Usually I post my roughs to scraps, but not this one. Not this time. My grandfather, Robert Foster Burch Sr, passed away this morning. He was in his 80s, and had pancreatic cancer. Some of my fondest childhood memories come from spending time in my grandfather's sugarhouse. It was part greenhouse, part magical maple syrup factory, and all Yankee Ingenuity. My grandparents have a small farm in Vermont. There was always a big garden in the summer, picking blueberries and raspberries in their season, feeding the chickens, the smell of fresh cut wood in grandpa's workshop, and sugaring in the first icy cold days of spring. I've lugged those galvanized metal sap buckets (no fancy plastic pipeline here) and spent long hours in the steamy confines of the sugarhouse, waiting impatiently for it to boil down.

I remember grandpa sneaking eggs from the henhouse, and hard-boiling them in the sap as a treat (he wasn't supposed to. Grandma said it was bad for his cholesterol). It's been many long years, but this is my attempt at recreating the inside of my grandpa's sugarhouse, as best as I can remember it. This is my little bit of remembrance for an extraordinary man, who was one of the most gentle, patient, funny people I have ever known. I will miss his wit and humor, his teaching spirit and his laugh. The world is a darker place without him. WWII veteran, former Navy SeaBee, machinist, factory worker, farmer, loving husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and good man.

Go to your well-deserved rest knowing you were loved.