Active Syrup

 Not much quilting happening, it's been very busy around here but I can add a bit to the maple syrup post.

The other day PH asked if any of the trees around here (see background for trees!) were syrup trees and I pointed to two I knew of.  Yesterday I was filling the suet feeders and right at nose level I noticed something move.

The dark strip on this tree is a line of sap running out of the tree.  It's wet.

You can't see it very well, I could only get the camera to focus from this distance but what I saw moving was sap dripping from the tree like a drippy faucet that needed a new washer. Quite an active drip. Just about midway on this photo you can see the next drop forming, ready for the dive.

See that dark blob?  It's an active run.  

I tasted it.  Not like the squirrels do, putting my mouth to the tree and licking, but put my finger out to catch a drip.  It's sweet water. Doesn't taste maple, just sweet.

At the ground where the crumbs from the suet lay for the ground feeding birds they aren't consciously choosing the wet spot. I thought they would.  Then I remembered birds don't really 'taste' like the squirrels do. 

Next year I might just get a bucket and spigot. 

Maple Syrup Time

 It's maple syrup time in Michigan. When the days are what we consider warm but the nights still are cold the sap flows back up to feed the trees.  If a tree is particularly juicy it will seep out of the space where the branches meet the tree. Always in March but sometimes in late February.  

When our daughter moved into their house one spring they noticed squirrels laying on those branches and licking the dark spaces at the junctures.  

The next year she found a place that sold spigots and buckets and watched the squirrels. 

It tastes, straight from the tree, like water with a "what's that?" background.  I think you can taste the tree if you wait for it. The sap drips drip by drop into the bucket.  Somedays the bucket will be quite full, other days not so much.

Then you cook it down.  Those two pots in the background are used up and dead to the chore. The propane goes fast, the little stove wore out.  She's been doing this for years.  With the new open cook pot more will evaporate quicker.  You can see it's starting to change color as the sap boils down.  

It takes about forty gallons of sap to get one gallon of syrup. This is the real thing, no additives, preservatives, sugars, nothing but cooked down sap.  And better eating you won't find! 

Finally, Finally

 This is finally a finish!!  I started the Liberty circles during Covid when Friend Barb and I decided to do a circle quilt "together."  Since then I believe she said she has done seven circle quilts.  

I did this one. O  N  E.  I got bored so easily appliqueing circle after circle after circle and I do believe if I wasn't using the Liberty of London fabric, I would have quit long ago.  But not wanting to waste a single thread, I kept going.  I am glad I did, it's very pretty.

Finally, finally it's done, I love it and it's already been claimed by my daughter. 

Will I do another one?  Seven?  No. No. No. 

Please notice the sun is shining.

Sunshine

 

This weekend the high school's musical production of Chicago: Teen Edition played.  Our Adelaide was Mary Sunshine, a very appropriate character for her to play because she IS sunshine.

The play was wonderful, by the way.  The talent in these kids is incredible.

We were all excited that our son and Ceci and Charlie came in for the performance.  They live two hours away and with three kids involved in everything, this was, according to Ceci, the only free day they have in two months.  We were excited they were here and gave that free day to Adelaide.

This is how we see the girls when they are together.  They are always forehead to forehead tucked into some corner catching up, sharing, and just excited to be together for however long that is.  

She loves the theater, the acting, the everything about it.  And proud daddy, too.

It was a fun, fun day to be sure.

Update!

 Comments are coming through my email again! Hooray! Thanks for the tips and patience, I don't know what I did but it worked!

Two Heads Are Better Than One

First of all, blogger comments are still not coming through.  I've pushed every button I can think of  with your tutorial ideas next to me on my phone.  Tomorrow I call for techie help.  Sheesh.

     But today, Friend Laurie and I put our two heads and four hands together to work out a project for this summer's museum day camp.  

     Sticking with the 250th birthday of the US we thought replicating Betsy Ross's flag might be a good activity for the kids.  For the past few months Laurie and I batted around ideas and soon discovered she and I were talking about two different activities - or two ways to approach the one activity.  We brainstormed and decided we needed to just get some supplies and actually have a work session to see how accessible our ideas are to 7-12 year old kids.

     Laurie did teacher research on the flag will give the kids instruction:  there are thirteen red and white stripes, red on top and bottom.  The thirteen stars were to be on a blue field.  All good.  Of course a star was added with each new state but in the beginning it was a thirteen star and stripe flag. 

So, we - well, rather SHE - measured size for stripes, the blue field and we big stitched the red felt onto a solid white piece of felt. 

Our concern all along the way was making this accessible to a seven year old with no needle skills,  I wanted finished edges, which meant big stitching the red onto the white. No seams.

We had stencils for the stars because in the beginning when flag designs were being presented the stars could be and were placed at random OR in "Betsy's" circle.  We want to give the kids the freedom to choose their own design.

We each did our own thing,  I added the blue field with a running stitch and used the circle star stencil

Laurie used a stamp for her stars and did a blanket stitch to hold the blue field.  I like that, she liked mine.  Go figure.

The bottom line is daughter loved the way they turned out, we proved to ourselves we can get this through the kids' project and give them choices in how to design their own.  Our next step is to give this project kitted to three kids in the age range and time them in completing the task. 

Check this off the list! 

 

Blogger Bugs Again

 For some reason Blogger decided once again to fix something that wasn't broken so your comments are not coming through to my email.  If you know how to fix this, please let me know, otherwise I'll start pushing buttons on my own and who knows what will happen?  In the meantime, I apologize if I don't respond to your kind remarks. 

Hugs. We need them.