Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
celebration of a covered bridge
Do you love covered bridges?
Have you done any writing about the Patrick Owens Bridge or any other covered bridge?
On Saturday August 25, 2018 at 2:00 pm join us at the Rusagonis Covered Bridge Park to celebrate our Bridge.
- We will hear from Jeff Carr, MLA.
- Linda Cogswell will tell us a bit about the history of the bridge.
- I will be reading from my book ‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’ (Chapel Street Editions, 2017) and $10 from every sale of my book will be donated for the upkeep of the Park.
- Rose Burke will read a piece about the Upper Mills Bridge and cross-border travel in former years.
- Ian LeTourneau, Fredericton’s Cultural Laureate, will read his poem about the loss of the Bell Covered Bridge.
- We will also have an ‘open mic’ where you can join others in reading from your own work (about bridges or any other related theme).
We will have cake and lemonade as part of the afternoon. There will also be a BBQ, courtesy of MLA Jeff Carr! Everyone is welcome!
Let me know if you would like to read (in the comments or at timstims@nbnet.nb.ca).
All my best,
Jane
yard work
I am trying to restore some sanity to our yard. Lots to do and I lack balance in my life, so I never seem to get around to the yard work!
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We live in woods and cutting a tree or a blade of grass just isn’t on my wish list (see a Facebook group I belong to “Hell no, I won’t mow.“). If you look on an aerial photo of our lot, you just see green trees, although we have a house, and a shed, garage and greenhouse. When we first “cleared” the lot 40 years ago, I told the poor man on the bulldozer that if he touched one of my ribboned trees, he wouldn’t get paid. I can still see him maneuvering, ever so carefully, around a little Witherod bush that accidentally got a bit of ribbon tied to it.
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an aerial of our neighbourhood … that square of trees where a house should be, that’s us … you can just see our house roof and chimney if you look hard
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If you allow nature to take over, it will. Right now, the bane of my life is grapevines and Bracken. The ‘not cut’ rule is abandoned for the delight of toppling yet another Bracken stem. Good thing I can’t climb trees or I’d be up there, after the stray grapevines.
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a photo of our arbour … Bracken and grapevines
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This is a list of the small projects I will try to tackle over the next couple of weeks. Not one would take 20 minutes if I could convince myself to get off planet Meniscus (current writing project), grab the pruning shears and go outside:
- remove grape vines and Bracken from the Currant bushes and see if I can locate my Gooseberry bush
- remove the Bracken from the former pool area, now home to a young cherry tree and an eight-year-old Balm-of-Gilead, as well as grapevines and Bracken
- trim the small firs trees around the power pole … we have seven years of Christmas Trees there, just wishing they could be pruned (yes, I do cut Christmas trees)
- saw a couple of lower branches off the apple tree (the tree is full of apples this year)
- clear the little path from the big deck to the main driveway
- organize the pile of rocks I have been collecting into a short wall (I have a beauty from our drive to New Ireland a couple of weeks ago)
- drag sticks and leaves out of the pond
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Wish me luck. I will report here on anything I do. Prepare for seven days of silence.
All my best,
Jane
Waiting for wild life to pass by
Back in our Grey Woods is a tiny ‘park’. Just an area I try to keep clean of dead-falls. Years ago, my Mom loved this little area. She found ‘ghost pipe’, also called ‘Indian pipe’ (Monotropa uniflora), growing there. These are parasitic plants without chlorophyll. They are small, less than 20 cm high. The ‘pipe’ is an excellent descriptor since a plant consists of a nodding head on a slender stem.
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My Mom tried to protect these uncommon plants from trampling by putting shingles in the ground to mark the location.
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The ghost pipes no longer grow there. The shingles have rotted and disappeared. Change is inevitable and in this little park, change is likely related to nutrient conditions. My Mom is also gone but I keep the little park to remember the day she tried to save the ghost pipe.
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One addition I made to the area is a small bird feeder. I installed the feeder on an old red maple tree. The feeder is painted iron, moulded in the form of Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint Francis lived in Italy at the turn of the thirteenth century and is known for his love of animals and the natural environment. He believed nature was the mirror of God and the animals were his brothers and sisters. He even preached to the birds (Source: Wikipedia).
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ghost pipe
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in grey woods
Saint Francis
cast in iron
watches wild
life pass by
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red squirrel
ceaseless motion
white-tailed deer
pauses, listens
a chipmunk
runs the log
fallen tree
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time also
passes by
Aralia
and bracken
replace white
ghost pipe, once
grew here, all
nature a mirror
of our lives
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All my best,
Jane
Safe place for a nest
No surprise to me … a robin has built a nest in the eaves of our house. Eighteen feet above the ground, this is a safe place for a nest. The robin does not think so. When I sit on the deck for my daily cup of tea, the robin sits in a near-by tree and scolds me. He gives a single annoyed chirp. If a robin could scowl, he is certainly scowling.
What’s in the bag? The answer …
Thank you so much for all your guesses. If you saw my blog posts about my AeroGarden and the mystery plant, you may have guessed the right answer. I also gave a hint in the comments … Fannie Flagg. So if you know the title of her best known book, one of my favourites, you may have guessed correctly!
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The correct answer is: green tomatoes! I have harvested about sixty tiny tomatoes from my AeroGarden, and they ripened very well in the paper bag. I have had about ten ripe tomatoes per day for the last week. All this from my mystery plant.
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Fifteen people guessed what was in the bag, nine correctly. The answers were generally entertaining, so this is what I will do. On Friday at noon, at the Authors Coffee House (see below), I will draw for one copy of my book ‘within easy reach’ from those who answered correctly. Then I will draw for another copy of the book from all those who answered, correct or not. If you happen to win and already own ‘within easy reach’, it would make a great gift for someone you know.
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Thanks for guessing what was in the paper bag. Lots of fun!
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All my best,
Jane
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On Friday at noon, Pat Post (a.k.a. Rosalie Lawrence) will be reading from her memoir “Scent from Above” at our Authors Coffee House, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Nasonworth. Chili and rolls for lunch! Free will donation to Cat Rescue Maritimes.
What’s in the bag?
Hi. Guess what is in the bag! If you have followed my blog for a while, you might guess! Email me at timstims@nbnet.nb.ca with your guess and have a chance to win a copy of my book ‘within easy reach’ (Chapel Street Editions, 2016), all about eating local plants. A random draw from among the correct answers will determine the winner. Postage included! Draw to take place May 25, 2018. After that, I will post a photo of what is in the bag!
Best wishes!
Jane
Available now – Meniscus: The Village at Themble Hill
For those who are reading my Meniscus science fiction series, my new book Meniscus: The Village at Themble Hill is now available at Westminster Books in Fredericton and from Amazon, in paperback and Kindle formats here.
I will be launching this new book at Westminster Books on May 25, 2018 at 7:00, so mark your calendars!
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Humans on the planet Meniscus have had it hard. Used as slaves by the Dock-winders and Gel-heads, they live without hope, deprived of family and community. A few Humans have escaped and band together to build the first Human community on the planet. Odymn and the Slain are part of the community of Themble Hill but can they escape interference from the Dock-winders?
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You will enjoy the continuing adventures of Odymn and the Slain, as Odymn tries to recover from a parkour accident and cope with the Slain’s former girlfriend.
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Find out who is lighting a line of purple gettle-shells (the Meniscus version of the Jack-o-lantern) on the heights of The Fault where the Dock-winders can see them!
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For more information and an excerpt from Meniscus: The Village at Themble Hill, click here.
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herb growing in winter #5: tomatoes and lettuce
Since my last AeroGarden update, I have baby tomatoes and leaves of romaine lettuce in my garden.
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In a couple of weeks, I’ll have enough basil, lettuce and Tiny Tim tomatoes for a salad … if I can stop my ongoing snacking!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2018
500th follower contest progress
Since I announced my 500th follower contest, I have 39 entries in the draw to win a paperback, postage-paid copy of my upcoming book ‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’. To enter, just comment on any of my posts since the contest began (Oct. 15, 2017). One entry per post per commentor. If you have commented before, you can enter again by commenting on today’s post. I have only 491 followers, so there is still time to enter the contest!
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To give you something to comment on, just say something about any of the three photos below:
Photo 1: beams and internal architecture of a covered bridge.
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Photo 2: Avid reader enjoying the poems of ‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’.
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Photo 3: A familiar bridge to folks in Sussex area … out of service but a great park/picnic area.
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Thanks for all your support and hope you like the book!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
Free ebook … science fiction
Today Oct 25, 2017 get your free copy (Kindle edition) of the third book in the Meniscus Series … Meniscus: Winter by the Water-climb. Follow the continuing story of Odymn and the Slain as they cope with the survivors of a spaceship crash. The book is part of a series but the story is stand-alone. A good way to see if you’d like to read the other books in the series!
To get your free copy of Meniscus: Winter by the Water-climb, click here.
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
nichepoetryandprose 