Snow and hail

Caesarea Maritime covered in hail

Snow and hail this morning in most parts of Israel. Even the most unexpected places such as Caesarea Maritima, the ancient capital during the Roman and Byzantine period, was white with hail and ice. Fascinating because Caesarea is by the Mediterranean Sea which is warm and humid, hence snow and hail are extremely rare. Northern parts of the country like the Golan was covered in snow. So much snow that the ski resort had to close because the roads were too dangerous for driving.

The rains had started to fall last night followed by hail. Jerusalem though had no snow. It might have had some hail but by morning nothing was left except puddles of water. This week is my turn to go to the Ivrea convent to celebrate Mass for the 3 old nuns. It's about 1km away in East Jerusalem. And Mass begins at 6am so I have to leave about 5.30am to get there on time. The walk there is cold, wet and miserable. But the sisters serve a great breakfast that makes the journey worthwhile.

Almond blossoms

The rest of the day was cold and very cloudy. Drizzle was almost constant and there were occasional heavy showers. I haven't recovered from the weekend exhaustion, so the thought of walking to work in this weather was unpleasant. But I did finally go. My right shoulder was killing me with sharp pain - the old problem has not healed - and I had a couple of asthma attacks. Anyway right now 6.09 pm I finished my work and am planning to sleep early.

Spring is certainly in because the almond trees are blooming. Not profusely as previous years but there are a couple of trees near the Old City that have burst into flowers. It's the Middle Eastern counterpart of the Japanese cherry blossom. They are very pretty - in pink or white - and they are very strongly perfumed. However due to the unexpected and unusual cold snap that we're experiencing, I guess most of the almond trees will take another week before they flower.