Posts Tagged ‘nature’
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.
~
~
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.
~
~
The sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis) can now be added to my life list!!!!!
~
~
Have fun watching the birds now returning from their migrations!
~
All my best,
Jane
soundscape and birdsong
These last two weeks have been fun for bird watchers. I saw my first dark-eyed junco, just back from a winter spent to the south. I also heard that lovely, impossible-to-imitate song of a winter wren. And I have cleaned up our feeding area so the spring birds will be easier to watch.
~
This weekend, I am looking forward to talking with other bird watchers about my new poetry book ‘mnemonic – soundscape and birdsong.’
~
~
I am looking forward to the event, hosted by the folks at the L.P Fisher Public Library, who have been so supportive of my writing through the years! Wish you could come and hear me read …
~
All my best!
Jane
an alien flora
Subscribe to continue reading
Subscribe to get access to the rest of this post and other subscriber-only content.
soon! a new children’s alphabet book
On my list of goals for the year is a project I haven’t talked about before. A friend and I have been working on her new book, A Child’s Botanical Alphabet.
~
I have known Jenn for years, since we both worked on Fredericton’s WordFeast in 2017. Jennifer Houle is a seasoned author, with two award-winning poetry collections, The Back Channels and Virga (Signature Editions). Her first children’s book, Un logis pour Molly/A Home for Molly, was published by Éditions Bouton d’Or Acadie in summer of 2022 in both French and English.
~
Here is what Jenn is saying about A Child’s Botanical Alphabet:
~
This book started out as a little rhyme I made up for my boys when they were toddlers. I loved teaching them to name common flowers & trees around the yard & neighbourhood. Having a vocabulary for things helps deepen imagination, sense of relatedness. I imagined it as a book that caregivers could read with children as they explored … the pages are meant to be coloured on & leaves & flowers pressed between pages. So it’s a book meant to be used. Oh! And there are Luna Moths fluttering throughout. . .presiding spirits.
Jennifer Houle, Facebook, March 20, 2024
~
When Jenn asked me to do the illustrations for her book, I said yes because I loved the concept and I had some suitable pencil drawings already done. I knew from the start I wanted the illustrations to be in colour, so I did my first work of this sort in the digital world. I used GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) to colourize each pencil drawing. I have learned so much about colour and its presentation. Jennifer was easy to work with, so in spite of some learning curves, we are very happy with the result.
~
~
As we work on the last small edits, we are excited to see A Child’s Botanical Alphabet in its final form and show it to you. Stayed tuned for more information!
~
All my best,
Jane
‘outside-in’
In the last few days, I was at the home of a friend and recognized a painting on her wall. I painted it years ago, in 2015, in a still life phase of my art. The things included in the painting were possessions I love and still have, mostly depictions of items normally found outside: a marble egg, a book of wild plant identification, two statuettes of mushrooms from my collection, a seashell from my Dad’s collection, a chunk of amethyst, a special fern-embossed candle holder and candle I keep on our mantle, red berries from our berry bush, and in the background, the fern curtains from our living room.
~
~
I looked up the others I had done in the series, all still life. No. 2 was a painting of the stained glass window in our house (I can see it from where I am sitting). Included in the still life are my hollow silver bird, my large glass jar, filled with potpourri, and a stack of plant identification books. The pine cones in the painting are from our yard … every year this time the big pine releases its cones in tight, sticky packages. After they sit in the sun a few days, they dry and open, releasing their seeds.
~
~
The first in the series was called ‘Outside-in’ and depicted the large green resin dragon I keep among my indoor plants. It also shows my moss garden inside its glass cloche. I makes me sad to see the vines of my Mom’s lipstick plant which died a few years ago.
~
~
In these days of de-cluttering and getting rid of things, I am glad to still have all the items in the paintings (except the vine). However, the paintings themselves are no longer with me, sold in Isaac Way’s Art Auction in Fredericton. Who purchased them? I only know the whereabouts of the one in the home of my friend.
~
Perhaps I will be inspire to do a 4th painting in the still life series, depicting some of the other things I love. We will see.
~
All my best,
Jane (a.k.a.) Alexandra
A botanical life list first
Today, we drove to St. Stephen from our home near Fredericton (New Brunswick). We traveled some back roads, getting some great glimpses of the St, Croix River. The St. Croix is an international waterway, so when we look across the river, we see the United States.
~
~
Along one stream in the drainage, we found a beyond-bright red flower I knew right away but have never seen except in photos.
~
~
The cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) was one of the first flowers I read about when I moved to New Brunswick, but this is the first time I have seen it in bloom.
~
The red colour is so bright against the darker colours of the water and leaves. The plant is pollinated by hummingbirds.
~
~
In New Brunswick, the cardinal flower grows in wet areas, along shores and on rocky islands in streams.
~
~
The plant is about a half-metre or more in height and bears its flowers in terminal spikes. The flower has three spreading lower petals and two upper petals; all are united into a tube at the base. The stem is erect with pointed elliptical leaves.
~
~
Like birders, most botanists keep track of the plants they know and have seen in the field. I am delighted to add this to my list of known plants!
~
Have a great day! Stay cool!
Jane
working on a poetry manuscript
This week, I am assembling a new poetry book in the ‘a glimpse of…’ series. The first two books, a glimpse of water fall and a glimpse of dragon gave readers a peek at some of the beautiful waterfalls in New Brunswick and the bits of magic in all our lives. A glimpse of sickle moon will explore the seasons in New Brunswick. The manuscript won Third Place in the 2020 New Brunswick Writers’ Federation Competition for the Alfred G. Bailey Prize.
~
~
The poetry book presents fifteen years of seasons, each presented as four poems about spring, summer, winter and fall. The poems about spring talk about floodwaters, under-story flowers and waking from hibernation. Summer poems tell about hurricanes, picking raspberries and sheep in the morning meadows. Fall poems explore first frost, wasp nests, fading flowers and ripening blackberries. And in winter–ice caves, snow drifts, walks in the falling snow and feeding birds.
~
~
I have struggled with how to present these poems. I thought of making each suite of four represent a year in my own life and entitling the section 1978, 1980, 1996, 2012 and so on. I thought about titling each section as a special year–‘The Year of the Path,’ ‘The Year of the Groundhog,’ and so on. I have finally settled on a title drawn from a common theme in the four poems presented–‘paths through tangled woods,’ ‘where shadows meet,’ and ‘a sliver from full.’
~
~
For the cover, I will create a painting of the crescent moon, seen through the branches of birch trees. The image below is a facsimile.
~
~
All my best as you work on your own project.
Jane
taking an art course
I trying to add some diversity to my day, so I am taking a course from Domestika: A Meditative Approach to Botanical Illustration. I have been through the introductory videos and last evening, I began the drawing exercises. Where I am, I have no scanner or camera, but I will use some photos and drawings from past excursions to illustrate what I have to say.
_
_
The first lesson is to observe simple shapes in the plant you want to draw. The instructor uses cacti for his subject matter. I am using water lilies of various types. I usually draw with pencil, so this is the first time I have used pen. I am a ‘maker of mistakes,’ so the eraser does a lot of work when I sit down to draw. Using pen sounds a bit intimidating, but I will prevail.
~
~
The simple shapes associated with the water lily are the elongated outlines of flower petals, and the deeply-notched spherical outlines of the various leaves. For my drawings I chose Nuphar lutea, Nymphaea odorata, and Nuphar microphylla, all species found in New Brunswick.
~
~
The above is a crude copy ‘by finger’ of one of the drawings I did, this one of Nymphaea odorata, showing the basic shapes.
The next lesson is a more accurate representation of the plant.
I am feeling that you have to go backwards to move forwards. We will see.
~
All my best
Jane
wildflowers in the ditches
The season certainly flies by! This week I am noticing the flowers in the ditches. Daisies, bedstraw, vipers bugloss, sweet clover, yarrow and so on. Today I am curious about a white flower occurring in soft low mounds along the highway. Bladderwort campion or maidenstears.
~
~
Bladderwort campion, Silene vulgaris, is a kind of faerie-tale flower, because of its bladders, small enough to be used by the faerie-folk to transport their drink. The alternate name ‘maidenstears,’ is also fanciful. The flowers are white, sticking above the top of a red-veined bladder. Reminds me of newly-bought vegetables poking above a grocery store paper bag.
~
~
The bladder is made of fused sepals. The flower has five petals, each deeply divided into two lobes. Bladderwort campion is common, found in ditches, meadows and other waste places.
~
~
Scanning the ditches for new plants is a habit I developed in my early days as a botanist. Even now I keep a list, in my head, of the plants I see as we drive along any road. A pleasant pass time for summer!
~
All my best,
Jane
northern bush honeysuckle
There are always surprises waiting for me in our lane. Today, it was a wild plant I haven’t seen for a while, although it is quite common. The name ‘lonicera’ popped into my head, because it brings true honeysuckle to mind.
~
~
This plant is Diervilla lonicera, northern bush honeysuckle. It is a low-growing native shrub with opposite leaves that turn red in fall. The flowers are honeysuckle-like: each flower is a yellow tube with 5 lobes, 5 extended stamens and a single pistil. Fertilized flowers take on a reddish tinge. The plant provides browse for moose and deer, nesting habitat for birds and nectar for bumblebees.
~
~
The flowers have a sweet scent and are persistent once established. I can look forward to many years of bush honeysuckle in our lane.
~
Keep your eyes open for new plants you may see!
All my best,
Jane
nichepoetryandprose 