Little & Big

listening to Martin & Sylvia

                                        a story called "the Cruds"

On Sparkle.

he learned to bike.

All of a sudden, in a moment, he figured it out. 

It wasn't the very first try -- he's been flirting with it for a few years.  But he was never really committed to figuring it out.  Today, he was committed, and the whole family was helping.  And he rocked it.  I only had to support him once at launch, and then he said "let go!  let go!"  And I did.  And he flew.  Within 20 minutes he was daring his brother to race and talking about doing tricks at the skateboard park (where he's witnessed bikers do tricks).  He experienced life with a whole new freedom.  It was amazing.

And inspiring.  What once seemed way too hard, was suddenly possible.  And then, it was not just possible, it was effortless. 

the Easter surprise. (Meet Edgar.)

(Full name: Saint Edward the Peaceful.)

He's 12 weeks old and full of personality.

His original name was Saint.  That's because a lady brought him to church on a Sunday -- Saint Andrew's -- looking for a good home for him.  For the last few weeks, he has been living in this lovely cat-centered vet's office.  And everyone there is simply in love with him (why he hadn't yet found a home is beyond me!).

I picked him up today after work and brought him home.  Which is why I couldn't divulge the surprise yesterday.  We had put color copies of photos of him in plastic eggs for the kids.  What could be better on Easter than (the promise of) something little and young and furry?  We think his nickname might be Eggie.

He's going to be an excellent addition to the family. He's already licking our cheeks with his scratchy tongue and dashing about the room pretending to catch things and burrowing under the pillow, and now sleeping in my neck as I try to write on the laptop in the bed.  I have him confined to our bedroom -- and I may not get a wink of sleep.  But at the moment I don't care!

Easter

the first egg

and the final Easter surprise

tucked away in eggs and to be revealed to you, dear readers, tomorrow!

Easter breakfast

which one ate.

but the other, well....

sugar high

I basically let him have as much as he wanted.  And the kid was over the moon.  Amazingly, unlike the rest of us, he never seemed to crash.

Instead of sugar high, let's call it chocolate bliss.

spring inside but mostly out

This is where I get giddy and publish way too many pictures of things blooming and growing and sprouting and budding.  All I can say is this: when you haven't seen green in 5 months, you just want to go out and roll around in it.  

mud season

                                                        "let me in"

by children who had been playing the muddy stream.

one week to Easter

I'm not sure if our Easter grass is going to make it -- I'm usually late but not this late!  It's supposed to look like this (from 2008).  I'm sure the Easter Bunny packs fake grass along with his treats -- in case we've still got dirt and rye on Sunday.

And see my spring lambs?  This was after dinner tonight.  (Yes, little brother is wearing his PJ's.)  There was a break in the rain this afternoon, and the sun peeked out.  They ran and ran around the yard.  Rain with snow comes again tonight, through tomorrow night.  I should have run around the yard too.

                                                        first daffodils

the last of the sap, the end of the sugaring

                                                last bucket, Saturday

Our trees produced and produced and produced.  We had no idea.  We couldn't keep up with it.  We were drinking sap and giving sap away.  We ended up dumping some too.  (Thank you trees!)  We did our best to boil most of it.

We tried boiling that sap three ways.

1) on the woodstove.

but it never boiled, only evaporated, and it was quite slow.

2)  over a fire outside

but the syrup turned out a little smokey.  (Which might be because the same little boys who couldn't resist lighting the ends of sticks also couldn't resist poking the lit sticks into the pot of sap.)  We needed a much bigger fire and a much wider pan.

3) on the stove

which was the most effective.  We had been warned that boiling inside would make all of our wallpaper peel (2 separate friends shared the same warning, coming from experience), but since we don't have any wallpaper, we went for it. No ill effects, outside of some steamy windows, and some sticky floors.

 The very last bit is on the stove right now.  My "I-can't-sleep" boy just came down and sniffed.  "I smell maple syrup!" he whispered.

It takes from 30-40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.  So we won't have gallons, but we will have a few delicious containers worth, some to keep and some to give away.  And I tell you what, it is satisfying to eat pancakes with syrup that you boiled yourself from your own trees.