לִרְאֹות֙ הֲפָֽרְחָ֣ה הַגֶּ֔פֶן

אֶל־גִּנַּ֤ת אֱגֹוז֙ יָרַ֔דְתִּי לִרְאֹ֖ות בְּאִבֵּ֣י הַנָּ֑חַל לִרְאֹות֙ הֲפָֽרְחָ֣ה הַגֶּ֔פֶן הֵנֵ֖צוּ הָרִמֹּנִֽים׃

I went down to the nut orchard,
to look at the blossoms of the valley,
to see whether the vines had budded,
whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
--Song of Songs 6:11

I took, and loved, folk dancing as an undergraduate. I memorized the songs in languages I did not understand and learned the steps well enough to teach them to others. I still sing some of those songs to myself when I am alone. One that I especially love is "El ginat egoz" (to the nut orchard) and though I have forgotten the steps I can still sing it. Having taken Hebrew in seminary I also know what the words mean, though I had very limited understanding when I memorized the song by rote.

I think of it today because of the phrase "lir'ot haparchah hagefen" (to see whether the vines had budded). As you can see in the photo above, the vines have indeed budded. You may need to click on the photo to enlarge it but we have little baby grapes already! Hard to believe we barely had emerging leaves by Easter Day.

I need to go take more photos as the rain has stopped. I unfortunately had the camera on the wrong setting as I rushed about taking photos of this weekend's handiwork while it started to sprinkle.

Be right back.

UPDATED:
Here are two more shots: first of the flame seedless new leaves, then another closeup of the budding grapes on the Thompson seedless.




--the BB