Still Going

Friday afternoon's boil. On days like this, when the snow hushes the valley and the steam hugs the sugarhouse, it feels more than ever that nothing else in the whole world exists except the boiling scene. — Friday afternoon’s boil. On boiling days – and especially nights – like this, when the snow hushes the valley and the steam hugs the sugarhouse, it feels like nothing else in the whole world exists except this place at this moment.

WEATHER: April in February, February in April. A good cold snap recharges the maples. It’s the weather we need to keep the season going.

This bud is swollen but has not yet popped. This week's cold has delayed the inexorable. — This bud is swollen but has not yet popped. This week’s cold has delayed the inexorable progression of new life.

HOW’S IT RUNNING? It was too cold for most of the week, but the sap ran Thursday and Friday, though not as hard as it would have earlier in the season with similar weather.

BOILING STATUS: We boiled only once this week, on Friday, and it was a short boil.

SAP SWEETNESS: It’s 1.4%, the weakest sap of the year so far; it’s typical late season sap.

Falls Brook this week. It’s also on hold.

MUSIC TO BOIL BY: The Band Crush, Chapter Two.

I walked into the sugarhouse one day last week where Becca and Christian were drawing the last syrup of the day and heard dreamy but edgy tones emanating from the boom box.

“Is this Radiohead?” I knew Becca likes this band. The falsetto of the male vocalist matched the steam.

Christian likes Radiohead, too, and they listened to the album Kid A on his iPod. The persistent beat propelled them through an hour of cleanup chores.

Becca says: I’m not sure what to say about Radiohead except that they were the first band to make me excited about new music in a long, long time. Kid A and In Rainbows are my favorite albums, and I particularly like the songs Everything in its Right Place, Idioteque, Morning Bell, Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, and House of Cards.

They are five British guys who have been experimenting with rock music together since high school in the ’80’s. Adjectives applied to their music include: audacious, enigmatic, devastingly beautiful, weird.

Here is a sampler:

Weird Fishes/Arpeggi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_Ydoe4Q-Gg

A version of Everything in its Right Place. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onRk0sjSgFU&list=RDonRk0sjSgFU

(I chose YouTube clips that do not show the band playing because Becca says she doesn’t even know what they look like, she just listens.)

Everett, who works on weekends and is itching to tap his own trees, also likes Radiohead. “They’re an acquired taste,” he says. “And they are their own genre. Another group called Dub Star All Stars did a dub version called Radiodread with a reggae spin that I really like.”

Dub version with a reggae spin? I, your scribe, am in over my (un-radio) head.

What impresses me with both Animals as Leaders and Radiohead is that to be this good, these musicians have put in their 10,000 hours. That’s disciplined practice.