Archive for the ‘sacred spaces’ Category
Launch of my new book
Hi. I’d like to invite you all to the official launch of my new book, ‘Open to the Skies.’ Published by Merlin Star Press, it is the story of a woman who decides to save an old church from destruction, for reuse as a writers’ retreat. I will be reading from the book and there will be snacks and a chance to see a few of my paintings of old buildings in peril. It will be at the Gallery on Queen in Fredericton (406 Queen Street) from 3:00 to 4:30 on Saturday December 6, 2025. Here is the poster! I would love to see you there!
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All my best,
Jane Tims (.k.a. Alexandra)
Winner of the Blue Toy Truck!
During the month of November, when I was at a book fair and a signing, selling my new book ‘Open to the Skies,’ I displayed a blue toy truck at the booth. The ‘blue toy truck’ is a major symbol included in the book, a way of showing how community stories are a part of every church. Churches are more than just stained glass windows and candlesticks—they are places of faith and keepers of community mythology.
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Each time someone bought a copy of ‘Open to the Skies,’ they entered into a draw for the blue toy truck on display. Yesterday, at Dog Eared Books in Oromocto, I drew for the winner of the toy truck. And the winner is Jeremy T. from Fredericton. I let Jeremy know today about the results of the draw and he was pleased to be the new owner of the little truck.
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I will be running another draw in December when I sell books in person. This will include the official launch of ‘Open to the Skies’ at the Gallery on Queen, Fredericton, on Saturday, December 6, 2025. There will be readings from the book, a chance to see a few of my paintings of older at-risk buildings, and some snacks. Also a chance for a glimpse of the beautiful gallery and artwork on display there. I would love to see you at the launch!
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All my best,
Jane Tims (a.k.a. Alexandra)
Open to the Skies: a new novel by Jane Tims
Since I retired, one subject has particularly interested me – the loss of older church buildings from our landscape. As new buildings are constructed to house congregations, and older buildings become less useful because of small size, aging construction or antiquated heating systems, decisions are made to retire and deconsecrate historic churches. As with other older buildings, the choices are few: rehabilitation, repurposing, or demolition.
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My new book, published by Merlin Star Press in New Brunswick, is the fictional story of one of these churches. In ‘Open to the Skies,’ a couple in transition to a simpler way of life, encounters an old church about to be abandoned and perhaps demolished. Sadie and Tom decide to purchase the church and move it, a few kilometres down the road, to their new property. They intend to turn the church into a writers’ retreat.
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In the process, they encounter a community uncertain about how it wants to proceed. Some want to give the church a new life, others are dead set against repurposing a building where their children have been baptized and married. Others in the community are motivated by a conservationist mentality and one very difficult fellow has an ownership claim against the property where the church has stood for over one hundred years.
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The church itself has a history and mythology, to be understood by anyone taking it over. In the church’s story includes a mysterious blue toy truck and a young boy who turns up at strange times. The threats of fire and violent protest also haunt Sadie and Tom as they undertake repurposing of the church.
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I will be presenting my new book at launches and signings in the coming months. These will include a signing event at Dog Eared Books in Oromocto, New Brunswick on November 15th and a reading in Fredericton later in November. I would be so happy to see you there! The book is now available from Dog Eared Books in Oromocto and from Merlin Star Press https://www.merlinstarpress.com/home/bookstore
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I’ll be keeping you up to date on my book, its availability, and any readings.
All my best!
Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)
Counting the days
I have a special Advent calendar to count down the days until Christmas. Each day during Advent, I hang one ‘ornament.’ The ornaments are made from plain cardstock, ribbon and various bits of decor — buttons, tiny baskets, brooches, earrings. We count down the days from the first Sunday in Advent (this year, November 28, 2021).
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To make these, I selected a shape I liked from the internet, used a fancy font to add the number of days (written out, but you could also use a number), printed and cut out the shape. Then, with a glue gun, I attached a bit of decor and used a hole punch to add ribbon for hanging.
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The ornaments can be hung from a small tree or branch, or from a dowel suspended from the ceiling. I hang our ornaments from an old fashioned clothes dryer I have attached to the wall.
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Enjoy the days leading up to Christmas. They can be hectic, but take the time to sit and think about the good things in your life.
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Take care in this time of pandemic.
Jane
Small miracles
As I go through life, I occasionally encounter oddities so unexpected I think of them as small miracles. At least my interpretation is that some unseen force is at work, sending me messages of hope and faith.
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After my mom died, a small yellow warbler came to our window for most of the first year, an example of the kind of messaging I mean.
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Today I saw a small miracle, in a pot on the railing of the back deck. Although we have had several frosts, and although I have not planted pansies in the pot for at least three years, a little pansy plant was blooming in the pot.
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I am a biologist, so I know these things can be explained away. There was a stray pansy seed in the pot. Pansies are hardy plants. The house wall was only a few centimetres away, protecting the pot from frost. I know these things but my interpretation stands. And I have only gratitude.
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All my best,
Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)
Happy Valentine’s Day
Among my non-family postcards, I only have two that have Valentine themes. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!!!!
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sent in 1910 from Bridgewater to Lunenburg (Nova Scotia)
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sent in 1915 from Bramshott Camp, Hants, England to Sussex, New Brunswick
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Copyright 2018 Jane Tims
spirit guide
As a biologist, I believe that human beings are fundamentally connected to the natural world. We are part of that world. To live, we need to eat and drink and breathe. We respond to the cycles of climate and weather.
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I believe, to be whole, we need to experience nature on a daily basis. In winter it is so easy to hide within our warm houses and pretend we are immune. But when I have hibernated for a few days, I start to long for a snowflake on my tongue, the glimpse of a bird, the sound of ice cracking on the lake. I need fresh air, a moment spent counting the sides on a flake of snow, the dripping of maple sap into a metal pail, the chortle of a black crow, flying overhead.
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Call me crazy, but sometimes I am certain our connection with nature is one of communication. I am stopped by the knowing look of my cat staring at me as if she cannot understand my lack of understanding. I ask for a prayer to be answered and hear the low tremolo of a loon from the lake. I am startled by the constant return of a yellow bird to the window in the months after my mother dies. I watch my hand painting detail in a landscape and am amazed at how a white line can capture the essence of a leaf.
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I also feel kinship with a particular animal. Some days it seems to express my disgruntlement with life. Other days, my joy. When I think of sound, the first sound I remember is the beat of wings on overhead air.
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spirit guide
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after the proper length of fast
after the proper exposure to fire
I open my eyes
but I see no animal spirit
only black
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I listen
silence
unless you count the compression
of a single beat of wing
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I stretch and feel the atmosphere
detached
partitioned by sharpened feather fingers
and the zigzag trail
of some multi-legged crawler
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my mouth is filled
with the down
of fallen angels
(also feathered black)
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the stink of burning quills
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where is a crow
when you need to experience
more than the characteristics of crow?
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Copyright Jane Tims 2018
decorating for Christmas #5
I have quite a few nativity scenes. My favorite is my set of figures by ™Avon. I collected them more than 30 years ago and it was this set we used when my son was little. We used it to tell the story of the Nativity, starting with an empty manger, putting the angels with the shepherds to announce Jesus’ birth, moving the wise men ever closer to the stable.
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I actually have three ‘little drummer boys’ for the set; two of these belonged to my mom. I bought one drummer boy each for my mom and my mother-in-law, and gave one to Mom in 1992. Then I forgot I had given her the first, so she got another from me in 1993. I know the years because Mom labelled her belongings with the giver and year. My mother-in-law never did get a drummer boy figure!
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the three drummer boys: one of mine and two of Mom’s 1992 and 1993 (left to right)
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boxes for the drummer boys, carefully labelled by Mom
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One of my favorite parts of the Nativity scene is the white satin cloth with golden stars that make a backdrop to the figurines, reminiscent of the star-studded sky in Bethlehem.
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Merry Christmas from the drummer boys …
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
decorating for Christmas #3
Years ago, on a business trip to New Hampshire, I visited an antique store and bought five of the figures to a German papier-mâché Nativity set: two shepherds, two villagers and a wise man. Since then, I have searched eBay to complete the set and last year I succeeded with the purchase of a cow, two sheep and a donkey. Along the way, I acquired several figures from the same Nativity but at different scales. Now I have quite a crowd visiting the manger! And I have two Mary figurines which may be disturbing but I can’t decide which one to keep …
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All my shepherds, villagers, wise men, angels, manger animals, and, of course, the Holy Family, wish you a Merry Christmas!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
restoring an old church
For some time now, as part of my duties on the Vestry of our church, I have been involved in discussions about the future of a very old church in our community.
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St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church in New Maryland, New Brunswick (Photo credit: Hughes)
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St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church in New Maryland, New Brunswick was built in 1863 and is a small wooden Gothic Revival church designed by Rev. Edward S. Medley as part of his architectural program.
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In recognition of its history and architecture, the church is listed as a Protected Historic Site under the Heritage Conservation Act. It is considered to be one of the finest Medley-inspired, Neo-Gothic, wooden churches in New Brunswick. The designation has this to say about the church …
The Church of St. Mary the Virgin Provincial Heritage Place is significant because of its association with the Neo-Gothic architectural programme of Anglican priest-architect Rev. Edward S. Medley and, his father, Bishop John Medley. Here the two Medleys have collaborated to render a diminutive, wooden, mid-Victorian church-building translated from more formal stone compositions in England dating back to the Middle Ages. Designed by Rev. Edward S. Medley in 1863 and completed the following year, this church was consecrated by Bishop John Medley. It serves as a noteworthy example of the more than 100 Neo-Gothic churches erected in New Brunswick during the 47 year episcopate of John Medley (1845-1892).
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Inspired by other much larger church buildings of the Gothic manner, St. Mary the Virgin reflects a dramatic emphasis on exterior vertical lines reaching upward along the walls of the building, ending in a distinctive bell turret. This verticality is accentuated further by board-and-batten exterior construction punctuated frequently in the architectural pattern by the characteristic pointed arch motif over windows, doorways and gables.
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The old church is closely surrounded by a cemetery and has been important to the community as a place of worship, family life, weddings, baptisms, and burials for well over 100 years. Since a new church was built in 1987, the old church has aged and weathered. Although repairs are needed, restoration is possible and a number of options have been suggested for its reuse.
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(Photos of the stained glass windows in the church are by John Leroux and are used with permission)
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If you are interested in hearing more about this church and following along as a new future for the church is imagined and realised, you can join the Facebook Group ‘Friends of the Historic New Maryland Church’. I hope to see you there!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
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