Signs of Spring

C finished up the maple syrup boil last weekend, but I was too busy last week spinning my wheels on various writing projects to post about it.

The sap held up in the shade through a week of 80 degree weather, but the trees stopped running

and he pulled all the taps.

I don't think he ever made a final count, but I think I saw a good five gallons of syrup pass through my kitchen over the past few weeks. Enough to get us through part of next year, at least.

Of course, it got down into the 20s all last week, and even snowed, but I'm guessing the trees had adapted to the summery weather (I know I did) and probably wouldn't have run again, even after it snowed a few days later.

My crocuses came up in the heat, a good month early and already dry and withered on the stem, and the daffodils made an early appearance, too.

I was worried a week in the 20s would kill them, and had been wishing I'd just cut them and brought them in to put in vases, but they seemed to make it through okay, as did the peepers, who had been singing their hearts out through the heat, and kept right on singing the first night it dropped down to 29 degrees. They were quiet the rest of the week, but I heard them again this weekend when it warmed up a bit.

I was lucky enough to have the afternoon off the day it was 85 (I was E's lunch buddy, and we had parent teacher conferences later, so there was no sense in going back to town in between) and spent it all in the hammock reading. Do you have any idea how rare it is for it to be warm enough outside to lie still and not be devoured by insects? Very rare indeed.

Other signs of spring include the beginning of baseball season. M spent the last two Saturdays trying out for Little League and today I got the call that he made it! I know I totally pretend to be all "whatever" about these things, but deep down I'm very proud of him (though I can take zero credit, genetically, for any athletic ability he may have).

It's odd to think that a year ago yesterday we were snowed in at home in the midst of an April Fool's Day blizzard, and a year ago today C and I and our friends D and P went to go see David Sedaris in Portland, which was the last time for months that I laughed, as, beginning that Monday, my career started crashing down around me. I wish I had some words of wisdom about the last year (either for you or for me), about taking adversity and turning it into opportunity, but I guess I'm not there yet. Mostly I'm just looking forward to the whole thing being resolved, which may happen very soon. 

Spring is the time of renewal and rebirth, right? Hopefully this spring will hold the same for me. How about you? What signs of spring are you seeing around you?