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	<id>https://ronware.org/w/index.php?action=history&amp;feed=atom&amp;title=Blog%2FDecember_2010%2FDec_17th</id>
	<title>Blog/December 2010/Dec 17th - Revision history</title>
	<link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ronware.org/w/index.php?action=history&amp;feed=atom&amp;title=Blog%2FDecember_2010%2FDec_17th"/>
	<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ronware.org/w/index.php?title=Blog/December_2010/Dec_17th&amp;action=history"/>
	<updated>2026-05-15T11:20:15Z</updated>
	<subtitle>Revision history for this page on the wiki</subtitle>
	<generator>MediaWiki 1.35.1</generator>
	<entry>
		<id>https://ronware.org/w/index.php?title=Blog/December_2010/Dec_17th&amp;diff=7146&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Ron at 08:15, 24 December 2010</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ronware.org/w/index.php?title=Blog/December_2010/Dec_17th&amp;diff=7146&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2010-12-24T08:15:28Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left diff-editfont-monospace&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
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				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 08:15, 24 December 2010&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l32&quot; &gt;Line 32:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 32:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;shabbat shalom!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;shabbat shalom!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/December 2010/Dec 10th|Dec 10th||}}&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/December 2010/Dec 10th|Dec 10th|&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Blog/December 2010/Dec 24th&lt;/ins&gt;|&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Dec 24th&lt;/ins&gt;}}&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Ron</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://ronware.org/w/index.php?title=Blog/December_2010/Dec_17th&amp;diff=7133&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Viviana at 12:59, 17 December 2010</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ronware.org/w/index.php?title=Blog/December_2010/Dec_17th&amp;diff=7133&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2010-12-17T12:59:19Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left diff-editfont-monospace&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 12:59, 17 December 2010&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l27&quot; &gt;Line 27:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 27:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;We &amp;#039;&amp;#039;did&amp;#039;&amp;#039; pray for rain, but that was just a bit over-the-top.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;We &amp;#039;&amp;#039;did&amp;#039;&amp;#039; pray for rain, but that was just a bit over-the-top.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Sarah has a &amp;#039;&amp;#039;shabbaton&amp;#039;&amp;#039; at her (former) high-school, so she will be mostly not with us.  However, we&amp;#039;ve got guests for dinner, and five seminary girls for lunch.  I mean to say, they&amp;#039;ll be here for lunch.  Hopefully they will be ok with:  roasted-eggplant with &amp;#039;&amp;#039;tehina&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, roasted vegetables, roasted beets, roast brisket (see a trend here?), chicken soup, chicken and vegetables in a pot, potato &amp;#039;&amp;#039;kugel&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, various homemade &amp;#039;&amp;#039;salatim&amp;#039;&amp;#039; and brownies.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Sarah has a &amp;#039;&amp;#039;shabbaton&amp;#039;&amp;#039; at her (former) high-school, so she will be mostly not with us.  However, we&amp;#039;ve got guests for dinner, and five seminary girls for lunch.  I mean to say, they&amp;#039;ll be here for lunch.  Hopefully they will be ok with:  roasted-eggplant with &amp;#039;&amp;#039;tehina&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, roasted vegetables, roasted beets, roast brisket (see a trend here?), chicken &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;with olives, mushroom barley &lt;/ins&gt;soup, chicken and vegetables in a pot, potato &amp;#039;&amp;#039;kugel&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, various homemade &amp;#039;&amp;#039;salatim&amp;#039;&amp;#039; and brownies.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Until next week,&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Until next week,&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Viviana</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://ronware.org/w/index.php?title=Blog/December_2010/Dec_17th&amp;diff=7132&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Viviana at 12:21, 17 December 2010</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ronware.org/w/index.php?title=Blog/December_2010/Dec_17th&amp;diff=7132&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2010-12-17T12:21:08Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left diff-editfont-monospace&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 12:21, 17 December 2010&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l23&quot; &gt;Line 23:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 23:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;We made it to the restaurant, but found the door difficult to open.  That was because inside the restaurant was several inches of standing water on the floor, and most of the staff was involved in pushing the great flood down an inadequate 4in drainpipe.  &amp;quot;Never mind&amp;quot;, they said, &amp;quot;have a seat in the dry area&amp;quot;. So that&amp;#039;s what we did, and I suppose it was a fine meal, but since I was still congested I have no idea what the food tasted like.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;We made it to the restaurant, but found the door difficult to open.  That was because inside the restaurant was several inches of standing water on the floor, and most of the staff was involved in pushing the great flood down an inadequate 4in drainpipe.  &amp;quot;Never mind&amp;quot;, they said, &amp;quot;have a seat in the dry area&amp;quot;. So that&amp;#039;s what we did, and I suppose it was a fine meal, but since I was still congested I have no idea what the food tasted like.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;When we left the restaurant, the rain had subsided and we figured that now that we were almost dry, a little drizzle wouldn&amp;#039;t matter (after all, we had lived in the Seattle area for twenty years!).  And just as we got in view of our car, the &amp;quot;heavens opened up&amp;quot; with a lightning bolt and big thunderclap, and we were &amp;#039;&amp;#039;drenched&amp;#039;&amp;#039; through and through by the time we got to the car.  At least we had a nice light-show on our way back to our arid haunts!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;When we left the restaurant, the rain had subsided and we figured that now that we were almost dry, a little drizzle wouldn&amp;#039;t matter (after all, we had lived in the Seattle area for twenty years!).  And just as we got in view of our car, the &amp;quot;heavens opened up&amp;quot; with a lightning bolt and big thunderclap, and we were &amp;#039;&amp;#039;drenched&amp;#039;&amp;#039; through and through by the time we got to the car. &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;[&amp;#039;&amp;#039;Sarah&amp;#039;s addition:&amp;#039;&amp;#039; In the last thirty seconds before we reached the car, the skies opened up and unleashed Icy Stones of Death unto our unsuspecting heads.] &lt;/ins&gt; At least we had a nice light-show on our way back to our arid haunts!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;We &amp;#039;&amp;#039;did&amp;#039;&amp;#039; pray for rain, but that was just a bit over-the-top.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&#039;diff-marker&#039;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;We &amp;#039;&amp;#039;did&amp;#039;&amp;#039; pray for rain, but that was just a bit over-the-top.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Viviana</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://ronware.org/w/index.php?title=Blog/December_2010/Dec_17th&amp;diff=7129&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Ron: Created page with &#039;&lt;!--  	vim: spell tw=0: --&gt;  {{blog}}  {{bheader|Dec 17th|Devar/5771/Vayechi}}   Hi again!   Rain, rain, come again!  Go away some other day!!  Sunday was Sarah&#039;s birthday, and w…&#039;</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ronware.org/w/index.php?title=Blog/December_2010/Dec_17th&amp;diff=7129&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2010-12-17T11:16:33Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;Created page with &amp;#039;&amp;lt;!--  	vim: spell tw=0: --&amp;gt;  {{blog}}  {{bheader|Dec 17th|Devar/5771/Vayechi}}   Hi again!   Rain, rain, come again!  Go away some other day!!  Sunday was Sarah&amp;#039;s birthday, and w…&amp;#039;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;New page&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;lt;!-- &lt;br /&gt;
	vim: spell tw=0:&lt;br /&gt;
--&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
{{blog}}&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
{{bheader|Dec 17th|Devar/5771/Vayechi}} &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Hi again! &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Rain, rain, come again!  Go away some other day!!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Sunday was Sarah&amp;#039;s birthday, and we had arranged with her to go out to eat at a nice place in Tel Aviv.  Sunday arrived and I was just getting better from a cold, and the weather was turning stormy.  From our house we couldn&amp;#039;t see across the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;wadi&amp;#039;&amp;#039; because of the dust in the air.  Still, there was no rain, and we didn&amp;#039;t want to give Sarah &amp;#039;&amp;#039;another&amp;#039;&amp;#039; story for her scroll-of-woe (to explain: something &amp;quot;bad&amp;quot; has happened on &amp;#039;&amp;#039;every&amp;#039;&amp;#039; one of her birthdays, since forever.  You can get &amp;#039;&amp;#039;all&amp;#039;&amp;#039; the details from her).&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
So your intrepid correspondent and his lovely wife set out from their desert abode, in a moderately small and light car, towards the coastal plain.  As we were descending towards Modi&amp;#039;in, we encountered the miracle of mud raining upon us.  The car wipers were barely adequate to keep the windshield clear enough to see, but forge on we did.  The 100 kmh winds buffeted our modest conveyance, causing it to jump about in a most alarming manner.  &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
As we approached Tel Aviv, the mud became rain (it&amp;#039;s a miracle!) and we thought we had seen the worst.  We were wrong.  The rain became stronger and stronger, until by the time we reached Sarah&amp;#039;s apartment it was a full-blown deluge.  We picked her up, and commenced to float towards the restaurant (sadly, our vehicle is not amphibious, nor are we).  In an unexpected burst of good luck, we found a parking spot just one block from our destination.  We had arrived!  Well, almost...&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
When we opened the car doors, the rain intensified so that, though we ran for cover, we were all completely soaked by the time we had gone ten paces.  Waiting for the rain to subside a bit, we comforted ourselves with the idea that a warm restaurant was only one short block away.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
You probably don&amp;#039;t know this, but it&amp;#039;s a good fact to stash away:  the office buildings&amp;#039; downspouts all point onto the sidewalk.  Not only was the runoff from the rain itself flowing down the sidewalk, but so too was the runoff from the roofs of all the office buildings lining this one short block.  The water level was at mid-calf; and only Sarah had boots.  No matter, just a short block away was a dry sanctuary!  We held onto that thought as we dodged floating debris and tried to avoid being swept away by the burgeoning stream.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
We made it to the restaurant, but found the door difficult to open.  That was because inside the restaurant was several inches of standing water on the floor, and most of the staff was involved in pushing the great flood down an inadequate 4in drainpipe.  &amp;quot;Never mind&amp;quot;, they said, &amp;quot;have a seat in the dry area&amp;quot;. So that&amp;#039;s what we did, and I suppose it was a fine meal, but since I was still congested I have no idea what the food tasted like.&lt;br /&gt;
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When we left the restaurant, the rain had subsided and we figured that now that we were almost dry, a little drizzle wouldn&amp;#039;t matter (after all, we had lived in the Seattle area for twenty years!).  And just as we got in view of our car, the &amp;quot;heavens opened up&amp;quot; with a lightning bolt and big thunderclap, and we were &amp;#039;&amp;#039;drenched&amp;#039;&amp;#039; through and through by the time we got to the car.  At least we had a nice light-show on our way back to our arid haunts!&lt;br /&gt;
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We &amp;#039;&amp;#039;did&amp;#039;&amp;#039; pray for rain, but that was just a bit over-the-top.&lt;br /&gt;
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Sarah has a &amp;#039;&amp;#039;shabbaton&amp;#039;&amp;#039; at her (former) high-school, so she will be mostly not with us.  However, we&amp;#039;ve got guests for dinner, and five seminary girls for lunch.  I mean to say, they&amp;#039;ll be here for lunch.  Hopefully they will be ok with:  roasted-eggplant with &amp;#039;&amp;#039;tehina&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, roasted vegetables, roasted beets, roast brisket (see a trend here?), chicken soup, chicken and vegetables in a pot, potato &amp;#039;&amp;#039;kugel&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, various homemade &amp;#039;&amp;#039;salatim&amp;#039;&amp;#039; and brownies.&lt;br /&gt;
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Until next week,&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
shabbat shalom!&lt;br /&gt;
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		<author><name>Ron</name></author>
	</entry>
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