signs of summer

Cherries

Naya, Sodie, and Mado, harvesting the lavender.

The bees were working the lavender.

A wonderful harvest! This is only half of it.

Plums are already ripe.

Toucie chewing on sasafrass stems

We're quite enamoured of frogs lately...these tiny guys that appear on the rock banks of our river every summer just thrill me!

Daylillies leaning out towards the big summer sun.

Toucie loves this weedy little Mimosa tree that sprang out of our overgrown fence line. Have you ever smelled the blossoms of the Mimosa? It is a scent-memory from my own childhood...they smell beautiful. Nothing quite like it!

There are so many wildflowers blooming all around right now. I have to pay attention and soak up their cheery prettiness while they are here....our colorful early summers usually give way to hot, droughty, drab green times by late July.
Right now, though, we are happy to see and celebrate all these fresh signs of summer!

more Spring Equinox.....

fresh eggs

hoping that the big ones on the right are double-yolk eggs

yes! one egg, two yolks!

daffodils in the fields

bringing some Spring indoors

I captured Mado capturing some Spring shots

plum buds...I can't wait to see this in bloom!

purple deadnettle is carpeting our lawn...it is open season on fairy bouquets

some of the yummy things from our feast: lemon/spinach/orzo soup, spicy ginger-coconut peanut dip with veggies, a wedge of a Spanish potato torta with herbed sour cream...yum. I didn't get a photo of the mushroom salad, pasta primavera, gorgeous enchiladas, or berries with cream.

the traditional Spring Equinox dessert for our family...a simple cake covered in whipped cream and topped with violas

Welcome Spring! I've been looking forward to your visit!

Spring Equinox

Look who showed up just in time to celebrate the first day of Spring!

 

 (Twin goat kids born yesterday at my mom and dad's farm)

The sweet reward...

 

  

 

12 pails of sap, 2 crockpots , 56 hours = 24 ounces of syrup...worth every minute of it.

PS) Dawn over at By Sun and by Candlelight has a very nice list of picture books about maple season on her sidebar right now.

The sap is running...Sweet!

 

Do you know this book? 

 

It is a pretty picture book by Connie Brummel Crook, illustrated by Scott Cameron, that tells a story of a native child and the discovery of maple syrup. The child observes a squirrel drinking the sap of a tree and the story develops from there. It is a lovely thing to think about at this time of year, here in my corner of the world, as the season turns towards spring.

Today was the first warm day after many cold nights and my family noticed drops of sap running down the windshield of our car. (we park under a maple tree). 

So...

...out came the tools....

...in went the spiles...

...and up went the pails. 

You can see that our pails are dinky ... we do not have a serious sugaring operation going on here. Did you know that it takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup? To make 1 cup of syrup, you'd need more than 2 gallons of sap. It really makes you appreciate the stuff, doesn't it?

We only have one big maple tree. When the pails are full, we will empty them into our crockpot and let it cook all day with the lid off. It will result in about one pancake breakfast's worth of syrup. But it is worthwhile just to underscore the connection between us and the land we live on. Eating a ripe tomato from our own garden, dyeing wool with weeds from our own backyard, or picking an apple from our own tree connects us to the earth -our own special plot of earth- in the same way. 

It feels good to keep that connection alive.

Looking for Spring...

Today dawned with a clear sky and the snow has almost completely gone. Toucie and I headed for one of our favorite parks, Bicentennial Mall. It is in the heart of downtown Nashville, just a couple of blocks from the twins' highschool...a very urban park, to be sure, but we found Lady Spring peeping out at us from every corner!

 

  

  

 

  

  

 

Candlemas

The daffodils aren't going to let a little snow stand in their way.

Life is most definitely stirring . Under this winter blanket of drab greys and browns (and this year a little white!) there is some hopeful green wrestling its way up to greet us. I love how fiesty the daffodils are here. They show up even earlier than the crocus. It is not unusual for us to be picking them in february , which is just in time to save us from sinking into a winter depression. I think a traditional symbol of Candlemas is the snowdrop....but I've never even seen one in real life. For us, it is the dear daffodil that heralds this celebration.

We've got big plans for a special meal and we have some candles to make today (a traditional activity for this time of year). But we've been goofing off in the snow for most of the day and are behind in our preparations.

I'll have to tell you all about it tomorrow. Here's what we've been doing today.

 

Mama and Toucie's snowcat

Sodie and Naya's "Snowgaara"

Mado's creation on the left...looks like the Monopoly guy, but don't tell her I said that.

You have no idea what 6" of snow means to me....

...unless you live in the South, too. If you are accustomed to winter and snow going hand-in-hand, you'll just have to pardon me while I go on and on about what is pretty much a phenomenon here in MiddleTennessee.

 

This is primo sledding snow...deep with a nice, icy crust. That's Toucie and I above. Beleive it or not, a couple of times we made it all the way to the fence you see way down where the treeline begins. We were saying things like 'rad' and 'awesome' all morning long. 

And wait till you see my hot snow gear:

Yeah, baby! (Don't say it...I know...no, we are not related.) 

At least my rad and awesome hubby will still hang with me, despite my stylish get-up.

Snowday

Some of that rare and elusive white stuff started falling late last night and hasn't stopped all day.

 

As soon as there was 1/2 an inch on the ground, they hit the slopes.

 

 The biggest tucking up the littlest...love, love, love.

  

Great snow for sledding, but it makes a pretty puny snowman. Emphasis on the pretty, though.

     Stirring up some "snowcream"....mmmmmmm!



We make our snowcream by stirring together 1/2 and 1/2, vanilla, and cane sugar in a little jug, then drizzling it over a bowlful of clean snow. Stir just a bit and eat. Then smile.