Cold Nights, Warm Days

The sap is running.

Saturday morning Heather and Wes took a traxter ride out to check the buckets. Not much was happening at the time, but it had been a cold night and the day was warming up nicely. That makes perfect sap running conditions! So a little later in the morning, Heather and I took a walk around, and sure enough, the sap was starting to drip, drip, drip.

Heather had to sample the sap in each bucket we checked. I don't like the taste of fresh sap. It tastes like lightly sweetened water. Heather, Wayne, and Cole love it. It used to make me nervous to have them drink so much sap straight from the tree - who knows what kind of  microscopic critters could be swimming around in there? But they've survived so far, and the more we keep hearing about the health of our "mocrobiome" the more I figure it might actually be the cure for all that ails us.

This gnarly old maple is a good old friend - not only providing sap, but it's always been a favorite for climbing. 

Wayne and Cole are hard to get pictures of, these days, if they're not on the basketball court. That's Wayne up ahead. When Cole saw me coming with my camera, he ducked into the woods.

Nature's popsicle - a frozen chunk of sap in the bucket.

In the shade of the woods there is still a little bit of ice and snow.

The fields are bare. I hope they stay that way.

At the end of the day, there is plenty of sap to boil down. 

Yes, heather is wearing pj pants in this photo. She got burdock all over her pants and then hastily changed into the first thing she could pull out of the dryer.

Patches surveys the final product without much interest.

From tree to table in less than 24 hours.

Northeast District Music Festival

Last night Wayne played in the Northeast District Junior High Music Festival. It's put on by Rotary and held at North Country High School.

Last year we had a good view of Wayne. Unfortunately, this year, they put the trumpets in the back.

 You can just barely see the top of Wayne's head.

The concert consisted of a concert band, a chorus, and another concert band. Wayne was in the 2nd concert band, as he was last  year. I wonder if they purposely save the best for last, because both times I thought the 2nd band was much better than the first. Maybe I'm biased! The chorus was fabulous this year. Cole was even enthralled, after I had forced him to come to the concert on the grounds that "it would be a good experience" for him.He will most likely be a part of this next year as a 7th grader. As much as he complained about going, in the end I think he really enjoyed hearing a decent band and chorus of kids his age. Also, thank you to Joanie for coming!

When you have a few minutes to spare or take a listen while you do your housework:

You might recognize this one as "the drunken sailor."

The End

The end of basketball season is in sight. 

Cole and Heather had their end of season Jr. Hoops tournament at Lake Region on Saturday. Below, Glover boys play against Irasburg at a bright and early 8:00 a.m. game. Players have to be on site half hour before game time, so it was a huge commitment for Cole, who is usually a late sleeper on the weekends!

They won against Irasburg but eventually lost to Barton in the championship game that evening to become the runners-up. The game against Barton was very close and they played hard. They did a great job.

There were so many Glover girls that signed up for Jr. Hoops basketball this year that they had to make 2 teams. Here, Heather's team plays against the other Glover team and wins.

They also went on to the final game but lost to Orleans to become the runners-up. The games went late and the tournament didn't finish up until close to 9:00p.m. They were tired! Grammie came to watch both Cole and Heather's final games. She was a great cheerleader and they enjoyed having her there!

And now just one more tournament for the middle school - the St. Johnsbury Rotary Tournament this week.

And then, BASEBALL!

Basketball is NOT Over

The regular season is over, but the tournaments are never ending. Over February break the Newport Rotary holds a huge tournament at North Country High School.  Below, Glover plays against a combined team of Brownington, Orleans, and St. Paul's. Glover wins.

Jeanne was foot loose and fancy free with Peter away at camp all weekend so she came to take in a couple of Wayne and Cole's games during this tournament.  She took this (above) photo with her  phone. Good thing she did because I got a new (old) camera (dslr) and have yet to learn how to use it. 

The next day, another game, this one against North Country. 

 Wayne gets a break and Cole waits to go in.

Glover lost this game and was eliminated from the tournament. There is another tournament next weekend put on by the St. J  Rotary and there is also the Jr. Hoop tournament at LR for Cole and Heather's younger league. I'm not sure how Cole will manage to play in both tournaments in the same weekend. Furthermore, the Glover 8th grade is responsible for making and selling concessions at the Jr. Hoops tourney, so Wayne will also need to be in 2 places at once. Cloning device anyone?

Meanwhile, a little outside time is always welcome.

Gelli Print Art

When school was closed the other day due to freezing rain, Heather and I got the urge to be creative.  We got out our gelli plate and acrylic paints to make some prints.

 Acrylic paints dry fast so you can print one pattern (as we did above with a paper towel texture) and then print another pattern over it (as we did with our homemade leafy vine stencil). It's a lot of trial and error on our part. Sometimes the patterns turn out magical and sometimes a mess. In any case, it's addicting.

We've used our prints to make covers for homemade journals and we've also used them to make cards. I've seen some artist use the to make Eric Carle-like pictures. We're not that talented yet, but we had fun not going to school that day.

Catching Up

Pancakes for breakfast on a Tuesday because school is CLOSED!

A week or so ago, Heather and I cleared off the pond to find ice as smooth as glass. 

The skating was great, but the skates were a bit too snug this year so...

 ...Heather called up her friend, Kelby, and we went to the rink where she was able to rent more comfortable skates.

 And eat better snacks.

We are really looking forward to vacation next week. although we have a lot of Dr.'s dentist, and orthodontist appointments filling up our days already.

Travelling Back in Time

Every year, Mrs Tester, the third grade teacher, does a big unit on the Little House series. On Thursday, the class will put on a museum exhibit. Students are encouraged to bring in items that might be from the 1800s. They have to be very knowledgeable about their items and may even dress the part. Mrs. Tester can provide a few costume items, but (below) Heather tries on a dress from Mary (or Martha? We've had it for several years just waiting for the right moment) and displays a sad iron borrowed from Joanie.

Heather is a lucky girl to have such helpful and creative aunts!