New England's Narrow Road

Pink Peonies and Other Flowers From Long Ago

Pink peonies make me happy. Even if I can only view this picture and it seems like I will never see a flower again. It seems long ago that the yard was blooming and the grass was green, and this ugly time of year always makes me feel this way. Today is gloomy and raining. The cat is bored and goes in and out every five minutes, so he is now locked in the basement. When I look outside (I try not to), I see dirty snow that is covered with old sunflower seed hulls and a messy deck that is worse for the winter wear. I see gray skies and bare, wet trees and of course the mud.
I’ve been trying to get some work done today, but the cat caught a bird this morning and that put me in a bad mood and this gloom hasn’t helped.
So I thought it was time to view some happy flowers. Do you need some sunny thoughts of summer? (Forget Spring) Then I hope my flower photos give you a smile.

They Say That Spring Is Here

Although the calendar says that Spring is here, there are no signs of it in this yard. These pictures were taken on March 31st, the day before a foot of snow was predicted to hit. About 8 inches fell on April first, but it melted away quickly. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have to shovel. And of course the snow slid right off the metal roof so I had to shovel twice.

snow in spring — Spring is here they say.

The deck still has so much snow piled up around it that I can’t just push the snow off either. And the snow that is here is as hard as cement from all the melting and then re-hardening.

March 31st snow left in yard — Taken March 31, 2011

Sometime a month or so ago, the metal roof dropped it’s load of snow during the night and the next morning my son and I shoveled what we could off the deck. It was the “up and over” kind of shoveling and the snow was very heavy so we didn’t get it all. This clump is what is left. It is an icy chunk that just sits there and annoys me.
Now I wait to see how long this snow will be in my yard. I get very little sun on my side of the duplex, so when everyone else is seeing bare ground, I am still walking on an icy (or muddy- all the melting seems to come over here too) driveway.

Frozen pile of snow on the deck — This little pile came from the roof

Signs of Spring
The red-wing blackbirds are in my yard scrounging for seed
The lake is partially melted and the water is low waiting to be filled by the snow’s melting runoff.
It was just Maple Syrup (Visit a Sugar Shack) weekend.

At Least We Have a Roof Rake! (newenglandsnarrowroad.wordpress.com)
How to Shovel Snow Like a Man (artofmanliness.com)

Walking By The Lake in “Spring”

I’ve begun walking each afternoon just before the bus comes. It is officially Spring, but you wouldn’t know it by the cold 30 and 40 degree temps we’ve been having. Since I have to drive the 1/4 mile to the bus stop each day anyway, I decided I’d go early and walk for about an hour or so around the lake. Our road is too muddy for easy walking, and the road around the lake is paved.

Working online keeps me sitting for too long each day, and even though I try to get up and do something each hour or so, all I end up doing is checking on the fire, laundry, or washing dishes. Not exactly good cardio moves.

The weather has been quite cold for this time of year and we have been getting snow showers off and on over the past couple of days. It’s always windy at the lake so I’ve been dressing warmly with a hat especially, and other than my face feeling numb by the end of my walk, it’s pretty pleasant. I enjoy walking this time of year because the houses are mostly empty. Only about 2 or 3 of the 20 or so houses around this side of the lake are occupied year round so it’s quiet and peaceful. And on the colder days almost no one goes out walking. On nice days, people from town drive up and park to walk their dogs

The lake is covered in ice and snow, but the bob houses have been removed and in certain areas along the road that get lots of sun, I can see the ground! Yesterday I saw an otter (?) cross over the bridge as I was getting out of my car and then I caught sight of my favorite type of duck – a Hooded Merganzer (like the one in the picture) – as I was heading back. There are a few areas of melted ice for them to swim and he was near the bridge where the water is moving.

I’ve only walked a couple of days but already feel better. Maybe it is only in my head, but the fresh air is refreshing and I figure that as long as I can walk, I will. Soon the lucky people who actually own two homes, will be coming back to enjoy their summer by the lake and traffic will pick up and it won’t be a nice peaceful walk any longer. I am grateful for the beautiful place where I live and the time I can spend enjoying it.

Visiting a Sugar Shack in Antrim, New Hampshire

The weekend of the Sugar Shack open houses always takes me by surprise. This past weekend (March 19 & 20) was the official Maple Syrup Producers Open House. I have missed going for many years because I had no one to go with and it’s just not fun to go alone, but I recently ran out of real maple syrup (the only kind I will eat) and needed to buy some. It turned out that my daughter and her boyfriend were over on Sunday to have dinner and my daughter mentioned seeing the sign at Old Pound Road for syrup. And, believe it or not she wanted to go! She doesn’t like the real syrup so I figured she wouldn’t care about it, but we ended up going and I got myself a quart of syrup for $20.
We went to a Sugar House that we visited a few years ago, run by Charles Levesque on Old Pound Road in Antrim, New Hampshire. He had quite a crowd and we waited outside for the first group of people to leave and then went inside where he had a big fire going under his reducing pan (not the official name of it – but the place where the sap gets boiled down- I think it’s an evaporator pan) and he passed out little, hot cups of fresh syrup to try, along with muffins made with syrup instead of sugar. We watched as he poured a huge pan of syrup into a big strainer and then sat down to fill the plastic bottles that he sells. He answered questions while we ate muffins and got sticky tasting the samples and then we bought our bottles and left. I bought a bottle of Grade A Dark Amber because I like the dark syrup for it’s strong maple flavor, but of course I will eat any! I am spoiled and won’t touch the “fake” stuff any more.
The syrup is graded according to its coloring and at the beginning of the season (Feb.-April around here, depending on the weather) it is lighter and that is the Grade A Light Amber and as the season progresses the grading changes. Read more here about the syrup grades in NH.
Most people recognize the buckets hanging on trees to collect sap, but if you are driving around and see these funny looking plastic tubes coming out of trees – that would be another way of collecting sap that uses gravity to run it into big buckets.
It’s quite a job and it has a short season. As Mr. Levesque pointed out, the seemingly high price of real maple syrup does not make the Sugar Shack owners rich. For all the hours spent and supplies needed he said he ends up making around very little money…. I can’t remember what he said, but I think it was around $2.oo an hour.
I don’t eat pancakes very often, but I use the syrup as a sweetener for my tea. And I think I will try making some muffins.
I also found out that he sells his syrup at the Antrim Market until he runs out, usually around August.

If you are interested, read this post by some people who are making their own maple syrup from trees in the yard house.