plants in the city landscape
I live near Fredericton, New Brunswick, known for its green space and its many large trees. Lately I have been noticing how beautiful parts of the city are: most are plantings with lots of human intervention but they add to the beauty of the city as we drive around. Have a look at the photos I took as we went on a special drive today.
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We began our drive on the north side of the city, off Union Street, on Station Road, near the end of the walking bridge. On the steep bank along the street is a stunning wall of flowers, all creeping phlox, in pink, white and purple with a touch of red.
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Our second stop was a bit further along the road (Highway 105), near the end of the Princess Margaret Bridge, almost in front of the Ramada Inn. It is a common sight, a phone pole covered with Virginia creeper, but I think it is a masterpiece of streetscape.
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Afterwards, we crossed the river to the south side and stopped to photograph some very tall cedar trees against the side of a building on Prospect Street.
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Their size and dimensions are amazing.
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The highlight of our drive was a visit to the Agriculture Farm on Lincoln Road. Most years, we drive to see the azaleas in bloom and this year, they did not disappoint. Not far from the azaleas is a row of trees where I had my wedding gown photos taken back in 1980.
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If you live in the Fredericton area, please go and see some of these lovely places. I live in and love the rural area, but our city streetscapes can be joyful.
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All my best!
Jane
Rock Project: update
News about my ‘rock project.’ We have been building a side road to our driveway, to serve as a turn-about and also a walking trail. I have been working on embellishments for the last few years. For more about the ‘rock project’ click here.
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I bought a cement bench for our side road! I had put my name in for one at Scott’s Nursery and when I went to get seeds this week, it had arrived. The fine staff at Scott’s put it into the truck for me (it is very heavy). At home, my husband lifted the two pedestals and placed them in the chosen spot. Then he rigged two straps around the flat seat and lifted it into place with the tractor. We had prepared a bench platform, but after the wind storm, it is still filled with downed trees!
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I had my first sit on the bench after it was stable. On a hot day, it was so cool to sit on! Now I have more incentive to go for walks around the ‘loop.’
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All my best!
Jane
three robin’s nests
A robin has built three nests on the ladder leaning against our garage! The top two are well-formed and intact. The lower nest looks disarranged, as though construction was abandoned or a predator has pulled it apart.
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Bird nests are built during a period of a few days using grasses and twigs, mud for a lining. They are used for incubation of eggs and brooding of young. Adult robins don’t use the nest as a bed, but roost on a tree branch. For a great description of how the nest is built, see allabout birds.org.
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We have watched the nests on the ladder, but there is no sign of eggs or baby birds. Every day, we hear the robin singing nearby, ‘cheery, cheer-up, cheer-up, cheeree.’ I hear the robin singing as I type!
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If you love birds and enjoy watching them through the seasons, you might like my new poetry book: ‘mnemonic: soundscape and birdsong.’ The book includes 53 poems about birdsong, bird behaviour, my experiences with birds, birdsong as a life metaphor, and celebration of other sounds in nature. I have also included 15 of my black and white drawings of birds. To get your copy of the book, click here to go to Chapel Street Edition’s (the publisher’s) website. If you would like to purchase the book on Amazon, click here. You can also find my book in several New Brunswick bookstores, including Westminster Bookmark in Fredericton and Dog Eared Books in Oromocto.
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I want to write a story about the robin building nests in our ladder. I have decided to write a third book in my children’s books about ‘Wink.’ The first of these is ‘Wink in the Rain’ (available here), a story about a garden elf and his adventures in finding the perfect umbrella. The second book, ‘Wink and the Missing Sidewalk Chalk,’ a story of the hunt for a thief in the garden, will be published later this year. The story about ‘Wink and the Garden Ladder’ is written and I will soon be doing its illustrations.
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Will our robin use the nests on the ladders to raise a family? I will keep you up to date.
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All my best!
Jane
spring plants and flowers
A beautiful day here… I planted my small deck garden (yellow wax beans, zucchini, cucumber and lettuce), all old seed, so the seeds were planted thick. The red squirrel has already been here to see if he can purloin some seeds, but I have my beds covered with metal grates!!!!
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I also nosed around for some springtime plants: the season moves so fast, it is hard to catch them! In our lawn, we have bugleweed (ajuga) and lily-of-the-valley in bloom, and columbines showing their floral buds. In the woods are bunchberry, teaberry and partridgeberry. No photos, but I have some drawings and paintings for you.
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If you love springtime flowers, you will love the new book ‘A Child’s Botanical Alphabet’ authored by Jennifer Houle and illustrated by me…. to order just click here.
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I love this time of year. The wild shrubs are in bloom. Our flowering crab apple only lasted a day and now our walkway is a scattering of pink petals. Other types of apple are in bloom and create puffs of white and pink against the new-green of the tree leaves. Bushes with elongated bundles of white show me where there will be chokecherries.
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All my best to you, on this lovely spring day.
Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)
bookmarks and dog ears: new poetry
Hi everyone. I have been working on a new project, honouring bookmarks, such an important part of our reading life. I will be exploring the humble bookmark in poetry and drawings.
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In Oromocto in New Brunswick, we have a wonderful second-hand bookstore, Dog Eared Books. When used books are brought to the store, staff save the bookmarks they find. My project is to capture some of these in a book-length manuscript. To learn more about this project, click here.
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I am about five weeks into the project and I am having a very rewarding time. The bookmarks are diverse in character and I have had to learn a lot about subjects quite new to me. Just an idea of the variety I have encountered:
- class notes on ways of presenting arguments in the field of logic;
- a hockey card of one of the Soviet players in the 1970’s;
- a chart showing the Queens and Kings of England;
- a local teacher’s permit from 1959;
- a bookmark from Owl’s Nest Bookstore in Fredericton (now closed);
- a stack of small cards made for a game of charades;
- a card with the number ‘150’ — from an Irish dance feis competition.
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These are only a few of the collection.
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Because I love bookstores, the bookmark from the Owl’s Nest Bookstore was of interest. The word ‘bibliosma’ refers to the smell or aroma of books. The books I mention in the poem were in the bookshelves of the store in the weeks before it closed, evidenced by their Facebook posts and photos.
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bibliosma
‘… went all the way to Fredericton to buy this old book’
-saying on a bookmark
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Owl’s Nest Bookstore
grey cat purrs in the window
prowls between stacks
while I search for wildflowers
careful steps between hardwoods
lifting of leaves, counting of petals
rummage for botany among
overflowing shelves of books
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first find, hardcover, dark green, old
1919 Botany of the Living Plant
Frederick Orphen Bower, botanist,
lover of ferns
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and here, The Wildflowers of Canada—1895
a reprint classic, on the cover, scant
specimen of golden chain tree ‘Laburnum,’
scentless but inside—heady smell
of mayflower, lily of the valley, lilac—
colour plates of wildflowers
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and a hardcover, The Blossom on the Bough: A Book of Trees
Diane Ophelia Dowden, 1826
delicate apple blossom overcomes
almond and vanilla smell of books
three bees buzz, overpower
rumble of traffic on Queen Street
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copies of The Fiddlehead
my poems in some of them
‘Old Man’s Beard’ The Fiddlehead 180, 1994‘
‘The Gazing Ball’ The Fiddlehead 196, 1998
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find the book
you didn’t know you wanted
at the bottom of a pile
glimpse of indigo shimmer of water
No Faster Than a Walk
Gillis and Gillis
love covered bridges
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book on the top shelf
always
a
stretch
Gavin Maxwell
Ring of Bright Water
‘it is no will-o’-the-wisp
that I have followed here’
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book store closed in 2018
blue and white bookmark
left between pages
sketch of an owl
memory of a grey cat
a forest of books
bibliosma
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I hope if you are from the Fredericton area, you remember the Owl’s Nest Bookstore. And I hope you enjoy my poem.
All my best!
Jane
the rock project: plans for 2024
As I have said in past posts, one of our long term projects on our property has been to develop a woods side road to be a turning loop for the driveway and an easy walking trail for me.
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This year, I have three things to do to move the ‘rock project’ a little more towards completion.
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1. Clean-up of wind storm debris:
- Over the past winter, we have had a couple of storms that made a shambles of our ‘walking loop.’ After the wind storm on December 18 and 19th, 2023, we had 18 softwood trees fall across the roadway! After a little chain saw work, the roadway is clear again, but it may never return to the tidy woods we once had. I am a biologist and I realize that trees are always falling in the forest, but I think we will do some clean-up. Just putting branches and bigger tree chunks into brush piles in the woods will suit me well, because I know animals will use a decaying pile for shelter and habitat. My plan is to gather stray branches and sticks when I go for my walks around the ‘loop.’ I will deliver them to a convenient brush pile and get my exercise at the same time.
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and to the right
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2. Collection of a few more rocks for the rock wall:
- On every drive we take, I bring back a souvenir rock from a ditch, a bit of landscape to contribute to our ‘rock project.’ I have always loved aspects of geology. I understand the role of landscape, and geomorphology in our lives. When we go on drives, we think about the terrain we move within. Since New Brunswick has a glacial history, I know that elements of landscape have glacial origins … small hills are parts of eskers, the sediments once deposited by rivers and streams flowing within a melting glacier. Some elements of landscape display a sedimentary history … as we drive, we see cuts through bedrock, exposed when the highway was built. The rocks we collect remind me of our many drives through the New Brunswick landscape.
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3. Continue creating interesting stops along the walk:
- this year we want to purchase a concrete bench for the loop, at the half-way mark. I have my name for one at Scotts Nursery, to arrive in a week or so. I also want to improve the small stone pile where my iron lantern sits to make it more like the stone platform I made last year for two small meal birds.
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If you would like to see more about the history of our ‘rock project’ have a look here.
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All my best!
Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)
Meniscus: Reckoning … a new book of science fiction adventure
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The next book in the Meniscus Science Fiction Series is now available: #13 … Meniscus: Reckoning. The series tells the story of humans who are brought against their will to the planet Meniscus and are determined to build new relationships, new lives, and new communities. Meniscus: Reckoning continues the story begun in the Rosetta Stone trilogy of how the Humans discover a way to overthrow the dominant alien Dock-winders and their cruel ways.
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Meniscus: Reckoning takes the Humans of Themble Hill on an adventure like no other. In Reckoning, a small group begins the arduous journey to El’ban where Dock-winders are still in control and have captured James, the leader of the Resistance Movement. With them is the Dock-winder child, Don’est, who continues to mystify the Humans with her false-empathy and strange logic. Others in the Resistance Movement, the brilliant Bleth’nan triplets, become part of the group and part of Don’est’s Human family.
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In the book, you will travel across the El’ban Elevations, and into the Hollows (a landscape made from the discarded cocoons of alien insect pupae). Then, the group must find a way to rescue James from the layered city of El’ban and its inescapable prison.
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Many of the main characters of the first twelve books in the series have returned to this story: Odymn, expert at parkour, Daniel, the Slain (a genetically enhanced Human), Belnar and his ridiculous ways, Kotildi, wolf-like and loyal, and the evil Dock-winder Garg who has antagonized the Humans of Themble Hill though all their adventures.
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Meniscus: Reckoning is available on Amazon.ca (click here) and from me, as I travel the three upcoming Book Fairs in Moncton (July 27, 2024), Saint John (September 14, 2024), and Fredericton (October 19, 2024). Only $12 for lots of adventure! And the e-book will be available soon.
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Enjoy the upcoming days of summer when reading is one way of escaping the black flies and taking yourself on an adventure out there among the stars.
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All my best!
Alexandra (a.k.a. Jane)
a botanical alphabet
In the last couple of years, I have had the happy task of helping Jennifer Houle, award-winning author, produce her new book, A Child’s Botanical Alphabet. The book takes the reader through the alphabet with examples from the world of botany, plants local to New Brunswick and the Maritime provinces.
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My specific work was to produce the drawings for the book and undertake its formatting on the way to it becoming a published book. I also wrote ‘Notes for the Curious,’ to enable caregivers to give a little more information to children abut the plants they encounter in the book.
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The images in the book began as black and white pencil drawings. Before this, I had never done digital illustrations, so I began by colourizing each drawing. After this, I leaned to do grades of colour and shading. In the end, I did the 26 illustrations, one for each letter of the alphabet, and other images to illustrate the life cycle of the luna moth and fill in the story we wanted to tell.
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I also experimented with background colour and learned to present the images in the proportions of the final book. For the first time, I attempted images that would bleed to the very edge of the page.
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The book is an old-fashioned approach to learning the alphabet, but also a way of encouraging children to look closely at their surroundings and interact with them. To help with this, we have shown that plants are part of a larger community of plants and animals. The book shows the life cycle of the luna moth–we have hidden the luna at various stages of its life throughout the images in the book. We also encourage children to collect, with respect, examples of the plants they find and to learn about the other plants they see. Where I have left parts of the images without colour, the children are invited to add their own colour to the book.
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At last, A Child’s Botanical Alphabet is ready to present to the world! Both paperback and hardcover versions of the book are now available at Amazon.ca by clicking here. On May 11, Saturday, we will launch the book at the Kennebecasis Public Library in Quispamsis, with a special presentation and art activity for the children. After that, the book will be available in both paperback and hardcover at various events, including 2024 Book Fairs in Moncton-Riverview (July 27), Saint John (September 14), and Fredericton (October 19).
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We hope you enjoy this wonderful book! We are looking forward to showing it to you and introducing children to the world of local plants.
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All my best!!!
Jane
a life-list first: sandhill cranes
As the result of a posting on Facebook (in New Brunswick Birders), my husband and I took a drive to the Canaan Forks area of New Brunswick to see if we could see any of the sandhill cranes spotted there. We had given up on finding them and were on the road out of the area when my husband spotted two in a field between us and the river. I wish I was a better photographer: they were so elegant and deliberate, walking the edge of the field. As they walked and fed, their legs and necks were in a strange sort of synchrony. They appear quite ‘muscular’ and could be confused with a deer if their heads are down feeding.
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Both birds had the red patch on the front of the head. They stayed together, turning to retrace their steps when they came to a small ditch between fields.
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The sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis) can now be added to my life list!!!!!
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Have fun watching the birds now returning from their migrations!
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All my best,
Jane
Cover Painting for ‘Meniscus: Reckoning’
In preparation for the release of ‘Meniscus: Reckoning,’ the next book in the Meniscus Science Fiction Series, I have finished the painting for the cover.
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The painting is based on the pencil drawing ‘Travelling the Lip.’ It shows six travellers as they cross the treacherous El’ban Elevations, on their way to rescue James, imprisoned in El’ban. The group, in order, are Kotildi (the wild alien ‘wolf’), Belnar (one of the Slain), Odymn (heroine of many of the stories), Daniel (also a Slain), carrying Danny (Odymn and Daniel’s baby), and Don’est (the Dock-winder child, with her long neck).
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To be consistent with other covers, I need a distant view of the Meniscus moons (Cardoth roe and Cardoth grill’en), a mid-range view of the travellers, and a nearer scene from the book. Campfires are a common theme in the story and who better to sleep by the fire than wolf-like Kotildi?
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I was pleased with the painting. For a couple of days, I showed the travellers as black silhouettes against the Elevations. In the end, I gave them some colour, to suggest clothing and hair. I love the browns, blues and yellows in the painting.
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To make the painting fit the space on the book cover, I made some alterations in GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). I brought the moons closer to the mountain silhouette and moved the fire and sleeping Kotildi closer to the travellers. In the end, the image fit well with the cover design. Here is a sneak peek at the final cover.
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I am now re-reading Meniscus: Reckoning for the last time, making a few revisions as I go. I have also sent the proof to my beta-reader for her reactions.
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I plan to release Meniscus: Reckoning in early May. I am looking forward to my reader response!
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All my best!
Alexandra (a.k.a. Jane)
nichepoetryandprose 