Archive for October 2023
Happy Halloween
October 31 is approaching and already houses are decorated for Halloween. Ghosts, imitation cemeteries, carved pumpkins and various ghouls decorate the houses in our area. The decoration I like the best is in Harvey, a community not far from where we live. Almost every year a circle of dancing ghosts appears, around an old apple tree, in a mowed field. Every year we drive to see them dancing.
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When I was a kid, most people did not decorate for Halloween although carving a pumpkin with a funny face was part of the fun. Halloween meant dressing up and filling a pillow case with goodies from a visit to neighbouring homes. Afterwards, we would sort the treats into groups and I would stow the pillowcase in my closet so I would have treats for many days to come. The last time I went out trick-or-treating was in Grade Twelve!!!!
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Happy Halloween!
All my best!
Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)
‘outside-in’
In the last few days, I was at the home of a friend and recognized a painting on her wall. I painted it years ago, in 2015, in a still life phase of my art. The things included in the painting were possessions I love and still have, mostly depictions of items normally found outside: a marble egg, a book of wild plant identification, two statuettes of mushrooms from my collection, a seashell from my Dad’s collection, a chunk of amethyst, a special fern-embossed candle holder and candle I keep on our mantle, red berries from our berry bush, and in the background, the fern curtains from our living room.
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I looked up the others I had done in the series, all still life. No. 2 was a painting of the stained glass window in our house (I can see it from where I am sitting). Included in the still life are my hollow silver bird, my large glass jar, filled with potpourri, and a stack of plant identification books. The pine cones in the painting are from our yard … every year this time the big pine releases its cones in tight, sticky packages. After they sit in the sun a few days, they dry and open, releasing their seeds.
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The first in the series was called ‘Outside-in’ and depicted the large green resin dragon I keep among my indoor plants. It also shows my moss garden inside its glass cloche. I makes me sad to see the vines of my Mom’s lipstick plant which died a few years ago.
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In these days of de-cluttering and getting rid of things, I am glad to still have all the items in the paintings (except the vine). However, the paintings themselves are no longer with me, sold in Isaac Way’s Art Auction in Fredericton. Who purchased them? I only know the whereabouts of the one in the home of my friend.
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Perhaps I will be inspire to do a 4th painting in the still life series, depicting some of the other things I love. We will see.
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All my best,
Jane (a.k.a.) Alexandra
new Kaye Eliot Mystery, coming soon
I have spent the last week doing the final edits on my next Kaye Eliot Mystery. The name of this one will be ‘Pareidolia,’ meaning the tendency of people to see specific, meaningful images in random visual arrangements. Those who see a ‘man in the moon’ will know what I mean.
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In this book, the Eliot family will tackle another rural mystery, this time in a huge old house and its marble floors – marble floors with images embedded for those who look closely … a story told in ‘pareidolia.’
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The book and the mystery occur around the planning for Clara and Daniel’s upcoming wedding. Clara and Daniel, the stonemason, are Kaye’s friends and will be known to readers of the Kaye Eliot series.
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The image for the cover of the book is completed, an acrylic painting that shows some of the scenes within the old house – a house being used as a venue for weddings and anniversaries. The marble tiles are also featured in the cover image. Only a rectangular area of the painting will be featured on the book cover.
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The book will be available in late November 2023. This is the fifth book in the series. Come roam with Kaye and her family in rural Nova Scotia and enjoy the antics of the Eliot kids and their friends.
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The other books in the series are:
How Her Garden Grew
Something the Sundial Said
Land Between the Furrows
Stained Glass
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Looking forward to sharing this mystery story with you!
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All my best,
Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)
autumn red
We visited our camp yesterday and found a bush of hawthorn, sharp with thorns and red with berries. On the way home, we saw mountain ash, laden with clusters of red berries. And in our driveway are red rose hips and the dark red of the fruit in our crab apple tree. There is a drab side to the fall months, but these bits of colour make me happy.
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All my best,
Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)
a drive along the river
Two weekends ago, my husband and I took a favourite drive along part of the Saint John River in New Brunswick. The Jemseg Ferry Road is a short loop, beginning at the Scovil side of the ferry at Gagetown and continuing along a meandering road to Lower Jemseg. The area is a cluster of bogans, ponds and meadows where we often see osprey and eagles, ducks and turtles. Once, many years ago, we saw a glossy ibis and I added it to my life list of birds.
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On our drive, we were amazed at the blooms of swamp (or giant) sunflower along the river banks. This sunflower has yellow petals (not dark towards the base), lanceolate (long narrow) leaves, alternate leaves, and a magenta stem. Helianthus giganteus, a relative of the cultivated sunflower, is not native but an escape. Crowds of the flowers followed the road and framed almost every view of the river.
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The sun was setting as we drove along and the yellow flowers were all facing the west. This tilting of the flower head to follow the sun is known as heliotropism.
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As you can see from the colour in the trees in the photos, we have only a short time to enjoy these beautiful fall flowers. We drove the same road just yesterday and most of the flower were already gone.
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All my best,
Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)
the rock project continues
My ‘rock project’ has an important personal implication: keeping me physically fit and active. Every day, I try to walk the loop, at least twice. Not a long distance, but it gets me outside, in nature, for some time each day and keeps me ahead of being crippled by my arthritis.
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The ‘rock project’ includes anything that encourages me to walk the loop. Today provides a great example. Today, I walked the loop twice, once to collect some rocks to create a small table-like structure in the woods beside the loop. I used three piles of rock to create the legs of the table and a larger, flat stone to create the table top.
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I have used this table to display two small iron birds.
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Now, when I walk the loop, I will watch for these little metal birds, a small tribute to the real birds I often see on the path or near the bird feeder.
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Small projects like this keep me active and encourage me to walk the loop. Other projects include:
- clearing unwanted vegetation from the small iron faerie beside the path
- continuing to work on the rock wall at the start of the loop
- planting mosses and periwinkle on the platform of ‘rockhenge’
- finding two ceramic ‘mushrooms’ I put into the woods years ago and giving them a new home by the edge of the loop
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Keep walking!
Best regards!
Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)
nichepoetryandprose 