Word from the sugerbush is that the sap has stopped running. Friends who have been boiling syrup for the past month or so are emerging from the woods with smoky clothes and sticky fingers.
Here in town the hard maples are blooming. From a distance the flowers don't look like much, nothing more than little fuzzy blobs at the end of a dry twig. Most of the branches are so high up that you don't often get a chance to see one in detail.
On Sunday I had the bright idea to drag the tall ladder out of the garage and get up close and personal with the maple tree in our front yard. I was surprised to see how beautiful and colorful these flowers really are.