Melt Down.

3-10-16 VERMONT: We drove up yesterday with the AC on. The temps even in Vermont were in the seventies—record highs were set all over the Northeast. March is ordinarily a winter month here. The snow, in some years, lasts until May. When we arrived the driveway was a sheet of ice as was part of the yard. The footing was treacherous until I chopped out a path from the house to the garage.

When the snow partially melts on warm days, it turns to ice during the freezing nights. Last night it stayed in the fifties, and the driveway was clear of ice this morning. Today is in the sixties, and it started to rain before noon. The melting snow and ice has turned to fog.

The pond is still frozen over, except for a small spot opened up by the rain and runoff. The road is a muddy mess, a quagmire, but the traffic is non-existent because no one uses the road when it’s like this except us locals.

Maple syrup production has begun, the trees are all sporting their spring hardware. Snowdrops are up, but not open. Last year they didn’t open until mid-April.


The old farmers planted the maple trees along the road so it would be easier to collect the sap.

Snowdrops testing the air.

With a warm rain the Connecticut River is muffled in mist.

Ice is floating downstream on the river.

Foggy pond.