 |
| The lower Galilee floats in a sea of cloud |
As I open the front door, a cloud drifts inside, flutters
and dissolves. Curious, I step out into wafting, billowing clouds. Fog veils
the oaks and flutters, revealing mossy, bare branches – nature’s playful
version of peek-a-boo.
Light playfully pierces the fog, opening it like a curtain
on stage. I suddenly see a swathe of blue smudging the sky, green slopes and a
deep valley where clouds saunter, slither, then take a ghostly flight path up to
the peak. Again, my sight is obscured, the world masked.
This is my first winter living in the mountains of northern Israel.
Experiencing the heavy rains, damp cold and fog in a place that is usually
baking hot, arid and cloudless presents yet another Israeli paradox – and one
that is fascinating.
I study the fog, formed only when humidity is 100
percent and water vapor condenses into tiny droplets of water. I notice the fog accumulating
in the valley below, and observe how it wafts up mountains, often leaving the tops
floating like islands in a sea of cloud. I often feel as if I am in an airplane
looking out at a bright blue sky while below, the world is covered in a thick down
blanket.
And I watch the clouds slither up the slopes. This is
upslope fog, when moist air condenses and cools. Sometimes this fog hovers
lazily, loitering. Or the fog can be vigorous, skipping and flitting up the
mountain, then disappearing into thin air like an expired breath.
Days of pounding rain create a desire to cocoon under a
blanket with a steaming tea in one hand and a book in another. And when the
rain eases, I venture out, astounded by how quickly the nurturing rain creates
a velvety blanket of green on the path. Leaves sparkle and the tree bark shines.
I hear birds chirping and rustling in the leaves. Water droplets gather in the
green arms of daffodils, the first blooms to burst from moist, rocky soil
into a muffled, masked world.
 |
| Nahal Parod |
Nearby, a dry river bed swells with rain water that gathers
force, plummeting over rocks and surging into pools and then down, creating spectacular
waterfalls. To see a once-dry river ‘birth’ as water gathers and surges is yet another miracle care of the Israeli winter.
