A Ticket to Ride

Nooooooo!!!! I got a parking ticket! Yes! In sleepy little Karmiel, where we used to park wherever we wanted.

So here I am, facing an NIS 100 (about $24) ticket. I can't get used to the new metered parking, and I know a number of people who simply refuse to pay. I'll pay. I'll grumble, but I'll pay.

About 25 years ago there were two rival journalists who worked for the Santa Barbara News Press. They began a series of pranks and practical jokes that quickly escalated. One guy had a bumper sticker made up and stealthily placed it on his enemy's car. The sticker read: Metermaids eat their young. Of course, the hapless owner of the car couldn't figure out why he was getting dozens of tickets a week.

Winter? We're still waiting! Yes, no rain yet. As the States are coping with massive blizzards, closed airports, lost climbers, etc., here it is balmy and dry. Too dry. We need the rain. The other day I stopped to watch and listen to a flurry of dry leaves being swept down the street by a light breeze. We have few deciduous trees here, so we don't get to crunch through drifts of fallen leaves. But the few trees planted in the grove below our house give a spot of color in the fall and make me think of cooler climates.