Sunday, March 16, 2008

First Signs


This is the early crew heading out to cross a half mile of late winter mud to get to the Yoder sugar bush yesterday, something that is starting to be a fun, first signs of spring ritual. The people there are as sweet as the maple syrup they are boiling in the evaporator room. A lame simile, but it's true. Every year, I leave thinking "I've just got to start drilling holes in my trees to make my own syrup," and I don't even care that most of our trees are Chinese Elms. Even if the stuff tasted awful, it would still be something I made, which is basically our sole purpose on this planet: to make stuff.

Cath is carrying what may be the first Vera Bradley bag that I am willing to say, publicly, is cool. It almost has an Anthropologie feel to it. Sure, there have been patterns in the past that I have liked, but none that I was comfortable enough to admit it to outside of a close, trusted, inner-circle of friends (okay, one other I can admit to openly is the classic Blue Toile). This pattern, called "Puccini," is still a prototype, and is therefore still being tested in wind tunnels and by rooms full of violent chimpanzees, but the early results have been promising.
Last year, I swear that they made the pancakes for you, but this year you were supposed to bring your own batter for the grills. My bad. Fortunately, Wes and Sarah Jane brought enough for all. B. got to man the tractor, a highlight for him, apart from the donuts the Yoders had for the kids.
Here, I predict, is the 2008 Christmas card photo that Wes and Sarah will use. It's that good. I love the way the firewood radiates in these, like, rays like it's one of them old-timey religious icons. That's what it makes me think of, anyway.

9 comments:

sarahjane said...

What a lovely time! Wes wants to note that, for the record, he's wearing a REALLY thick coat. :)

Turner Publishing said...

I’m going around to all the Fort Wayne bloggers to let them know about our new book, the Historic Photos of Fort Wayne by Scott Bushnell. We’d love to send you a complimentary copy for possible review consideration on your blog. The title is done in a large format, 10x10 and all images used are culled from several archives that represent rare or never before seen photos of Fort Wayne. We’re trying to get the word out to local folks, so I hope you don’t mind me dropping you a line to let you know about our book!

He has two upcoming signings: Coldwater Road Barnes & Noble on June 7th from 1-3pm and the next week, the day before Father's Day, at Hyde Brothers Booksellers on June 14th at 6pm.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Best,
Rachel Joiner.
Marketing Manager
Turner Publishing
rjoiner@turnerpublishing.com

Unknown said...

An aureola or aureole (diminutive of Latin aurea, "golden") is the radiance of luminous cloud which, in paintings of sacred personages, surrounds the whole figure. In the earliest periods of Christian art this splendour was confined to the figures of the persons of the Christian Godhead, but it was afterwards extended to the Virgin Mary and to several of the saints.

The aureola, when enveloping the whole body, generally appears oval or elliptical in form, but occasionally circular or quatrefoil. When it appears merely as a luminous disk round the head, it is called specifically a halo or nimbus, while the combination of nimbus and aureole is called a glory. The strict distinction between nimbus and aureole is not commonly maintained, and the latter term is most frequently used to denote the radiance round the heads of saints, angels or Persons of the Trinity.

Just in case you ever get on Jeopardy.

Mr. Hill said...

Hey, thanks, d.ram; that's cool stuff to know. You're almost like some new version of Wikipedia that has the ability to go out and direct knowledge wherever it is needed.

Hmmm? said...

I saw that IU lost. I'm sorry. And in case you were wondering, Canada has the BEST maple syrup. It's almost worth driving 16 hours to Montreal again to get some maple taffy rolled in snow on a stick.

Mr. Hill said...

Figures the syrup is better up there; most of the things I like are.

And now global warming is making it ever more livable. In the future, Canada will be the new America. The old America will be the new Texas, and the old Texas will be the new Chile. Global warming is making the world a confusing place.

This is the kind of stuff I write when coming off the back side of a big caffeine spike.

Unknown said...

a.) Guess we were wrong about IU.

b.) How do you like that Dodo's album?

Mr. Hill said...

No, we weren't wrong about them beating UNC--we'll just never know because the game won't take place. Thank goodness that season is over.

The Dodos record is pretty great stuff. I've been listening all day pretty much. They're going to be in Bloomington on 4/19 or so, a Saturday.

Unknown said...

Haha, that's exactly what I was going to tell you. The 19th is 2 days after Joe and I see Destroyer in Chicago, so we're following it up with that free concert at IU.

Dodos and better yet, Beach House.

It'll be good.