Very Winter...

Judaism is a very agricultural religion, and living in a home in the center of the Jewish Land, Shiloh, I feel very connected to nature and seasons.  I had never noticed them, besides the obvious temperature changes and differences in precipitation when I was growing up in suburban New York.

It's mid-January in the goyish calendar and early Shevat in the Jewish Calendar.

grape vines, empty of leaves and fruit

Just a few short months ago, late summer, we feasted on the grapes.

My two and a half year old granddaughter has been taught to sing השקידיה פורחת  "Hashkeidiyah porachat," "the almond tree is blooming" to celebrate TU B'Shvat, but...

 

I don't think this almond tree will be ready in time.

Maybe because this tree gets very little sun, it's usually blooming a month late.  Yes, we see flowers on it around Purim, which is a month after TU B'Shvat.