The state of Vermont provides maple syrup makers with this little box of standards. The color of the freshly made syrup is matched against these samples. The new batch is then graded accordingly from 'Fancy' (lightest, most delicate) to 'Grade B' (dark and strong). 
Now we've moved to a different sugaring operation. This is Jon and Tammy Sargent's sugarhouse in Guilford, Vermont. They have an entire building devoted to making maple syrup. The evaporator fills about 70 percent of the floor space. The Sargents use tubing to collect their sap instead of buckets and they produce enough of the delectable liquid sunshine to sell internationally.
Because this is a small operation, the evaporator is about the size of an outdoor barbecue grill. Notice the wood in the background. Those pieces are cut to fit in the small firebox beneath the channels where the sap is boiling down. The steam rising from the sap smells warm, sweet, and maple-y.
The bucket is lifted off its tap and the sap that has accumulated in it is poured into a plastic gathering pail. Then the sap bucket is quickly rehung to collect the continuing run. After all the buckets are emptied, if you stand quietly in the woods, the dripping of the many taps makes a little symphony of sound.
Last week I posted a photo of sap buckets hanging from a tree. The story picks up here in Peru, Vermont where, after a few very cold days, the temperatures are starting to rise again and the sap is recommencing its run.
When the temperature climbs above freezing during the day and drops below freezing at night the sap begins to rise in the maple trees. This sap is gathered in buckets and brought to a sugarhouse where the majority of the moisture is boiled off leaving the most divine pancake topping known to mankind.
Those balloons may look deflated, but our dreams of Spring remain.
This display of Vermont maple products is just one section of the rambling country store in Newfane. You can wander from room to room and see quilts and crafts, books and stuffed bears, fabric and fudge, etc. I stopped there on my way to Townshend the other day because the roads were snow-covered and slick. I simply waited there until the plow came along, then followed it up the road.
I shot this on the way to Logan Airport in Boston.
Retired now, this old house sits on a piece of the Windham County Humane Society's property.
I frequently walk past this house as the sun is setting. Inside there are probably several pools of slanting light spilling across the floor as the sun drops into the west.
Yesterday, regular citizens from towns and villages across Vermont gathered in community halls, granges, schools, and other venues to debate and vote on budgets and issues concerning their town. Alas, Brattleboro is too large for a real town meeting so we vote by Australian ballot. These three were running for town offices.
I found these twins playing in the snow. It was cold but they didn't seem to mind at all.
This gazing globe is located in the Lyman Glass House on the Smith College campus (about an hour south of Brattleboro). It is a glorious place to go when winter's teeth threaten to devour the last shreds of sanity.
