“even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness”
Who is this earnest young performer?
Subtract an incredible 50 years, and “it’s me—myself!” as Motel the tailor exclaimed, in my high school’s production of Fiddler on the Roof. It was one of the highlights of my senior year.
My featured song was Wonder of Wonders, captured here as I expressed its sentiments to my betrothed Tzeitel, the milkman’s daughter.
The song’s ending lyrics:
“But of all God’s miracles large and small, The most miraculous one of all Is the one I thought could never be: God has given you to me.”
I was very glad my girlfriend had been able to come see our show. She quietly told me afterward she had wished I was singing it to her. She was so cute—I married her.
the history, lore, and how-to behind this sweet treat
If you’re a fan of maple syrup, you’ll love my little book about the history, lore, and how-to behind this unique North American treat. Learn the Natives’ stories, the methods of the colonists, and the modern innovations that make syruping a $1.4 billion global industry.
But if you’d like to try a little do-it-yourself sugaring in your backyard, this is also the source to help identify your maples, properly tap them, and boil off the sap to make your own home-grown sweetness. Recipes included!
And even if not, you’ll still want to get out and enjoy a maple festival near you, conducted by your friendly neighborhood naturalist.
Storey Publishing outdid itself in the highly attractive design of this perennial favorite, and I remain grateful to their fantastic editorial and production staff!
I recently discovered this twig-themed décor in a local furniture store—and was instantly transported back to Miss Bitz’s second grade classroom, where I sat in the very back of the right-most row of desks.
Our arithmetic workbook was chock-full of drawn bundles of 10 sticks and loose sticks. Everywhere you looked: bundles of 10 sticks! I realize now that it was an attempt to help me visualize the concept of tens and ones in addition. Two bundles of 10 sticks plus 3 individual sticks = a total of 23 sticks. But it sure confused me! Why are we looking at sticks? (Just tell me what numbers you want added!) I did much better when a number line was introduced.
But two other memories of sticks also surfaced: the first from my dad, who told me that as a little kid, his grandfather asked him to pick up all the sticks in the yard with two or more ends. It didn’t take the little obedient lad long: “But Pappy!”
And, when our daughter appeared in a college play, we drove out to her campus to attend the production. But we didn’t have the cash to buy a pricey bouquet of fresh-cut flowers for the ingenue. We did, however, have an abundance of free-range sticks in the backyard—and the wherewithal to present her with a beautifully arranged bundle of crisply pruned maple and willow twigs.
But now! Such trendy bundles command a ridiculous sum for the fashion-conscious homeowner! And I still can’t understand that kind of cents!
Late winter is maple sugaring season—and time for a connective tale to the sugarbush, its wondrous resource, and its industry.
Last July I was privileged to gather with my professional counterparts from other states for a 3-day meeting in Burlington, VT on the beautiful shore of Lake Champlain. After our business, I realized we were about an hour’s drive north to the headquarters of Leader Evaporator, the world’s leading manufacturer of sap boilers, evaporators and other maple syrup equipment and supplies. So I just had to go!
When I introduced myself as the author of Maple Sugar, a book they stock and sell through their catalog, my wife Carol and I were given a personal, hour-long tour of the manufacturing and welding bays. Our guide Fred also walked us down the road to show us a separate building where they manufacture the plastic tubing from tiny pellets on very long machines, and coil them up in huge spools.
We crossed over the top finger of Lake Champlain near the Quebec border, and headed back south with the lake on both sides of Rt. 2 to Grand Isle, where we took the ferry across to Plattsburg, NY. We overnighted in Lake Placid, toured the 1980 Winter Olympics arena, ski jump, and other facilities.
We then swung by Cornell University’s Uihlein Forest Maple Research Center and sugar shack. It wasn’t open, but we took a short trail walk near dusk in the extremely quiet sugarbush, where miles of tubing connects some 7000 sugar maple trees to annually produce about 100,000 gallons of syrup.
One rainy day I glimpsed a rainbow in my rearview mirror. And while I don’t recommend taking your eyes off your destination for long, a quick review of where you’ve been in such circumstances can be an encouraging reminder of three fabulous truths.
A rainbow in your rearview means:
• the storm and its difficulties are behind you. You have survived it. Be grateful, and leave those troubles in the past.
• you are facing the sun and its clearing skies. You are entering a change in your state of affairs. Be grateful, and embrace the future.
• there are still beautiful wonders in this beleaguered, woeful world. Be grateful, and enjoy the present.
