Last night, the first rainfall of the season fell on the Upper Galilee. About a month early, but I'm not complaining at all. The lovely humidity seems to have finally healed my persistently dry nose and throat. The gentle drizzle started sometime in the wee hours of the morning and left the world softly soaked by the time I got out of bed this morning. Now the landscape is shrouded by a fog that drifts in and out to alternately hide and reveal the mountains on the horizon. I love fog.

I appear to have fallen under the weather. I should have known something was up as early as Friday, since I had trouble singing at Kabbalas Shabbos and my left lymph node was swelling and tender, which seems to always happen when I'm about to come down with something. Staying up way too late on Saturday night must have been the last straw, because I was feeling ooky for most of yesterday. My voice had recovered enough last night that I was able to sing normally when I suddenly got invited to a sheva brochos meal at the home of Baruch and Batya (friends of Avraham and Becca). But when it came to bedtime, I could barely sleep at all because my nose and throat were so dry. A mosquito also took to snacking on me, and I couldn't use my usual tactic of warding it off by running the fan, because flowing air and parched sinuses do not mix. So I spent most of today bed-ridden, crawling out only to eat and work. A shame because there were some errands I really would have preferred to get out of the way. Treating myself with copious amounts of food and water seems to be doing the trick, though, and I predict a decent night's sleep tonight.

Some of you have been bugging me for pictures for a very long time. I've finally caved in. You can see the photographs I've taken by visiting my section of flickr. Enjoy.

Success! Trying though it was at times, I've replaced the hard drive in the iBook and now it's contentedly churning its way through a Mac OS X installation. And I only have a very few little leftover bits and pieces! :)

I must attribute grand levels of credit to PB FixIt for their excellent guide. It was clear, well-written, well-illustrated, and even supplied much-needed emotional support at the most difficult points of the operation.