a summer evening with Roger Moore
Next week, on Thursday July 27, 2017 at 7 PM, our church will host the fifth in our Authors Coffee House series.
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My good friend Roger Moore will be reading from and signing his books Empress of Ireland, A Cancer Chronicle, and One Small Place (among others). Roger is an award-winning author who was recently sort-listed for the 2017 New Brunswick Book Awards, for his book Bistro. He has published more than 20 books and chapbooks. His poetry is evocative, sometimes sad, and often humorous. Roger has chronicled his life and ours in his poetry. He is a very entertaining reader and story-teller.
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Please mark the date in your calendar and join us for the reading, enjoy some cookies from The Goody Shop and make a free-will donation to Grace House for Women, the Fredericton women’s shelter. The church hall is easy to find – just take Highway 101 to New Maryland and continue to Nasonworth, about five minutes beyond New Maryland. I hope I’ll see you there!
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Have a look at some of Roger’s work on his website http://www.rogermoorepoet.com
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
Out Soon – the next book in the Meniscus Series!
Within the next couple of days, my new book in the sci-fi series Meniscus will be out on Amazon, in paperback and Kindle versions.
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This book, Meniscus: Winter by the Water-climb, continues the love story of Odymn and the silent Slain, and follows a ragtag group of humans as they try to survive winter on the planet of Meniscus. New characters are introduced to the story and Odymn discovers a secret way to the Themble Wood.
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The book includes 21 of my drawings, an updated Map, a Glossary, a Gel-speak Dictionary and (New!) a guide to the Characters (as suggested by one of my beta-readers)!
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To buy the first two books in the Series, click here for Meniscus: Crossing The Churn and here for Meniscus: South from Sintha. They are also available from Westminster Books, Fredericton.
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
a map to go with a story
Since I began to read, I have loved to have a map included in the book – the more detailed the better!
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The maps that come to mind include the five maps of Middle Earth and the detailed map of the Shire in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings (Methuen Publications), the maps of Great Britain and Wales inside the front cover of Mary Stewart’s Crystal Cave (William Morrow and Company, Inc.), and the map of Martha’s Vineyard accompanying all of the books in Philip R. Craig’s Martha’s Vineyard Mysteries (Scribner). Although books in the mystery and fantasy genres often have maps, almost any book can include a guide to the geography of the book.
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the completed GIMP map for Meniscus: South from Sintha … every feature has its own layer so I can add a tree, delete a path, or add a house to a village!
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When I began my Meniscus series, I knew a map was needed. I needed it, to help me plot the story and action!
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At first I thought I would do a hand-drawn map and make changes as needed. Foolish girl! I would have been drawing maps forever. I have included a new map with each book, showing the path taken by the characters and any new features they find in the landscape. Fortunately I chose GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), a free on-line app similar to Photoshop Pro. I had never worked with GIMP before, so I took the time to learn the system and I still have trouble with those ‘paths’. The system produces maps in layers. I can have a map for each kind of tree in the forest, a map for the grasslands, one for the villages and cities and so on.
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This week I started plotting for the seventh book in the series (two are now published and the third is expected out next week). I have told all the stories I care to (for now) for the first map (Map of Prell-nan South District, Meniscus), so I have been working on the landscape of Prell-nan North District.
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I first designed this map at the laundromat. Laundromats are the best place to read and write and think. No one bothers you and there is a set time to work. Many of the details of the map will change but it shows the basics of the portion of planet Meniscus I am building.
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a very draft map of Prell-nan North District, Meniscus … the features on this map will be continuous with the map of the South District … the original map is 4″ by 3″ … I drew on what I could find!
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I have now finished most of the layers on GIMP. I still need to label the various features and tidy up some of the layers. Now I can use the map to help me plot the journey of my characters and their actions!
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the first draft of the map on GIMP … I love creating all those little trees!
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Be watching for the next book in the Meniscus series! Meniscus: Winter by the Water-climb tells the continuing story of Odymn and the Slain, and gets them through a brutal winter on planet Meniscus! Their love story and adventures continue with some new characters.
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Copyright 2017 Jane Tims
my new garden fountain!
Enticed by a Facebook advertisement, I purchased a small, solar-powered water fountain for my deck garden. It floats in a bowl (although it could also be put in a birdbath or larger pond) and uses the sun’s energy to send water into the air. If the sunlight is direct and non-stop, the spray is forceful and continuous. On our deck, where the light is dappled by all the leafy trees, the flow is sporadic but fascinating to watch in all its variety.
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Lots of fun and realizes my dream of having a simple fountain to enjoy! I purchased the fountain at Next Deal Shop here for about $50 including shipping but I notice they have sales from time to time.
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Enjoying summer! Hope you are too!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
Wildflowers: Blue-eyed grass
One of my favorite wildflowers in the fields around our cabin is Blue-eyed grass – Sisyrinchium montanum Greene.
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June, 2017
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Blue-eyed grass is not a grass at all, but a member of the iris family. It inhabits moist, open ground, fields and meadows, and blooms in late spring and summer. The plant is low and slender, with a deep blue flower and a bright yellow center, borne at the top of a straight, usually unbranched, stem. The stem is two-edged, flattened on the margins. The flowers are borne in the axil of a sharp, upheld bract called a spathe. In French, the plant is called Bermudienne. Montanum means ‘of the mountains’.
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June, 2017
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Blue-eyed Grass
Sisyrinchium montanum Greene
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I walk in grass
but it isn’t grass-
Sisyrinchium
it winks at me
with azure eyes
and I blink brown at them
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Blue-eyed Grass
stands straight and still
staunch Bermudienne
simple maid
with a watchful eye
and a sword above her head
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June, 2016
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
wild strawberries to pick
In the field around our cabin, the wild strawberries are ready for picking. Red, sweet, delicious.
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‘wild strawberries’ Jane Tims 2016
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If you love picking berries, or eating those first dew-covered berries of summer, you will like my book of poems about gathering and eating wild local foods.
‘within easy reach’ is published by Chapel Street Editions in Woodstock, New Brunswick. The book is illustrated with my drawings and includes lots of information about each wild plant mentioned. The book is available here at Chapel Street Editions or here at Amazon.ca
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For another of my posts about wild strawberries, and a poem about picking wild strawberries, look here.
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Copyright 2017 Jane Tims
a moment of beautiful: wild roses
the place: beside the road into our cabin
the beautiful: pink roses in bloom (and the dark pink rosebuds)
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Notice a little spider found his way into the photo (about 12 o’clock on a petal).
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
along New Brunswick’s roads
New Brunswick is a beautiful province. We also have a great road system, both for those who want to linger and those who want to get through as fast as possible.
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This time of year I am amazed at the beauty of our four-lane Trans-Canada highway. I think the roadside has been seeded with a wild-flower mix but many are weedy species common in New Brunswick. Whatever their origins, the results are lovely.
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I have found these flowers in a quick sampling of the roadside:
Buttercup (Ranunculus sp.)
Lupin (Lupinus sp.)
Bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)
Red Clover (Trifolium pretense)
Daisy (Leucanthemum sp.)
Viper’s Bugloss (Echium vulgare)
Yellow Hawkweed (Hieracium caespitosum)
Bedstraw (Galium sp.)
Coltsfoot (Tussilago farafara)
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
(plus many grasses, sedges and non-flowering plants contributing to the background of green)
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Long stretches of highway can be boring-beyond-belief, but, because of these expanses of bloom, I am enjoying our drives along the highway this summer.
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Copyright 2017 Jane Tims
pink lady’s slipper
This time of year, my husband does an inventory of the Pink Lady’s Slippers (Cypripedium acaule) on our property.
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This year, he found 10. He only saw three last year but there have been as many as 15 in bloom at one time. We never pick them and try to keep our property natural and wooded.
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The Pink Lady’s Slipper prefers acidic soil and partly shady conditions, making our grey woods an ideal habitat. Our flowers are often a pale pink or white variety.
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
beekeeping
As we go for our drives around the country-side, we see beehives everywhere. Occasionally we see the beekeepers, covered in their protective clothing, tending to the hives.
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The hives make honey available to lovers of locally-produced sugar. They also ensure the pollination of our apple orchards and fields of blueberries.
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beekeeper
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bees smoke-drowsy rag smoulders swung slowly protected thick
in net and cotton wicking folds into beeswax candle flame
pours golden through panes in the honeycomb
streamers sweet circles sink into bread
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hollows of air
yeast-filled
and honey
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the bee stings
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but the beekeeper never flinches
flicks it from his fingers
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spit and mud
for a poultice
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Published as ‘beekeeper’, Canadian Stories 17 (95), February/March 2014
This poem is also part of the collection within easy reach, Chapel Street Editions, 2017
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to order within easy reach, contact Chapel Street Editions
or order at Amazon
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
nichepoetryandprose 