New England Blogs

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Sugar On Snow, Monroes Sugarin' Barton VT

There's nothing more New England than Sugar On Snow. What's sugar on snow you may ask? Well, it's a New England Springtime tradition, which is mostly known from Vermont, but it is practiced throughout all of the New England States.

In the Spring, when the sap is flowing from the maple trees, and there is still snow on the ground, the sap is boiled into sweet maple syrup. The syrup is then boiled to 235 degrees.



The syrup is then drizzled onto packed snow, and it will instantly caramelize and harden and turn into  the most deliciously amazing taffy. You then twirl the maple "taffy" onto a fork and eat it.



These photos were all taken at Monroe's Sugarin' in Barton VT this past weekend.


The first time I ever had sugar on snow it was also served with a plain donut and a pickle. This is a common practice in Vermont. Sounds strange.......but the idea is that the acid from the dill pickles, and the butteryness of the donut are the perfect balance to the sweet sugar on snow. Don't knock it 'till you try it!

Monday, March 26, 2018

Windswept Farm Barton VT

I'm happy to tell you that I finally have some landscapes to show you. It's been a pretty rough Winter for me, and I'm glad that I was able to get away this past weekend and take a few snow scenes. Mr S and I went up to VT for the weekend.

 Saturday was over cast and gray in the morning. We headed up to Windswept Farm to see if Adam was boiling at his sugar house, but he wasn't. I took a few photos anyway of the sugar house and his barn. They may look familiar to you, as this is one of my favorite places to photograph in the Barton area.



We woke up Sunday morning to find a dusting of snow that occurred overnight. The higher elevations in particular looked really pretty, so I took a ride back up to Windswept Farm, as it sits high on a hilltop. As I rounded the corner before the farm, this is the beautiful view that was before me:


And here is the barn:


More blog posts from this weekend will be posted this week. 





Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Happy Spring!

Today is the first day of Spring.....which is also the anniversary date of this blog! Eight years ago, back in 2010, I decided I would challenge myself to take a photo a day beginning on the first day of Spring (A time for new beginnings) and post each daily photo on this blog. I not only accomplished my goal, but I also challenged myself to take a photo a day for another 365 days......which was one of the stupidest decisions I have ever made and it damn near killed me.......But I succeeded! After that, the blog has been a place for me to share my photos, and to share a glimpse of my everyday life in New England......without the added stress of having to shoot daily or to post daily.

There have been so many changes in my life, and in your life too I bet, in the past eight years. If you've been following this blog since day one.....thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you jumped in somewhere along the way and started following.....I'd like to thank you as well. It means so much to me when I look in the "dashboard" and see how many views the blog gets, and that's what keeps me going. There are viewers from all over the World, which is so cool, and blows my mind. I appreciate each and every view.

Spring in New England can be very fickle. In fact, the past several years we have had a lot of snow in the month of March. I'm one of the many believers in Global Warming.......January and February have been milder than usual and March has become the "new February" around here over the past few years. Don't even get me started on the delayed Falls we have been having here as well over the past few years!

Tomorrow we are going to be having our fourth Nor'Easter here in Southern New England in as many weeks. Here's a photo from last week's storm of a juvenile White Tail Deer in my backyard during the height of the raging storm.


I return to work on Thursday after my bereavement days and my time off days that I took to take care of the grandkids while Ms J was in the hospital.......I'll be returning early Thursday morning in the projected foot of snow. Spring in New England. You've gotta love it. Hmpff!

Monday, March 19, 2018

The Circle of Life

My Dads funeral and burial were on Thursday........and Ms J had her baby on Friday. It's been a whirlwind week of various emotions, and I am pleased to introduce you to our newest Grandson. Joseph Alexander was born weighing an even ten pounds.



Little Stevie wants nothing to do with the new baby. In fact, he ignores him and won't even look at him. :-) 


I've had the kids while Mom and Dad have been in the hospital. Thy have been perfect! They may be going home today. Just waiting for word from the Pediatrician. And so life goes on.......in the most beautiful way. We are blessed.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

J Jake Art Gallery, Boston MA

Before I blog about the art gallery, I'd like to explain my recent absence here on the blog over the past several weeks. My Dad had a frontal lobe stroke on February 18th. He was in the hospital until Feb. 23rd, when he was transferred to rehab. On Feb. 27th, he had a seizure and was transported from the rehab back to the hospital via ambulance. He then got aspiration pneumonia, and he never was able to recover from all of this. He passed away at his home on Friday at his assisted living apartment under hospice care, surrounded by me and my sisters. He lived a wonderful 95 years and is now reunited with my Mom in Heaven. I've spent every free minute that I've had with him over the past several weeks and that's why I haven't posted any blogs.

Now onto the J Jake Art Gallery...........My camera club was invited to have a show at the J Jake Art Gallery located in the South End of Boston. We submitted our best work and the club members voted which images would be shown. It's a small gallery in size, so only a fairly small number of photos could be chosen. I was thrilled that one of my photos was chosen for the show.




The Reception at the gallery was this past weekend. I wasn't intending on going to the reception as it was so close to my Dads passing.......but then I remembered a conversation I had with him one day at the hospital. He was confused and most days didn't know who we were. On this particular day I asked him if he knew my name. He looked at me and said "no'. I then I asked if I was his daughter? He replied "no". I started making small talk and told him I had taken some pictures the day before. He then replied "oh" "You're very good at that". I was so happy that the fact that I took pictures triggered his memory to know who I was, but I was even more happy to know that he said I was good at it. I knew at that moment that I would attend the reception in his honor, as I know how proud he would have been of me.

The gallery itself is beautiful. It is located on a narrow One Way street that is lined with old brownstones. There is a small gated alley that is between two of the buildings that leads you to a courtyard with a beautiful sculpture.


You then walk down a couple of steps that lead to another courtyard.


Then to another alleyway.


Here is my Sister In Law Susan as we were leaving.


It's such a beautiful area with so much history. I was told the building that houses the art gallery was once a piano mill. In fact, there were five piano mills in that area back in the day. Today this whole area of Boston is quite an art district, and I hope to return here soon to do a photo walk with my camera.

Thanks to Jake and his wife Elaine for the opportunity to have a piece of my artwork on display at this beautiful gallery, and if you are in the area, please stop by and say hello to them and enjoy the work that they have hanging.