keeping watch for dragons #4 – a dragon overhead
Have you ever had a raven fly directly over your head? If so, you have heard the rhythmic compression of air, too intense to have been made by feathers…
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a dragon overhead
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a raven flies over
thrashes the air
percussion of dragon wing
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© Jane Tims 2012
maple syrup ups and downs
It may be a short maple syrup season this year. The weather has not been cooperative. In order for the sap to run, warm days are great, but the nights need to be cold. When the temperatures fall below zero, the sap in the tree runs from the crown to the roots. When the day is warm and sunny, the sap runs back up to the canopy. If there is no cold night, no sap.
So far we have collected about 40 liters of sap from our 10 trees and I have 3 bottles (each 500 ml or two cups) of lovely dark syrup! This compares to 136 liters of sap last year on the same date, from 12 trees.
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Cold night, warm day
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Icicles build
from the spile
sweet sickles of sap
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© Jane Tims 2012
keeping watch for dragons #3 – beechwood dragon
This time of year, the only leaves still clinging in the forest are the dry, golden leaves of young beech trees. Every drop of moisture has been withdrawn and the leaves rustle and whisper in the woodland. Something about the way the wind moves through the leaves, and catches the sound of their tremble, makes you wonder…
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beechwood dragon
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scales rattle
as he tiptoes through the thicket
peeks between the trees
wingwebs transparent
armoured in gold
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© Jane Tims 2012
Coltsfoot (Tussilago Farfara L.)
Although it has been snowing sporadically this month, our recent days of very, very warm weather tell me spring has arrived. As a result, I am watching the roadsides for the first flowers of spring. Even before the snow is out of the woods, it begins to melt along the roadsides as they warm in the lengthening hours of sun. And the cycle of bloom begins again.
Coltsfoot (Tussilago Farfara L.) is one of the first plants seen in early spring. It forms large patches in waste areas, beside brooks and roads, and on damp hillsides. People often mistake Tussilago for Dandelion, but it is quite different. Its yellow flowers are borne on scaly, leafless stems. The large, woolly leaves don’t appear until later in the season. In spite of its early appearance in spring, Tussilago actually has late flowers. The flower buds are formed in autumn at the base of the plant, and pass winter underground, flowering in the first spring sunlight.
Other names for the plant are Son-before-the-Father, which refers to the appearance of flowers before the leaves, and pas-d’âne (literally donkey-steps). The scientific names are from the Latin tussis, meaning a cough, referring to the use of the plant as a remedy for such ailments, and the Latin word for coltsfoot, farfarus. The plant was named by Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist who established the present day system of naming plants.
Although the plant was used by pioneers for its medicinal effects, it is now known that Tussilago contains harmful alkaloids. Tea made from Coltsfoot has caused health problems in infants and pregnant women, so its use as a cough remedy is not recommended. In some States, Coltsfoot is considered a noxious weed.
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Coltsfoot
Tussilago Farfara L.
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Gold-
splashed beside the road
like prints
of a frisky colt’s feet
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at first glance-
an early dandelion!
but-
too early
stem scaly
no leaves below the bloom
no perfume.
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Coltsfoot,
Son-before-the-Father
(flowers before the leaves).
Introduced from
far, far away.
Old wives say
boiled greens
will ease
a cough.
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Long ago
Tussilago
sprang from where
a burro trod
among the palms
(pas-d’ane)
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Published as: ‘Coltsfoot’, Winter 1993, The Antigonish Review 92:76-77.
Revised
© Jane Tims 1993
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keeping watch for dragons #2 – house dragon
You have to keep your eyes open to see what humans down the ages have seen. The trick is to be awake to the metaphor. And to cheerfully allow confusion of reality and myth.
Although I have seen many dragonflies, I have never seen a dragon. Or have I …?
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House Dragon
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a dragon disguises
herself as our house
icicles drool from her eaves
smoke from her chimney
her scales age grey
and her nostrils
breath us
in
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© Jane Tims 1998
detail of 'stone marking property' Copyright Jane Tims 2012
maple syrup time
Well, the time has finally arrived. The nights are cold and the days this week are predicted to be sunny and warm. In our house the combination of cold days and warm nights means the sap is moving in our maple trees.
We tap Red Maple (Acer rubrum L.), although Sugar-maple (Acer saccharum Marsh) is preferred by commercial syrup producers. Last year we tapped 12 trees, about at the edge of our low-tech capability. This year we are tapping 10 trees.
We usually use the ‘old-fashioned’ spile and aluminum bucket method. This year, for the first time, my husband is trying a plastic spile and pipe system for 5 of our taps. It seems a little easier since the sap drips directly into a plastic reservoir and this eliminates one step in the endless pouring process.
For those of you unfamiliar with tapping trees for sap, the basic idea is to collect the sap and boil it down to make maple syrup. We select a tree, bore a hole, insert a spile and hang a bucket on the spile hook. The spile is a cleverly designed spigot which channels the sap from inside the tree into the bucket. The bucket is fitted with a cover to keep out rainwater or snow and reduce insect access.
So far this year, we have collected 25 liters of sap. This will boil down at about 40 to 1 to make a little more than 500 ml of syrup (about 2 cups). Last year, from a season total of 329 liters of sap, we made about 40 pint jars of syrup. If you try to calculate that at 40 to 1, it will never come out correctly since we don’t boil all of the sap to the same concentration and we drink some of the sap as a sweet drink.
Collecting maple sap is so much fun. It is good exercise and a great way to get your dose of warm spring sunshine. And, we have enough maple syrup to last for the year.
I’ll be keeping you up to date on our maple syrup adventures this year. Right now, the pot full of sap is boiling on the deck.
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sugar song
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cold nights
warm days
cold nights
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sap plucks stainless steel
different rhythm, every tap
quick and dead slow
in sync
with the downy woodpecker
or the bird with the round warble in its throat
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© Jane Tims 2012
keeping watch for dragons #1 – woodland dragon
Sometimes our grey woods are a mysterious place. Something about the slant of the light, the way the trees stand like pillars supporting the sky, or the way pale moths climb on the forest dust, conjures myth from reality.
Last year as I walked on one of the paths, my eye was drawn to the single scale of a seed cone, lying on the forest floor. Perhaps it had been dropped as a Grey Squirrel in the tree above nibbled on a pine cone.
Perhaps…
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Woodland Dragon
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in the blackened stand
of jack pine
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a single
crimson
scale
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© Jane Tims 1998
from the pages of an old diary – words and phrases
My great-aunt’s diaries are very easy to read. Her handwriting is neat and her words, though brief, clearly convey her meaning. Occasionally, she uses unfamiliar words. What do you think these words mean? My answers, assisted by the Internet, are given below…
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‘tidies’
‘silence cloth’
‘pizza’
‘layette’
‘snaps’
‘snow pudding’
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April 18, 1957 She washed the curtains and ‘tidies’ from the upstairs rooms.
The Free Online Dictionary defines a ‘tidy’ as ‘a decorative protective covering for the arms or headrest of a chair.’ ‘Tidies’ could also have been her name for the hold-backs on curtains, or the small linen cloths used to cover dressers and other surfaces.
March 12, 1957 She bought a ‘silence cloth’ for the table ($2.00)
The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines a ‘silence cloth’ as ‘a pad (as of flannel or felt) used under a tablecloth.’ This cloth would have protected the table from scratches and marks from dishes.
July 31, 1956 She and her husband sat out on the ‘pizza’
This was a frequent entry. I think it was her word for ‘piazza’ and referred to the front porch or a small sitting area in their side-yard.
Feb. 1, 1957 Her Red Cross group made a ‘layette’ for a local woman and her baby.
Wikipedia says this is a collection of clothing for a newborn and can include many items, including sleepwear, cloth diapers, wash cloths and receiving blankets.
June 29, 1967 She received ‘snaps’ of their anniversary party.
I know this one, but some in the digital generation may not. It is short for ‘snapshot’ and refers to processed photographs.
December 18, 1967 She made a ‘snow pudding’ and took it to a neighbour who had a sore tongue.
I am not a cook, so many recipe names are not familiar to me. I looked at the Internet for a modern recipe and found the following:
Snow Pudding
2 T. unflavored gelatin
1/4 C. cold water
1 C. boiling water
1/2 C. lemon juice
1 C. sugar
3 egg whites
soften the gelatin in cold water;
dissolve the gelatin in boiling water;
add lemon juice and sugar and stir until the mixture thickens;
add stiffly beaten egg whites;
beat until the mixture ‘stacks’ (holds firm peaks).
The finished dessert looks like snow, hence the name. I don’t know if using raw egg whites is OK today, but the equivalent from a carton of egg whites would be safe to use.
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© Jane Tims 2012
two of the six diaries my great-aunt wrote from 1944 to 1972 ... the quilt is one she made during the last years of her life
a moment of beautiful – traffic lights
the space: above the roadway, at an intersection, in the fog
the beautiful: green, yellow and red traffic lights, seeming to hover, like jewels in the fog
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Traffic lights!!! Beautiful??? Perhaps you will never agree. But I think those lights, when seen on a foggy day, suspended as if from the sky itself, are as beautiful as jewels. Emerald, topaz and ruby.
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Copyright Jane Tims 2012
from the pages of an old diary – cost of living
Some of the most interesting entries in my great-aunt’s diaries concern the cost of living. She often recorded the prices of food, goods or services they obtained. I read through her entries for 1954, 1955, 1957 and 1967 and noted some of these. By comparing the amounts for the same items in the 1950s and 1967, you can see that prices were on the rise!
| Date | Item | Cost |
| food | ||
| Nov. 22, 1954 | chicken | $3.00 per chicken |
| Nov. 10, 1967 | chicken | haircut (barter system) |
| June 30, 1955 | eggs | $0.40 per dozen |
| Dec. 14, 1957 | eggs | $0.50 per dozen |
| July 12 and July 14, 1967 | strawberries | $0.35 per box |
| July 19, 1967 | strawberries | $1.40 for 4 boxes |
| Oct. 22, 1967 | oysters | $2.00 per pint |
| Nov. 17, 1967 | box of chocolates | $1.29 per box |
| entertainment | ||
| June 5, 1957 | lobster supper at church | $1.00 |
| June 7, 1967 | lobster supper (community function) | $1.50 |
| November 1, 1957 | turkey dinner (community function) | $1.00 |
| October 25, 1967 | turkey dinner (community function) | $1.25 |
| Feb. 13, 1954 | Valentine Tea at church hall | $0.60 |
| June 22, 1957 | tea in church hall | $0.50 |
| July 9, 1957 | show (movie theatre) | $0.50 |
| goods | ||
| May 7, 1957 | T.V. from Simpsons | $269.95 |
| March 12, 1957 | ‘silence’ cloth for table | $2.00 |
| Sept. 10, 1954 | new shoes | $6.95 |
| April 23, 1957 | black Oxfords (White Cross) | $9.95 |
| June 14, 1954 | shingles for barn | $50.18 |
| May 17, 1967 | house shingled | $163.00 |
| May 17, 1954 | wood for stove | $40.00 (probably total for year) |
| services | ||
| July 8, 1954 | hair permanent | $4.00 |
| Dec. 16, 1957 | hair permanent | $3.25 |
| Sept. 20, 1967 | hair permanent | $6.00 |
| March 13, 1957 | tailoring – a ‘Black Watch’ skirt | $4.94 for material and sewing |
| Sept. 6-10, 1967 | vacation accommodation (room in house) | $8.00 per night |
| Sept. 6-10, 1967 | vacation accommodation (motel) | $14.00 per couple |
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© Jane Tims 2012
