Sweet Forgiveness

On Tuesday mornings I go to Ladies' Prayer and Bible study at church. Today's plan was to pick Bethany up in town and take her along while her car was in the shop, then return afterward to pick up Troy from preschool. There was also the possibility of a friend coming over for lunch after the study. My day's plans were thwarted when in my haste to get out the door I discovered that my car keys were not on the counter. I had the sinking feeling they were in my husband's coat pocket so I made a quick phone call which confirmed my suspicion. I felt the frustration creep in. I wanted to be angry but I knew that James had not purposely taken my keys. For some reason God saw fit to keep me home today and although I hate having my plans rearranged, it is much easier to just accept the fact and get over it. After talking with Bethany, who will be here soon for Troy's car seat, I think we have worked out how to accomplish today's necessary tasks. Maybe Josh will stay here to play while Beth's car in in the garage and Troy will arrive here with Bethany after school is out. I called the church secretary with my prayer request and also my dear husband to tell him I love him and it really is okay. Another test of forgiveness...

So anyway, yesterday we took a ride out to get some maple syrup. The little store was packed with a group on a field trip, so we looked at the animals (two goats, two sheep, a bunny rabbit, and several ducks and chickens), and then, because we were freezing, decided to walk down to the sugar shack where the sweet steam from boiling sap makes the air smell like pancakes. Mr. Everson welcomed us in, told us a little about the syrup making process, and showed us his barrels of maple syrup waiting to be bottled. The cold nights this March have made it a good year for collecting sap. We purchased a half gallon of syrup for ourselves and a small bottle for Troy's daddy (His birthday is tomorrow...), some maple cream for toast, and a package of maple sugar candy. Yummy! It was a bright sunny day, perfect for a ride through the countryside.

Maple Sugaring

It was not the best day for an outdoor field trip. The sun was nowhere in sight and a drizzling rain fell. It is March, we live in NY, we went anyway. We pulled on boots, donned raincoats, held umbrellas and traipsed through the mud.
Sap for making maple syrup is collected basically during the month of March. It must be warm enough during the day for the sap to run (above freezing) and cold enough at night that the trees don't start to bud (below freezing).
Once the trees bud, the flavor of the syrup changes and becomes bitter. The sap is collected in metal buckets or piped through plastic tubing to a holding tank. It takes 40 gallons of sap just to make one gallon of syrup. I'd imagine by the end of March Mr. Everson will be ready for a very long nap. This looks like a ton of work!

My favorite part of this field trip is the maple sugar candy and buying a jug of syrup to take home to drizzle over vanilla ice cream, Yummy!

The Rain Keeps Up!

Well, I didn't see much rain today. The clouds rolled in but the rain never made it. It was good though because we took a ride out to the Everson's with James. Mr. Everson took us for a walk back in the woods and showed us different kinds of trees and how to tell them apart. He used bog words like "deciduous", "indigenous" and "conifer". We learned how to look at the bark and leaves to tell what kind of tree it might be. Kinda tricky, I think. I guess it takes some practice. We also went out deeper into the woods in the Jeep. There was a cute little log cabin back there which Mr. Everson built. I wish I could have one in my back yard. That's all we need, right, more buildings?

Well, it was a wonderful day and we took plenty of pictures. There were trilliums, pink and white, Mayapples, ferns, and lots of different trees, ash, elm, hemlock, and abunch of sugar maples. The Eversons make maple syrup and we bought some to take home with us. Mmmmm! I also learned that there are "Mother Trees". They have lots of kids just like me!