Purim weekend--thus far, better than expected

Contrary to previous weather forecasts, it was not only not snowing this morning, it was warm enough that the snow was starting to melt. So we got 24 people at services this morning, and about 19 for the Megillah reading tonight. And the reading wasn't faster than usual, probably because, since Taanit Esther/the Fast of Esther took place on Thursday (since, except for Yom Kippur, fast days aren't permitted on the Sabbath, so they're moved to another day), we didn't have a break-the-fast dinner, so we didn't have to rush to finish by 8 PM. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.