Spring!

For the first time that I can remember, the Robins are agreeing with the Vernal Equinox! Today on my way home I stopped at the mailbox, and there, on the neighbor's lawn across the street, was a Robin. She (OK, I don't know she was a "she", but Mother Nature brings the first day of spring, so...) She was all puffed up, it's a pretty cool, windy day here, but she was there!

Yeah Spring!

This leads me to the other things I was thinking of today: birds, and trees popping.

I've seen a lot of birds returning this week. Tuesday on my way to work, I saw a single Great Blue Heron standing on one of last years nests in the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge. Which by the way, have you ever seen a Great Blue Heron standing on one of their nests? They nest at the top of the dead trees in a swampy area, they're pretty amazing to see, standing stark against the sky...

Today on the way to work, I saw 2 Canada Geese fly in for a landing on the ice covering the refuge pond. Everybody's returning from their winter habitats.

Two towns over from us, in Ayer, the maple (Acer) trees look ready to burst. The buds are popping, another sign of spring! The maple sugaring season has started, buckets are appearing on trees around the area. Makes me think of sugaring back home, when I was a kid. My mom was the principal sugar-er, she slaved over the stove in the little red barn all day (and sometimes all night, maple syrup waits for no one!) My sister S and I would come home from school and get some yummy maple tea-the combination of almost-maple syrup boiling on the stove, and sap kept in the milk can in the snow bank, combined to just the right temperature to warm you, but not scald. I wonder if I'd still like it today?