Used to 10 months of eternal blue skies and warmth, the two months of adverse weather can throw this country's populations into a panic. Snow was forecast, and roads and public services began to close. After two days back at school, I went to pick up Rashimi through the pelting slush in the car, and came back with three children - including the Lozenge and a little blonde friend of his from school. The to-do list carefully crafted two days before, was thrown by the wayside as the dwarves and I embarked on a second holiday a few days after the last one had ended.
If only there had actually been some real snow. But in the end it was just the higher towns such as Hebron and Ramallah who got it. We had slush on already mulchy leaves, so we had to come up with some other alternatives to building snow men.
With Laurie's little friend (a girl to add some female zen to the ranks...) we made cupcakes and watched a film. But the dwarf den was a boisterous affair for a female only child used to calm and harmony, and even after I'd wiped my diary and locked the door to my den so I could be around for them, she didn't want to come back the next day. I felt a little bit sad about this. As did the Lozenge, and in his prayers that night he said: 'Please God can she come back tomorrow even if it'th just the morning or the afternoon.' Sadly the prayer was left unanswered.
But we found a male friend to hang with instead and raced around the Science Museum fiddling and tinkering with everything available. And at least small males look overjoyed when they're tackled or grabbed for a playful but no less forceful wrangle.
Day three of the snow break, and the Lozenge announced he'd like to make a model of Jewoothalem. (internal gulp). I suggested building with matchboxes and using the sticks for trees, cars and people. We set out onto the stormy roads in the car to find a bulk buy of the equivalent of Scottish Bluebell. But all matches in the shops had been sold out to locals panic buying for the cold snap. We returned home to discover that the cardboard stock pile stuffed behind the kitchen door for moments like this was more than was required. And though it didn't quite do justice to the Holy City - the Lozenge was delighted with the result. And then he whipped up a cake with entirely his own recipe - and a diminutive naked sous-chef on hand. My one involvement was suggesting baking powder, and I just managed to rescue the cake before it hit the top of the cooker.
Our wonderful friend Zoe arrived, literally in a flash of lightening as her Easyjet plane was hit by one as it tried to land. She had a lengthy journey on the tourist train from Tel Aviv and got to us in the early hours one morning. The dwarves were enraptured by an energetic blonde, in this case unperturbed by their boisterousness and up for doing 'the crab dance' or crafts at any time of day. 'Let'th get crafty', suggested the Lozenge to her. Rashimi, while removing his trousers and sweater shrieked: 'Let'th get naked!'
While she was staying J and I managed to make Rashimi go cold turkey on his dummy which he'd become so attached to he had a permanent mouth rash. It took only one night of complaining for it to be forgotten. Zoe suggested taking it back to London and photographing it in famous locations such as in front of the Houses of Parliament or the London Eye and sending him the pictures. 'London for Dummies'. But we didn't think he'd be amused.
We spent the ten days she was here exploring - trips to Bethlehem, Hebron, the Dead Sea and the Old City and having fun dinners and nights out with different friends. We've met some brilliant people here. After the storm, the blue sky returned and at last, the promised ground covering of snow which one Saturday morning, lightened our house like a giant reflector blanket, sending the brightness back in through our windows. Calmed and contented by a few extra days holiday, the Lozenge and I sat under a blanket on the sofa that morning in the bright room, he watching Donald Duck, and I reading The Goldfinch. Then Rashimi emerged from bed and watched Paw Patrol about puppy super heroes on a separate appliance. Disfunctional maybe. But peace and harmony reigned after a few days of settling back into life together.
Now we're making the most of all those puddles.
And the to do list was waiting for me one week later.
Mohammed Ali once said: 'It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe.' Initially it was as if I had two little pebbles in my welly boots, but they felt much nicer when I took them out and held their soft contours in my hand for a while as I walked on a bit of a detour.
If only there had actually been some real snow. But in the end it was just the higher towns such as Hebron and Ramallah who got it. We had slush on already mulchy leaves, so we had to come up with some other alternatives to building snow men.
With Laurie's little friend (a girl to add some female zen to the ranks...) we made cupcakes and watched a film. But the dwarf den was a boisterous affair for a female only child used to calm and harmony, and even after I'd wiped my diary and locked the door to my den so I could be around for them, she didn't want to come back the next day. I felt a little bit sad about this. As did the Lozenge, and in his prayers that night he said: 'Please God can she come back tomorrow even if it'th just the morning or the afternoon.' Sadly the prayer was left unanswered.
But we found a male friend to hang with instead and raced around the Science Museum fiddling and tinkering with everything available. And at least small males look overjoyed when they're tackled or grabbed for a playful but no less forceful wrangle.
Day three of the snow break, and the Lozenge announced he'd like to make a model of Jewoothalem. (internal gulp). I suggested building with matchboxes and using the sticks for trees, cars and people. We set out onto the stormy roads in the car to find a bulk buy of the equivalent of Scottish Bluebell. But all matches in the shops had been sold out to locals panic buying for the cold snap. We returned home to discover that the cardboard stock pile stuffed behind the kitchen door for moments like this was more than was required. And though it didn't quite do justice to the Holy City - the Lozenge was delighted with the result. And then he whipped up a cake with entirely his own recipe - and a diminutive naked sous-chef on hand. My one involvement was suggesting baking powder, and I just managed to rescue the cake before it hit the top of the cooker.
Our wonderful friend Zoe arrived, literally in a flash of lightening as her Easyjet plane was hit by one as it tried to land. She had a lengthy journey on the tourist train from Tel Aviv and got to us in the early hours one morning. The dwarves were enraptured by an energetic blonde, in this case unperturbed by their boisterousness and up for doing 'the crab dance' or crafts at any time of day. 'Let'th get crafty', suggested the Lozenge to her. Rashimi, while removing his trousers and sweater shrieked: 'Let'th get naked!'
While she was staying J and I managed to make Rashimi go cold turkey on his dummy which he'd become so attached to he had a permanent mouth rash. It took only one night of complaining for it to be forgotten. Zoe suggested taking it back to London and photographing it in famous locations such as in front of the Houses of Parliament or the London Eye and sending him the pictures. 'London for Dummies'. But we didn't think he'd be amused.
We spent the ten days she was here exploring - trips to Bethlehem, Hebron, the Dead Sea and the Old City and having fun dinners and nights out with different friends. We've met some brilliant people here. After the storm, the blue sky returned and at last, the promised ground covering of snow which one Saturday morning, lightened our house like a giant reflector blanket, sending the brightness back in through our windows. Calmed and contented by a few extra days holiday, the Lozenge and I sat under a blanket on the sofa that morning in the bright room, he watching Donald Duck, and I reading The Goldfinch. Then Rashimi emerged from bed and watched Paw Patrol about puppy super heroes on a separate appliance. Disfunctional maybe. But peace and harmony reigned after a few days of settling back into life together.
Now we're making the most of all those puddles.
And the to do list was waiting for me one week later.
Mohammed Ali once said: 'It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe.' Initially it was as if I had two little pebbles in my welly boots, but they felt much nicer when I took them out and held their soft contours in my hand for a while as I walked on a bit of a detour.
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