Today was the second day in a row with stunning sunshine in Vermont. Clear blue skies, very few clouds of any sort, the sun glinting off the endless white snow with blinding intensity. The beauty of the outside world is hard to describe, it was so breathtaking. But then, yes, it was breathtaking outside. Literally. When I awoke this morning to walk the dog under the stars, it was only 5 degrees outside, and it never made it past 25 today. The cold snap is predicted to last all week, with unseasonably cold weather, but thankfully, no more snow predicted this week at least.

Six years ago today, I was planting lettuce outside in the vegetable garden. Yes, I did plant it in the soil, then covered the row with a little hoop house, but it was warm enough to work the soil. Right now the soil is covered by almost 18 inches of snow. The cold weather means that the maple sap didn’t run today, and probably won’t run for the next week. The only good thing about that is that we are so busy this week, it would be hard to find time to boil the sap into syrup.