I have friends in the hilltowns where the snow is still over a foot deep under the shade of the woods.  This time of year, when the days are getting longer and the winter is on the run, they burn the brush that’s piled up in the past year. Each year they make a ritual of it, so you get a chance to burn old stuff you want to clear out and let go of, to make way for the energy of the incoming warm season. Part of the ritual is always drinking maple sap fresh and sweet, before it is reduced into syrup. Today was such a dance of fire, water and wind, awakening the muddy earth.