I appreciate my visits to the Sugar House at Pompanuck Farm. Scott is a gracious host, he gives me warm maple water, and today, hot toddies, a delicious blend of syrup and whiskey. As the afternoon wore on, the conversation just glowed, and I felt like a barn cat sitting in front of a wood stove. Once in awhile, I got up to stir the foam in the boiling syrup tank, but mostly, I had nothing much to but yak with Scott and drink my toddies. Men in my life have rarely taken the time to do this with one another, I suppose this is a Man Cave, even though women are very welcome and often present.

I doubt I will ever have a Sugar House – too expensive and complicated for me to deal with. There are men who build sugar houses and there are men who sit in them and drink hot toddies. I know who I am.