First sample of syrup

Poetry is a many faceted thing.

The Uses of Poetry
by William Carlos Williams

I've fond anticipation of a day
O'erfilled with pure diversion presently,
For I must read a lady poesy
The while we glide by many a leafy bay,

Hid deep in rushes, where at random play
The glossy black winged May-flies, or whence flee
Hush-throated nestlings in alarm,
Whom we have idly frighted with our boat's long sway.

For, lest o'ersaddened by such woes as spring
To rural peace from our meek onward trend,
What else more fit? We'll draw the latch-string

And close the door of sense; then satiate wend,
On poesy's transforming giant wing,
To worlds afar whose fruits all anguish mend.

The tapping of the sugar maples

Today we tapped the first sugar maples at the cabin! The sap is definitely on the run! Maple syrup, here we come!
The rest of the trees will use tubing rather than these lovely spiles, but it will be a lot easier than trudging up & down that steep hill with sloshity buckets of sweet sap.