Earlier this week, it was finally starting to feel like spring. The air lost some of its chill, birds chirped in the tree outside our dining room window, and the first crocuses poked up from neighborhood yards. Of course, this morning it's snowing, so we need a good dose of cheer to pick up our… Continue reading Starting seeds
Category: activities
Maple sugaring (II)
Last week I wrote about my family's maple sugaring tradition. Today I'll add an amendment: while we love most of the maple sugaring process (tapping trees, collecting sap, boiling it down in the evaporator), we have a hard time with one part: finishing the syrup.This is the part where the syrup has been boiled to… Continue reading Maple sugaring (II)
Maple sugaring
In our family, February and March are the maple syrup months. Temperatures dip to freezing at night and warm up during the day, so the sap runs easily from the trees. Evenings are spent out in the sugar shed, boiling sap down to golden syrup in a gas-heated evaporator. On weekends, we enjoy pancakes with… Continue reading Maple sugaring
Valentine’s crafts
Dispatch from the blizzard: we survived, with nary a power loss! Others in Rhode Island were not so lucky, and I'm thinking of those wrapped up in blankets or staying in emergency shelters. It's going to be chilly tonight.We stayed indoors most of the time, watching the snow fall and catching up on shows or… Continue reading Valentine’s crafts
Afternoon adventure: Blithewold Mansion & Gardens
One of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon (especially in the gloomy winter months) is visiting house museums. Typically these are grand old mansions that have been converted into museums for the public, like the mansions in Newport. Lissa and I grew up visiting 19th-century mansions, and we loved wandering the halls, admiring the… Continue reading Afternoon adventure: Blithewold Mansion & Gardens
