Day 171

March 16, 2011

Went to Gran's this am. Jacob calls her Gigi. He got to have some snickerdoodles, hear some bird calls, go tromping about in the woods and down by the boardwalk with Uncle Matt and Aunt Julie. I got to chat with Gran for a bit which was nice.



Our homemade marble track



Grandpa came home tonight from his new job that requires a bit of traveling around the state. He was at a hotel the first two nights we were here so it was nice to see him. Jacob was excited to see him as well. Julie made a great chicken dinner with a nice mushroom wine sauce and aparagus. Yum.

Collected more sap. The interesting part is going to be reducing all this to syrup.

I went out on the deck tonight to check out the stars. The cold air smelled like snow and wood burning. It brought me back to being a child, at our old house. On winter nights, I would open the window just a crack and smell the air. It was crisp, snowy, sweet from wood burning and frozen leaves. In my mind I could see a house, a place I remembered from sometime. The house was in a field, snow covered and stretching out into the dark night. A porch wrapped around most of the house and a large oak tree stood in front of it. The lights were on inside and such a strong feeling of home emanated from this house. I haven't remembered that house as clearly for a long time. As I stood on the deck, the smell of the night air brought it back. Just briefly, and then the smells changed and the feelings faded. But the memory held me for a while longer like an encounter with an old friend.