to the church on time

For the first time in 15 months, getting to church on time meant leaving later, a lot later than the 6:30 I'd gotten used to. I got to East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church in time to warm up an ensemble of voices to sing "Up the Mountain," an anthem for Transfiguration Sunday. Let's see--back row, l to r, is Jonathan Towles, Peter Eash-Scott, Dirk Eitzen, Margaret High, Rebecca Weybright, Sarah Schrock; front row, Sue Shirk and Marilou Adams and me. A big thanks to those fantastic voices. (Levi Rempel Smucker photo)

boil it down

So far our young maple has produced 384 oz. or 3 gal. of sap. Now we're boiling it down to to 9.6 oz. of syrup, which is a ratio of 40 to 1. As it gets thicker the temperature and density go up--the correct way to know when you are done. We have a 1000-watt hot plate behind the barn turned on high. What you see here is the final 2.5 inches in the pan. When it gets low I have to watch that it doesn't "burn."

tap the maple

Yesterday Joel came out after work and helped me tap the sugar maple. We used grandpa's brace and bit. As soon as the spout was tapped snug the sap almost flowed. Here's how you can do it.

what I do--church

Here I'm working on an Iraqi song with Barb Musselman who plays recorder at Zion Mennonite Church--organ in background. Here's a link to an article about this.

sun goes down over Monterey

Clear sky. Nice stone wall. As good as the art inside, almost. This view from our parking space yesterday at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. After church in Souderton, it was an easy drive down the Schuylkill Expressway.

Today we honor a lower level of popular culture--Groundhog Day.