Monday Monday

So good to me...


Today was one of those days.

When hanging laundry seemed a luxury

and seeding peas... pure joy.

Even the Wood Frogs were happy,

patient,

and busy.

Coltsfoot

My favorite springtime event is arrival of the Spring Peepers, and coming in a close second is the first sighting of a native wildflower in bloom. I spotted this little Coltsfoot on the roadside today. 

I love good beginnings.

A Frogging We Will Go

Ice-out on the ponds and vernal pools in the lower Valley today, yippee! Peepers happily serenade me as I type. Want to go on a frog hunt? I'll bring my camera and maybe... just maybe.

How deep can a frog go?  

Knee-deep Knee-deep!  ;-)

Bloomin Eggs

Another cold, bleak, snowy April day. Any suggestions?

What a perfectly colorful idea.

The April Woods

Early spring walks are my favorite. The woods are quiet, open and sunlit... just beginning to wiggle awake. Walk gently, take your time and listen.

The green of spring

As vernal pools thaw

Good Morning MRV

It won't be long before the forest floor is littered with spring beauties, trout-lillies, trilliums, dog toothed violets, bloodroot, lady slippers...

And The Rains Came Tumbling Down

Splish splash, the Valley gets a bath!

There's no stopping her now, Spring has arrived with bushels of sunshine and buckets of purifying rain. Get ready for some gussying up MRV. You must admit things have been looking rather nasty unkempt around here lately. I know, a few tears will fall as the snow bids adieu...till we meet again. However, we did get our due fair share of exceptional snow days this winter and the lucky adventurers who played outside this past weekend were bestowed the ultimate parting gift.

King Corn

Blue Bird Skies

Dreamy Glades

Lunch on a branch

Happy Thoughts

Slick Turns

Fearless Crossings

Winter 2011 exits stage right

No tears for spring in this barn yard. Rooster
Timmy is one happy "Cock-a-doodle-doo".

TGIF!

I gotta a feeling...that tonight's gonna be a good night.

Vermonte Carlo

Tonight's the night

Let's live it up!

Well, Tap My Maple!

We've Gone Sap Happy

Yes, the sap is still running. Out of curiosity (and a love of maple) my best friend bored holes in two of our sugar maples in the yard, banged in taps, hung up buckets and stepped back to watch. "They're dripping," shouts out from the back yard (I get drip reports throughout the day). There is now a 5 gallon carboy in the barn full of sap water (maple xylem) and the buckets are still catching drips. Want to know something else? We took a dozen liter bottles of sap water over to our good friend the brew master (he has a carbonator) and he zapped it for us. Sparkling maple juice, yummy! Wait... it gets better. We filled and froze ice cube trays with sap water, now we have sparkling maple juice over maple ice cubes. Hold on there's more, we dribbled a tablespoon of maple syrup (grade B again) into a liter of sparkling maple juice, poured that over a tall glass of iced maple cubes added the all important bendy straw and voila!  You ready?

Mad River Valley tapped, boiled and zapped, "Maple Sap Soda"!

Have a sip; it's on the house. Actually, it's on the floor, the only suitable surface for this picture. Go on, you're gonna love it, that's a promise. I'd even add a slice of lime if I could find one grown in the Valley.

Here are side-by-side glasses of our spring water and maple sap water. Tell any difference? Not until you take a sip, glass on the right has the same cool clean fresh water flavor with a hint of sweetness and that ever so subtle maple finish.

Drink up, it's going fast. 

One more thing, while we're still all sweet and sappy, head on over to Michael Riddells blog and treat yourself to a splendid black and white pictorial of sugaring on the Vasseur Farm MRV style.