Archive for the ‘strategies for winter’ Category
decorating for Christmas #4
Decorating in our house involves some cleaning and maintenance since I do not keep up with housework through the year. One of the things I do for Christmas is shine our basket of glass floats.
~
~
Glass floats were once used to keep the edges of fishing nets buoyant and you can buy new floats as well as antiques. They are beautiful and come in many festive colours. I consider them a Christmas decoration because of their beauty, because they remind me of stained glass and because my Mom and Dad gave me at least one of the green glass floats in my collection. I used to keep them on top of the piano, but I have copied my niece who keeps hers in a basket by her wood stove. When I visited my niece a few years ago, I drew her collection of floats and wrote a poem about them.
~
~
glass floats
~
the fog’s still glow
penetrates glass
and air incorporated
an age ago
~
weightless, flamboyant
on salt water
swell
~
glass inflation
tethered by hemp
on an ocean
whipped to froth
~
~
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 …
~
~
~
~
All my shepherds, villagers, wise men, angels, manger animals, and, of course, the Holy Family, wish you a Merry Christmas!
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2017
decorating for Christmas #2
Early in December, I wasn’t certain I’d have the energy to decorate for Christmas in a big way. I asked my husband, “If you only had one decoration this Christmas (besides the tree), what would it be?” He answered, without any hesitation, “The singing mice.” I have since rallied and put up lots of decorations, but the singing mice were the first to be pulled from their box!
~
We bought the singing mice in the 1990s when animatronics hit the stores in a big way. Each mouse is about 9 inches tall. When you press his paw, each mouse sings, in a rather high pitch, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. As he sings, the mouse’s cheeks glow red and he wiggles his book of carols. If you are able to press three paws at once, the mice sing in cute harmony. Their singing always brings a smile!
~
~
Merry Christmas to you all from our singing mice!
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2017
decorating for Christmas #1
Mid-December and the countdown to Christmas has begun. I love to decorate for the holiday. At one time, the entire house was decked out … one year I decorated seven Christmas trees!
~
As I get older, I keep the decorating to a few well-loved vignettes and I always try to include some natural greenery.
Last week we went to our cabin and I snipped a bouquet of cedar boughs …
~
~
The crock is one of my collection of crocks, this one special since it was made at MEDALTA Potteries Ltd., not far from where I lived in Medicine Hat in Alberta.
Hope your seasonal decorating is going well!
~
Best regards,
Jane
snow duties
Our first big snow arrived Saturday night. Twenty centimeters of fluff. Time to begin snow removal duties.
~
~
This year my husband has about 30 clients for snow removal and he has been getting ready for a couple of weeks — staking driveways, buying diesel, replacing lights in the tractor array, removing stressed bolts and moving things around the yard to make moving the snow as simple as possible.
~
~
My duties are simple and few. I set the alarm for 3 AM, print off the client list from the computer and run the checklist — water, raisins, earplugs, client list, flashlight, cell phone, “go bag”. The “go-bag” has about sixty pounds of chain, a roll of tow strapping, assorted connection devices and anything you would ever want to pull yourself from a ditch.
~
~
I also supply diesel when needed and lunch. No set times for anything. Just a hearty meal, packed to eat on the road, when my husband gets hungry.
~
lunch packed into a cooler (or in this case, a heater) … lots of protein and calories …
~
Otherwise, I answer the phone, work away at various editing projects and worry. Things can go wrong out there in snow-land and they often do. A stray two-by-four goes through the blower. The tractor slips off the side of a driveway into a deep ditch. The plow for the main roads is late. There are three cars in the driveway and no one at home to move them!
~
~
My husband is the only one I know who talks about snow and winter longingly in the middle of summer. Everyone should love their work as much as he does!
~
Enjoy your snow-day where-ever you are.
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2017
a day getting ready for Christmas
I have been so busy lately, all duties associated with my new book. But occasionally I need a day to just catch up, and to pay attention to the season. So last week we drove out on a Christmas adventure. We did four things:
1. Bought a balsam fir wreath for the front of our house. These wreaths are hanging outside most of our local quick-stop stores, so our wreath was easy to find.
2. Bought a Christmas turkey. I am not much for preparing meat for the stove, so we bought a ready-stuffed Butterball turkey. I will still have to cope with the ‘gizzard’ bag but mostly I can just peel off the plastic, put the bird into the pan and shove it in the oven. What a wimp I am!
3. Visited the Atlantic Super Store and got a sampling of their fancy hors-d’oeuvres. Coconut shrimp! A treat for a cold winter evening.
4. Drove to our camp and gathered cedar boughs to make a Christmas garland. We sat in the camp, ate Clementine oranges and talked for an hour or so. We even heard the loons on the lake call three times. A very pleasant way to prepare for Christmas.
~
our Christmas wreath
~
What small things do you do to get ready for the Christmas season?
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2017
winter reading
Today in New Brunswick, it’s just a little colder than yesterday. Leaves are falling from the trees and there are lots of bare branches against the blue sky. Yesterday I switched our thermostats to auto mode. And yesterday we stopped at a roadside stand to buy a small store of pickles and jams for winter eating.
~
~
My pile of winter reading is also growing. I am looking forward to days by the fire reading many of our New Brunswick authors.
~
I can add to your winter reading pile in a couple of ways:
~
1.
A chance to win a copy (paperback, postage-paid) of my upcoming book ‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’ (Chapel Street Editions). This book includes 73 of my poems about plants and animals living in the vicinity of 35 of our covered bridges in New Brunswick. The book also includes 21 of my drawings of bridges and wild life. To enter for the draw, just leave a comment on any of my blog posts at http://www.nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com or the Facebook posting. one entry per person per post.
~
~
2.
Get a free copy of the Kindle version of the third book in my science fiction Meniscus Series from October 22 to October 25, 2017. ‘Meniscus: Winter by the Waterclimb’ will tell you everything you need to know about how to survive winter on an alien planet!!! Although the book is part of a series, it is also ‘stand-alone’. To get a free copy of the ebook, just click here.
~
~
Enjoy your day!
Jane
waking from winter …
Not everyone has been snoozing though the colder months …
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2017
spring comes to the Saint John River
We have waited eagerly for spring here in New Brunswick. With late snow storms and temperatures still in the minus degrees Centigrade, my day lilies are just peeking through the grass at the edge of the snow.
~
There is still ice on the river with windrows showing the last snows …
~
~
but the ice is gradually receding, revealing vast strips of blue water …
~
~
Every year, my husband and I watch for our own harbinger of spring …. the return of the Canada geese to the river. We went for a drive last week to find many examples of geese feeding in the bare fields and along the river edges.
~
We saw geese in several fields along the way, but our best view was on a side road to one of the river’s many concrete wharves …
~
~
prediction of spring
~
necks of geese
are the steep upward
curve of charts showing:
—— longer , brighter days
——- larger areas of meltwater
——— warmer expressions of sun
~
~
Copyright 2017 Jane Tims
Snow days!
We have had lots of snow in central New Brunswick. So, just a few photos to show you my day on Friday and all the piles of snow!
~
Our driveway, partly plowed …
~
The impressive piles of snow in the box store parking lot …
~
My husband and his tractor, clearing snow …
~
Copyright 2017 Jane Tims
nichepoetryandprose 