Archive for the ‘our summer place’ Category
natural treasures – gems from a day in early spring
After a wet spring, we were not certain when we would be able to reach our camp this year. Although the snow is gone, we don’t want to risk getting stuck or damaging our lane.
~
just a week ago there was still snow on the road and the ruts we could see were very spongy
~
We were so happy when we were able to drive all the way to our cabin door. We did a bit of tidying, put markers at the base of the little cedars we lost in the tall grass last fall and my husband did some clipping of trees over-growing the road.
~
~
I did a small display of two of the treasures we found last year, a big pine cone and a chunk of pinkish stone. But I can’t display the best treasures of the day:
- the back and forth banter of two Barred Owls. This is the big owl who calls ‘Who cooks for you?’
- the tremolo of a Common Loon on the lake. The tremolo is one of at least four distinctive vocalisations from this bird. The vibrating ‘who-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo’ is usually a call to warn of intruders or to announce arrival at a lake.
- the ‘I love dear Canada, Canada, Canada’ of the White-throated Sparrow or the nasal ‘fee-bee’ of the Eastern Phoebe.
~
I love our trips to our cabin and the treasures offered to us by nature every time we visit.
~
~
Hope you are enjoying the spring season.
All my best,
Jane
blue jay on a fall day
Our cabin is a great place for relaxing. Sometimes we have work to do, but sometimes we just sit back, read, watch birds or talk.
~
~
Often the birds come to us. I have had a hummingbird hover in the open door, just to check out what is inside that peculiar box on the hillside. We often see waxwings in our big pine trees or catch a glimpse of a goldfinch sashaying by.
~
This past week, a blue jay came to call. It perched on our grape arbour for a while and then examined our ATV trailer thoroughly. I don’t think he had a clue he was being watched and photographed.
~
~
~
~
~
dark choke-cherries, scarlet keys of ash
hang, counterweight to summer
blue jays strip the branches, berry by berry
v-beaks and hollow throats
(from my up-coming book “in the shelter of the covered bridge”)
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2017
Wildflowers: Blue-eyed grass
One of my favorite wildflowers in the fields around our cabin is Blue-eyed grass – Sisyrinchium montanum Greene.
~
June, 2017
~
Blue-eyed grass is not a grass at all, but a member of the iris family. It inhabits moist, open ground, fields and meadows, and blooms in late spring and summer. The plant is low and slender, with a deep blue flower and a bright yellow center, borne at the top of a straight, usually unbranched, stem. The stem is two-edged, flattened on the margins. The flowers are borne in the axil of a sharp, upheld bract called a spathe. In French, the plant is called Bermudienne. Montanum means ‘of the mountains’.
~
June, 2017
~
Blue-eyed Grass
Sisyrinchium montanum Greene
~
I walk in grass
but it isn’t grass-
Sisyrinchium
it winks at me
with azure eyes
and I blink brown at them
~
Blue-eyed Grass
stands straight and still
staunch Bermudienne
simple maid
with a watchful eye
and a sword above her head
~
~
June, 2016
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2017
time at our cabin
Although we have had our cabin at the lake for almost ten years, we have spent a long time getting it livable and comfortable.
~
~
This spring, we finally had the cabin insulated and gyprocked. With the interior done, it seems much more comfortable.
~
~
The time we spend at the cabin is very enjoyable. Mostly we walk around, watch the birds and work on clearing the trails. In the cabin I work at my writing and my husband and I whittle away at a book we read aloud.
~
~
The book we are reading now is ‘Vineyard Chill’ by Philip R. Craig, part of his mystery/detective series — a Martha’s Vineyard Mystery. We read this author because his main character, J. W. Jackson, is so believable. My husband likes the detail about island life — digging clams, rod fishing and boating. I like the way Philip Craig repeats small snippets of J.W.’s experience in every book. I have read this series for years and feel like I know Martha’s Vineyard, although we have never been there. Each story has its own charm and moments of drama. To get started at this great set of mysteries, have a look here.
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2017
planting trees at our cabin
Last weekend, we planted about 30 Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seedlings at our cabin property. There are lots of trees there already, but we are thinking ahead.
We bought our seedlings at the Irving Tree Nursery in Sussex, $.50 each. We planted them with the help of a metal dibble stick made especially for planting young trees.
~
~
~
~
~
~
Here is a photo of our cabin, taken from far away, on the other side of the lake in early spring. Lots of tree there already, you say? You can never have too many trees!
~
~
We still have more trees to plant, including some Red Pine and Eastern White Cedar. Great time spent outside where the black flies are never very bad!
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2017
something orange
I love the colour orange. It must be so – it is one of the most used ‘tag’ words in my blog postings.
~
This is a rather whimsical ‘side-view’ watercolour of an orange mushroom I saw recently in our cottage woods. I published the ‘top-view’ in an earlier post.
~
November 22, 2015 ‘side-view of an orange mushroom’ Jane Tims
~
November 5, 2015 ‘woodland floor’ Jane Tims
~
Copyright 2105 Jane Tims
colour on the woodland floor
Today, we went for a walk along the trails at our camp. My favorite path runs along the boundary, next to our zig-zag cedar fence and among young white pine, grey birch, red maple and balsam fir.
~
The weather has been very damp, so I expected to find fungi along the way. But I was surprised to see a beautiful patch of bright orange toadstools, each with a distinct orange-red center. They stood out among the red-brown leaves and green mosses.
~
I am not good at the identification of fungi, but I think this is Caesar’s mushroom (Amanita caesarea). It is easily confused with the poisonous Amanita muscaria, so no one should use my painting as an identification guide. Just a celebration of orange and red on a fall day.
~
November 5, 2015 ‘woodland floor’ Jane Tims
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2015
