Do you smell the MAPLE SYRUP?

Does MAPLE SMELL MEAN SPRING?

Buddha is waiting for spring, as well as I...Waiting for the first walk on sleeping brown muddy grass.  Looking for clues of spring.  Usually the Iris's are peeking their green tips, even before the snow falls.
Knowing in time they will be there for your early viewing pleasure.  Though the spotty show of crocus and delicate stance of bloodroot is still a few months away.
I think going through the process in my head, helps to survive the NE winter and its sometime dreary attire.
My daughter got out of the car the other night and thoughtlessly said,"I smell maple syrup mom"..
I thought,"yay! Its not my imagination!"  Another treasure of living in the 4 season zone, is watching the art of tree tapping,syrup sapping, maple smelling, smoke house dwelling~ fun!
  I do remember as a 5 year old, my dad tapping the trees on our then wonderful ol' farmhouse.  I also remember my mother dreading the mess that would soon be hers.   But i think she liked the home made maple syrup as much as my dad liked tapping the trees.  It was all up to mother nature, and as many naturalists know, its fun to try to guess in your head, if the clues you have observed over the years, have given you enough knowledge to take on this feat or will you have to use the written word from the old timers from long ago.
Maybe a combination, just like learning anything...
I do enjoy trying to figure this stuff out though.  From the syrup from the maple tree to the color of OX blood., for paint pigments..who first thought to use these things in our evolving world. ?

I guess i have rambled enough, have a new computer, new pass words, new format, new everything. Maybe ill be able to check in more then once every 4 months,,,
Oh yes, and to talk about ART!!! LETS PAINT!!!!