A Cold Winter's Night

it is 8:00 p.m. in the holy city of safed.  winter is officially here.  we are having torrential rains.  as you may know; we have been the recent victims of a country wide arson attack. 700,000 individuals were relocated.  many people lost their homes.  the hospitals were filled with smoke inhalation patients.  we were very lucky here in safed.  they predict a record amount of rain water in the next few days.

this evening we had a gathering to commemorate the 30th day of the passing of our dear friend.  it was truly hard to get out.  I thought about not going but I remembered her visiting me during the second Lebanon war.  if she could drive up here while ketushas were falling, I could certainly, get a bit wet.  I took a taxi to town but I was already wet before I entered the cab.  I couldn't find one umbrella in the house.  I must have trashed them before pesach.

I got off in town and stood under a bus shelter for about 15 minutes until it died down a bit.  I was quite wet but I was warm.  in fact, it was overheated at the chabad house.  I wore my very new turtle necked shawl that the kids bought me on their trip to Prague.  I found a knitted hat that the daughter-in-law had left behind, and it totally matched and I looked tres chic. I was wearing my every day denim skirt but it was camouflaged by the gorgeous knitted shawl.

I waited for the bus in town for a long while but it didn't rain.  it was quite cold but I was warm.  I stopped off to feed my friends' cat and came home.  it didn't pour, luckily, until I got home.  I helped myself to several bowls of warm chicken and lentil soup.  I had put up a pot before I left.  the  dogs got some too.  the kids invited me to come up there for dinner tomorrow night.  if the storm continues, I will have to decline. 

I have two books to read so if I am stuck home on Shabbat I will be entertained.  the house is quite cold.  I do put on an electric heater here and there to stay warm.  I spend a lot of time under my comforter with the dogs.  they don't like this weather much, either.  I went through 5 seasons of 'Veep' so there isn't much to see now.  I can start the 'game of thrones' but I don't think i'll have the staying power.  I got used to half an hour shows.  I love 'Divorce'.

I have been watching lots of documentaries on Leonard Cohen.  I have also been catching up on the trashy news about Kanye West.  I have been a die hard reality fan for years.  I find it very soothing to fall asleep to the noise.  the house is trashed by my dog, tiny's, muddy paw prints.  I might try to give the floors a mopping tomorrow.  if it's going to pour throughout Shabbat I won't.  I haven't had to pick up the kids in a couple of days.  it's too hard and costly to schlepp out in this weather.

I went downstairs today to close the windows. I had water leaking into my master bedroom.  the downstairs is much warmer than my floor.  most of it is built underground.  my blog/costume bedroom is absolutely freezing.  it is all outside walls.  I keep on a small blow heater while I blog.  I noticed the other day that; during a recent wind storm; a bedroom shutter had blown off.   I also found that my large plastic picnic table had blown into the garden and broken a leg.  bummer!

it had stood under a wooden shelter for 17 years.  it never had as much as a scratch.  go know.  the winds have been quite menacing for days.  it might even snow.  it went from a very dry, warm and sunny fall to a very wet and very cold winter in just a day or two.  who knows what will be.  they had predicted a dry winter but since all of the arson lately. the country has collectively, been praying for rain.

I have been sticking to a diet lately of mostly veggies, protein and salad.  I haven't been eating gluten, and have only eaten a bit of bread on Shabbat.  I had a craving for oranges yesterday and indulged my craving.  otherwise, I haven't had any fruit.  I have eaten green lentils on Shabbat but have stayed away from potatoes and rice.  I have been buying a really thick lentil soup in town every day. I have also tried to stick to smaller portions and fill up on greens.  I hope I will lose a bit of weight before my next gyn/oncology appointment in two weeks.

I have scheduled my brain surgery for the 16th of January.  I am pretty scared.  I received the paperwork in the mail and went into a sheer panic attack.  I am not sure if I am doing the right thing or not.  I may have jumped the proverbial gun.  only time will tell.  please pray for me.