Sugar on Snow

(In a giveaway at Old Gate's Farm, we won maple syrup.  What a treat.)

Yesterday a neighbor came by with a bag of snow in one hand a gallon of maple syrup in the other.  He is our neighbor that has never grown up in (perhaps I could learn a little from him).  At 61, he finds great joy in preparing a fantastic luge run each winter and welcomes all that come by his home with a great supply of tire tube sleds.

So yesterday he had been doing some spring skiing at nearby Jay Peak and grabbed a bag of snow during one of his runs.

I have heard people around here talk about "sugar on snow" but I really didn't know what it was.  I had assumed it was just flavoring the snow with maple syrup.   I was wrong.  Our neighbor boiled some syrup and then kept testing it on the large bowl of snow.  When it stayed on the surface it was done.  He then poured out the boiled syrup over the top of the snow in lines.  It immediately hardened up a bit.  Next, he took a fork and wrapped the now candy-like maple syrup around a fork and handed them out one by one to the children.  It tasted like a maple lollipop.

We live in such a special area here - where neighbors come by to share, where people open their homes to others for play, and where people lend a hand to  people are in need.

Warm wishes,

Tonya

(Thank you so much for all of the supportive sharing in my last post.  Although my primary reason for writing this blog is to share all the blessings in our simple life,I think it is important for me to also be honest about times where I fall short and struggle because those times do end up being blessings that make me stronger or see things in a different light.)