by the branches that littered the sidewalks.
Post-snowstorm, there is still plenty to clean up on the streets,
but if you are looking for ice,
you’ll have to go once again to the Machane Yehuda market, the shuk,
where the fish shops are filled with fresh fish on ice.
At the shuk, fresh figs were on sale yesterday ahead of Tu B’Shvat,
the New Year for trees, ten days from now:
a perfect time to plant new trees.
