Posts Tagged ‘landscape’
a moment of beautiful – autumn leaves
~
~
~
Like stained glass against the sky!
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2016
mustard electric
More painting going on. Trying to capture some of our dramatic New Brunswick landscape.
~
This summer we drove through the rural countryside near Millville and loved the brilliant yellow mustard fields.
~
This painting is called ‘mustard electric’, 24″ by 20″, acrylic, gallery edges, painted with Hansa yellow, Ultramarine blue, Titanium white. When I had it in the living room, it was impossible to ignore, its blast of yellow lingering in the peripheral vision!
~
September 10, 2016 ‘mustard electric’ near Millville, N.B. Jane Tims
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2016
blueberry red
The Isaac’s Way Summer Art Auction #27 in Fredericton, New Brunswick has ended! And my painting ‘morning sky’ has sold for the full price of $260. I am so pleased since the charity is to provide for MUSIC lessons for kids-in-need.
~
My painting in the next Art Auction (runs September 25 to late January, 2017) is perfect for fall. It is entitled ‘blueberry red’ and depicts a blueberry field near Stewarton, New Brunswick in late autumn when the blueberry leaves turn a brilliant red. The painting is 24″ wide by 20″ high, acrylic with gallery edges. I am donating 50% of the proceeds from my painting to the charity. I hope you like it!
~
September 10, 2016 ‘blueberry red’ Jane Tims
~
~
Copyright 2016 Jane Tims
changing communities
Last week we went for a drive to the Cornhill Nursery in Kings County to buy a new cherry tree for our yard. Afterwards we took a drive to visit some of the old communities in the area. One of these communities, Whites Mountain, was a rural farming community with 17 families in 1866 (New Brunswick Provincial Archives). By 1898 the community had one post office, one church and 100 people. Today the community consists of a few farms and residences, perched on a steep hillside overlooking the hilly landscape of northern Kings County.
~
On the road descending Whites Mountain, Kings County, overlooking the broad Kennebecasis Valley (September 2016)
~
One of the most interesting sights on our drive may also be evidence of the farmsteads formerly in the area. Although Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia (L.) Planch.) is native to North America, in this area it is usually associated with human habitation. In the thick woods north of the community, we found Virginia Creeper in profusion, covering the surface of the trees.
~
~
~
Although there is only forest here now, perhaps the ancestors of these vines covered barns and other buildings in the area.
~
Copyright 2016 Jane Tims
morning sky
We are approaching the end of the Isaac’s Way Summer Art Auction #27 in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The Art Auction is raising funds for MUSIC lessons for kids-in-need. The last day for bidding on or buying a painting is Sunday evening September 25th, 2016 at closing time.
~
My painting in this Art Auction is of a brilliant sunrise behind our grey woods. The painting, entitled ‘morning sky’, is 24″ wide by 20″ high, acrylic with gallery edges. I am donating 50% of the proceeds from my painting to the charity.
~
‘morning sky’ Jane Tims
~
If you live in the Fredericton area, stop by and have a look at the art works available (and try some of the restaurant’s great food). Over 50 artists have contributed their work! You can also see the art available in the auction at http://isaacsway.ca/
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2016
on my bookshelf – A Photo Tour of the Covered Bridges of New Brunswick by Ray Boucher
As I make revisions to my poetry manuscript ‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’, my collection of books about covered bridges in New Brunswick provides needed reference material. Ray Boucher’s book A Photo Tour of the Covered Bridges of New Brunswick looks at the 64 covered bridges present in the province in 2008. Today only 60 of these remain.
~
~
Ray Boucher. A Photo Tour of the Covered Bridges of New Brunswick. Kissing Bridge Publications, 2009.
A Photo Tour takes the reader county-by-county to discover New Brunswick’s covered bridges. Many of the bridges are shown in more than one photo and photos were taken in every season. I particularly like the photos showing a bridge from up or downstream.
~
Now gone from this record of 64 are the Adair Bridge (North Becaguimec River #1) (lost to fire in 2009), the Aaron Clark Bridge (Canaan River #1) (lost to flooding in 2014), the Stone Ridge Bridge (Keswick River #6) (lost to fire in 2008), and the Mangrum Bridge (Becaguimec River #3) (lost to fire in 2011). My version of the book has notes added in red to indicate the 2014 and 2008 losses. The historical value of this book is the photographic record of these four bridges as well as those still standing.
~
Each photo is accompanied by facts on bridge length and date of construction, and interesting notes and anecdotes on the bridge and the photographer’s visit. Since my husband accompanied me on my visits to the covered bridges I am writing about, I liked reading that this book was also a husband and wife effort!
~
I was able to buy a copy of this book on Amazon.ca … my collection of books about covered bridges is growing!
~
Copyright 2016 Jane Tims
uphill and down
While doing a search for a particular plant we know grows in the area, my husband and I took a side road through rural Victoria County in New Brunswick. We drove from Route 109 (near the top of the map), south through Upper Kintore and Lower Kintore, to Muniac, a distance of about 23 kilometres.
~
(Map Source: New Brunswick Atlas, First Edition)
~
Kintore was settled in 1873 and named for the town of Kintore near Aberdeen, Scotland. In 1898, Kintore was a railway station and had a post office and a population of 75. (Source: New Brunswick Archives)
~
church and school house in Upper Kintore 2016
~
Interesting to me was the very well-cared-for one room Upper Kintore School, built in 1877.
~
Upper Kintore School built 1877
~
Our drive took us uphill through Upper Kintore, along Big Flat Brook (a tributary of the Tobique River). The road peaked at Lawson Hill and then ran down, through Lower Kintore. Again, the road followed a watercourse, the Muniac Steam (a tributary of the Saint John River). As we drove we talked about the road — the earliest roads took the easy way, along the brooks. The southern part of the road was banked by steep rocky roadcuts.
~
the Muniac Stream near Lower Kintore
~
Since I am interested in the plants children might encounter on their way to school, I was happy that this is the time in New Brunswick when most of our roadside wild flowers are in bloom. We saw Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia serotina Nutt.), Red Clover (Trifolium pratense L.), Bedstraw (Galium sp.), Daisy (Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum L.), Bladder-Campion (Silene Cucubalus Wibel) and Meadow Rue (Thalictrum polygamum Muhl.). Quite a bouquet! I have to remain aware that some of these plants have become very weedy and invasive since the early 1900s and may have been hard to find in the 1800s. For example, in the photo below, just above the Black-eyed Susan, you will notice a plant of Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa L.). In New Brunswick, Wild Parsnip is a invasive species, probably introduced by Europeans in the 18th century as a food source.
~
Black-eyed Susan along the road
~
Do you have any favorite rural drives through communities with interesting histories?
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2016
on my bookshelf: New Brunswick’s Covered Bridges by Helen Coldrick
~
One of the ‘must haves’ in a collection of books about covered bridges in New Brunswick is Helen Coldrick’s soft cover book New Brunswick’s Covered Bridges. It includes drawings and information on the 70 bridges that existed in 1992. Today there are only 60 covered bridges in New Brunswick and Helen’s book is one way of seeing some of what we are missing.
~
Helen Coldrick. New Brunswick’s Covered Bridges. Neptune Publishing Company Limited: Saint John, 1992.
~
~
In her book, Helen includes 30 of her black and white drawings of various covered bridges and construction features. I love these drawings because I can see the artist’s process in the lines: her way of using shadow and white space, and her approach to portraying the reflections in water. The drawings also show the setting of each bridge and in some cases, the dramatic landscape of the river beneath.
~
Drawings in the book include bridges now lost: the Aaron Clarke Bridge (lost to flooding in 2014) and Iroquois River #4 (no longer standing). The book also includes a listing of the covered bridges in New Brunswick in 1992. I think one of the values of the book is its snapshot of the situation in years past. The New Brunswick government keeps a list of today’s covered bridges but finding information on those no longer existing is more challenging. Helen’s book shows us what some of these lost bridges looked like and tells some of their stories.
~
New Brunswick’s Covered Bridges includes a general history of covered bridges in New Brunswick, and a description of covered bridges by county. The book also includes lots of information on bridge construction, including pages on trusses, abutments, bases, sidings, entrances, windows and walkways, and roofs.
~
New Brunswick’s Covered Bridges is available for $7.95 from Nimbus Publishing (www.nimbus.ca). If you are interested in New Brunswick, covered bridges, history or architecture, or if you just like books with lovely drawings, this would be a great addition to your library!
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2016
.
one room schools – distractions on the way to school
I am thinking about the ways landscape would have influenced the day at a one room school in New Brunswick one hundred years ago. As we drove some of the back roads in the Stanley area this past weekend, I tried to think like a child on the way to school. So many distractions!
~
~
First, the views. Fields green with new corn, yellow with buttercups, winter-white with daisies …
~
~
And daisies to pick, perhaps a bouquet for a favorite teacher …
~
~
Brooks to cross, and the lure of watching for fingerlings in the clear water …
~
~
And a farmer’s pond, with ducks to watch, fish to feed, frogs to hunt and cat-tails …
~
~
Hillsides of fragrant hay-scented fern to roll in …
~
~
Orchards to play in and ripe fruit to gather …
~
It makes me wonder how anyone ever made it to school.
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2016
early schooling – apple trees for climbing
~
When I find an old one room school still standing, there are often apple trees in the yard. I realise these trees may not have existed a century ago, but it makes me think how important trees are to kids. I can imagine, if there was an apple tree or an orchard near the school yard, it would have been a favorite place for the students to play at recess and lunch-time.
~
Apple trees were made for climbing. And for hanging swings. Perhaps for carving initials. Or shaking loose blossom petals on friends standing beneath the tree.
~
Lower Queensbury School, York County, New Brunswick
~
I grew up in a city in the 1960s when authorities considered concrete the best play surface for a school yard. Run and risk a skinned knee. There were monkey bars for climbing, but I find myself wishing my school yard memories included an apple tree with a big horizontal limb.
~
~
Did you have trees to play on where you went to school?
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2016
nichepoetryandprose 