new-fallen snow
On this wintry day … finding the right words to describe new-fallen snow …
~
~
newfall: words escape me
~
the white ephemeral
perhaps frost
the fir boughs divided
the sculptured steel
of a flake of snow
~
try again
~
paper stencil
on chocolate cake
powdered sugar
sifted on the rills
of the new plowed field
~
again
~
sweet in my mouth
the bitter melted in morning sun
white hot on my cheek
the writing lamp
~
a lamp to the left
casts no shadow
(the shadow of a pen
or a hand)
~
(unless you are wrong-handed)
~
chimney shadow
on a fresh-snowed roof
or trees on the eastern edge of the road
where the sun cannot warm
~
the morning
dusting of ice
~
try again
~
~
Published as ‘newfall – words escape me’, the Fiddlehead 196, Summer 1998
~
~
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
a bay and a bar (day 7 to day 10)
Today I am happy to announce – it has been one year since I began my virtual travel, as part of my efforts to exercise and to motivate me to ride my stationary bike more regularly. Although I have really only biked in my tiny exercise room in our basement, I have travelled, with the help of Street View (Google Earth) to central France, to the south coast of Cornwall and, now, to northern New Brunswick. During the past year, I biked 143 days (an average of 30 minutes on each day) and over 530 kilometers. I am so proud of myself!!
~
During the last four days of my virtual biking, I went through the Town of Dalhousie, at the mouth of the Restigouche River. At this point, the river opens into the Bay of Chaleur (la Baie des Chaleur) …
~
8-7 January 21, 2014 30 minutes 3.0 km (Point La Nim to McNeish)
8-8 January 23, 2014 30 minutes 3.0 km (McNeish to Dalhousie)
8-9 January 25, 2014 30 minutes 3.0 km (Dalhousie to Darlington)
8-10 January 28, 2014 35 minutes 3.0 km (Darlington to Eel River Bar)
~
One of the sights along this part of my journey is the 315 MW power generating station at Dalhousie, once operated by NB Power. This generating station was decommissioned in 2012 but remains interesting to me since I was hired in 1978 to monitor the biological effects of air emissions of the various industries in the Province. One of the reasons I travelled in northern New Brunswick was to carry out a monitoring program to study the effects of the Dalhousie power generating station.
~
Dalhousie power generating station (image by Street View)
~
At the end of my four day ‘virtual travel’ last week, I crossed the beautiful Eel River Bar. This is the location of the Eel River Bar First Nation (Mi’kmaq people). The sandy bar is a barrier beach and one of the longest natural sand bars in the world. Water on one side of the Bar is salt and on the other is fresh. The highway is built directly on the Bar …
~
~
Across the Bay from the Bar is the low-lying peninsula of Miguasha, Quebec and the backdrop of the hills and mountains of the Gaspé peninsula. Boats at the entrance to Eel River are tethered as part of a fish netting system …
February 2, 2014 ‘boats at Eel River Bar’ Jane Tims
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
dressing in black
on this wintry day …
~
Rebecca
~
in black
advances
down the middle
of the street
oblivious to traffic
~
dark mists
and Avalon
the perfect rupture of sky
~
from her fingers
black threads
spin skirt
and widow’s weeds
~
black painted nails
blackened sockets of eye
her lips black also
from a feast of berries
~
~
Copyright 2000 Jane Tims
excusing the difference
On this cold and wintry day …
~
When my son went to school, we often went to theatrical presentations at the school. The young people were so talented and the presentations so well executed, I often went away with the lines of a poem running through my head.
One evening performance was particularly memorable and inspiring. It was a production of Romeo and Juliet, and in this ‘version’ Rosaline was given an on-stage role. Rosaline is the character who does not appear in Shakespeare’s play but has a background role as Romeo’s first love.
The young lady who played the part of Rosaline was memorable for her costuming and her on-stage presence. She was dressed entirely in black Goth except for her hair – bright pink. I remember her soliloquy – she begged us to look past her difference and see the person within.
~
~
heroine
~
her hair
a stroke of pink
on the brown audience
~
more compelling
than the script
or the decorated stage
not surprising to see her name
on the program
~
Rose
in the part of Rosaline
~
in black but for the hair
even her lips
implore the audience
to pardon the difference
to understand
~
if only he had lived
~
she, of course, the heroic one
not Romeo
or Juliet
~
not the dead
but the left-behind
~
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
another Cornwall gate
Yesterday, I completed another in the ‘Cornwall gates’ series.
They are fun to find and paint. I have learned this – trying to paint what is just beyond the gate takes away from the mystery!
~
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
walk along a shady lane (day 6)
~
‘Biking’ in northern New Brunswick, I am constantly on the look-out for scenes and themes quintessentially ‘New Brunswick’. And the long lanes leading to homes set back from the road leap out at me …
~
map showing distance travelled (map from Google Earth)
~
8-6 January 16, 2014 30 minutes 3.0 km (Dalhousie Junction to Point La Nim)
~
When I was a kid, I spent hours wandering up and down the long lane at my mother’s ‘old home place’. There were blueberries to pick, a lovely shade, a breeze coaxed from the hot day by the two rows of trees, and a dear silver poplar to turn its leaves in greeting as I approached the elbow of the lane …
~
It’s not the same, of course, without trees, but most lanes show the center grassy strip, flanked on either side by tracks worn by years of cars coming and going …
~
treeless lane along the Restigouche River shore (image from Street View)
~
And sometimes planted trees take the place of the narrow wooded walls of the lane in my memory …
~
a carefully planted lane (image from Street View)
~
But occasionally, I see a treed lane and I feel like a kid again, eager to go wandering …
~
January 21, 2014 ‘lane’ Jane Tims
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
swing in the orchard
On this cold and snowy day …
~
~
in the orchard
~
the old swing
soothes its child
its ropes fray
squeak with laughter
~
if you hang around under apple trees
you understand the patchy shade
the reason the grass grows only so high
~
in summer, the boy ties the swing high in the tree
and the mower moves under
brings Timothy to its knees
~
spares field mice and bedstraw
makes mounds of hay to land on
~
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
Cornwall gates
~
Among the paintings I did during my virtual cycling trip along the Cornwall coast are a few on the theme of gates and entryways …
~
September 14, 2013 ‘afternoon by the gate’ Jane Tims
~
October 24, 2013 ‘ gate on Old Church Road’ Jane Tims
~
January 9, 2014 ‘gate in Falmouth’ Jane Tims
~
January 10, 2014 ‘rainbow gate in Falmouth’ Jane Tims
~
January 12, 2014 ‘red gate’ Jane Tims
~
Gates are symbolic of so many things. They represent any portal into a new place, a new life, a new adventure. We know what is on this side of the gate. We may not know what we will find when we open the gate and step through.
This week, I am stepping through a gate, by taking the first step toward showing my paintings to the general public. I have submitted one of my ‘gate’ paintings (‘rainbow gate in Falmouth’), for showing and sale, to Isaac’s Way at 649 Queen Street in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
~
Isaac’s Way is a fine dining restaurant as well as an art gallery. Since 2007, they have held 19 showings and auctions of the work of local artists. Paintings are shown in the restaurant and sold by silent auction. A large part of the money raised from the sale of the paintings goes to sponsor a charity. The auction ending January 26, for example, will go to help enable underprivileged children to take winter music lessons. For more information and for a look at the art in the most recent showing (ending January 26th, 2014 at 9:00 PM) go to http://isaacsway.ca/art/
~
If you are in the Fredericton area, I encourage you to visit Isaac’s Way, to see the paintings and enjoy the comfortable atmosphere and delicious menu items.
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
dangers on the roads (day 5)
On day 5 of my virtual cycling beside the Restigouche River, towards Dalhousie, New Brunswick, I encountered part of a story …
~
map showing distance travelled (map from Google Earth)
~
8-5 January 14, 2014 35 minutes 3.0 km (Maple Green to Dalhousie Junction)
~
Along the route, I passed two police cars, headed in the opposite direction. Hmm, I said to myself, you never see two police cars together unless something bad has happened.
~
(image from Street View)
~
So I was not surprised to see this figure flagging me down …
~
(image from Street View)
~
Or the real flagman and two power trucks …
~
(image from Street View)
~
And a broken power pole. An accident, now four and a half years in the past (the Street View image was taken in 2009). But a reminder of the dangers and sad history of our highways.
~
power pole, broken in half (image from Street View)
~
January 14, 2014 ‘railway crossing on Route 134’ Jane Tims
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
a close look at the landscape (day 4)
On day 4 of my virtual travels in northern New Brunswick, I continued to follow the Restigouche River …
~
~
8-4 January 11, 2014 30 minutes 3.0 km (McLeods to Maple Green)
~
I love the topography of the area. As I’ve said before, the mountains here are part of the northern Appalachians. These mountains were created about 480 million years ago and were gradually eroded to a flat plain. Then, upheaval of the earth’s crust gave us the undulating hills and mountains we see today.
~
Today on my virtual bike trip, I could see one of these features, a low dark hill on the right of the horizon.
~
mountain along the highway near Maple Green (image from Street View)
~
I think it is interesting to look for these elements of landscape on the satellite map – I found this feature easily, a dark curved escarpment, just south of Maple Green. It is a ‘mountain’ caught between the water of Porcupine Brook (flowing out of Hicks Lake) and the deposits of the Restigouche River …
~
labelled satellite image (image from Google Earth)
~
You can also look at the mountain in the ‘ground-level view’ of Google Earth. I don’t know how this ‘mountain’ was formed, but a geologist could likely tell an interesting story of its history …
~
the ‘mountain’ is in the upper right hand corner (image from Google Earth)
~
A look at the view above shows how different land owners have taken different approaches to managing their woodlands (the tan-coloured band is a strip of clear-cut forest). The property boundaries, of course, pay little attention to geology, so there are several landowners on the ‘mountain’.
~
In one respect, the property boundaries do pay attention to the landscape. As in other areas along rivers or the coast, properties were historically arranged so each land owners had access to the waterway. You can see this on the satellite image …
~
properties along the river – every owner originally had some access to the river (image from Street View)
~
and also on an old property map of the area …
~
old property map of area around Maple Green (Source: Provincial Archives of New Brunswick)
~
Sometimes, to get access to property by the river, people need long driveways. Sometimes the road has to cross the railroad …
~
January 12, 2014 ‘railroad crossing’ Jane Tims
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
