Posts Tagged ‘nature’
new layer of snow
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Snow is gradually building on every horizontal surface. I love the contrast between umber bark and bright snow. If this layer of snow will only stay, the temperatures will seem warmer and the walking less slippery. And the movements of small creatures in our woods will be less ephemeral, better understood.
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tracks in the snow
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
December garlands
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in December
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we gather pine cones
wreaths of lion’s paw
hawthorn, cedar boughs
and juniper
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we walk the wild ways
pruners and scissors
baskets and stout cord
to bind bunches of
branches
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balsam and holly
berries and garlands
of evergreen, red
rosehips and acorns,
gilded, needles and
thorns
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© Jane Tims 2014
sharing the grey woods
a poor photo of a ruffed grouse in one of the trees behind our house
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We share our grey woods with so many plants and animals. Sadly, our interactions do not always benefit the wild life.
The big panes of glass in our picture windows have brought disaster to so many birds. If the sun shines just right, the glass is like a mirror. When a bird sees the reflection of trees and sky, it must think it is flying deeper into the woods. I find keeping the window curtains closed removes the mirror illusion and prevents some collisions.
Sometimes, we will hear a thump and by the time we investigate, the bird will have recovered. Sometimes the bird is not so lucky.
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Heartbeat
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alive in morning birdsong thud thud thudding in my ears
slow as a pulse then faster final beats too quick to count
a spruce grouse in the thicket on a mound of leaves
drumming for a mate
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all day
I thought of him
and smiled
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buried in evening birdsong a thud on the window
the partridge sighing in the grass
tail narrowed feathers ruffled at his neck oddly bent
fingers on his throat
faint flutter
blood from his beak
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I smoothed him into a mound of dead leaves
inspected the window
a feather stuck to the glass
moved as though nostrils drew faint breath
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nothing broken
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
October moon
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moon escape
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above the woods
in sunset’s dying
the moon rose –
orange
and terrifying
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caught in the trees
with the night wind’s sighing
drowned in the lake mists –
mystifying
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captured in the yellow
of a barn owl’s eye
escaping on a wild bird’s
flight to the sky
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a pool of light
where the hounds are lying
ghosts on the line
where the shirts are drying
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a silhouette
for a coyote’s cry
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Sunpoke Lake, October 2011
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
harvesting colour – Rough Bedstraw
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Rough Bedstraw
Gallium asprellum Michx.
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along the sleepy river
green shoreline, plumped and pillowed
rough bedstraw, river trick
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river and shoreline beckon
you to bed down, settle down
get a little shut-eye, tough
stuff bedstraw, mattress thick
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shoreline a bedroom, rough
bedstraw, green mattress, blue sky
bedspread, blue river tick
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orchard along the Saint John River
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Published as ‘Rough Bedstraw, Canadian Stories 17 (99),October/November 2014
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
harvesting colour – Sea Lavender
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Sea Lavender, picked long ago and woven into a wreath
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Sea Lavender
Limonium Nashii Small.
1.
bunch of lavender, dry
picked at the edge
of the sea
2.
at high tide, overcome
by salt water, linear
leaves buffeted
as rags, tattered purple papers
echoed in oil-slick
mirrors of foam
3.
on-shore breeze, stiff
sprays of Sea Lavender
tremble
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Published as ‘Sea Lavender’, Canadian Stories 17 (99),October/November 2014
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
dry Sea Lavender
harvesting colour – blackberry red and pink
Autumn is officially here; summer up and left last week. My complaints are suddenly of chilly evenings, not too-warm nights! But with this season comes a series of dyeing projects I have been looking forward to – dyeing with berries and autumn leaves.
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berries harvested at our cabin in 2013
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At our summer property, we have blackberries in profusion. They ripen slowly over a period of three weeks and we eat our fill. This year I decided to sacrifice a few for the dye pot.
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Dyeing with berries is easy. I brought three cups of berries to a simmer in three liters of water for about an hour. The strained liquid was a bright red, the colour of ripe cranberries …
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dye from blackberries
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I dyed alum-treated wool with a slow simmer and an overnight soak. The result was a pale pink, a welcome addition to my collection of ‘mostly brown’ …
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pink wool dyed with blackberries is front and center … other wools are dyed with (clockwise) oak (dark brown), meadowsweet (orange), bugleweed (brown), tansy (gold), lily-of-the-valley (grey), and beet root (deep pink), and in the center, carrot tops (green)
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I also tried dying linen and cotton with the blackberry dye, and these gave me the burgundy I had hoped for …
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back left to front: wool, linen, cotton and another cotton, dyed with blackberries
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I think I will be using the pink/burgundy cotton as the backing for the small ‘harvesting colour’ quilt I plan to make. I’ll hem the linen and use it in my kitchen.
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March 18, 2012 ‘blackberries’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
dry gourds
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string of dried gourds
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dry gourds
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shake
bottle and swan
goblin egg and warted
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absorb the rhythm
the rattle of seeds
in their shells
varnished, on a chord
between cupboards
strand of amber
hardened with hanging
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a nudge in humidity, the least
damp, breath
or sigh, softens
vibration, appreciation
of percussion
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August 31, 2013 ‘squash on the vine #3’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
summer spaces
Occasionally in these posts, I talk about our cabin. When I was a child, weekends were always spent at the cottage. It was a special place, partly because my Dad involved me in its creation. I still remember how proud I was to fill one of the foundation boxes with stones. It was a place where we could play in the woods and dabble in a brook. So it is no surprise that as an adult, having a cabin get-away has always been a priority.
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a view of the lake at our cabin property
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Our cabin today is built on a hill overlooking a lake. Originally, the property was a field overflowing with blueberry bushes.
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our lake property in 2005
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Today, it is a young woods, mostly of mountain birch and red maple. We keep the paths mowed with a bush hog pulled behind our ATV. The treed lane I once hoped for is now a reality. I still have a few patches of blueberries and lots of blackberry bushes.
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one of our many paths through the birch and maple wood
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Originally, we intended to build a much bigger cottage – we even chose the plans. But through the years the shed we built as a sort of garage has become our cabin. It is small, only 19 feet long by 15 feet wide. But it is big enough for my husband and I.
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building the cabin in 2010
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Earlier this summer, we hired a local company to finish the outside of the cabin. We still have work to do inside, but having the exterior finished takes us a long way towards the time when our cabin will be a home away from home.
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our cabin, all the windows in and siding complete, 2014
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We spent yesterday at the cabin. We did some work on our entry gate, sat in the cabin and talked, and watched the dragonflies and blue jays. Usually we also read, aloud, a couple of chapters of a book and have a picnic lunch. Life is fun!
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Do you have a cabin or a place to ‘get-away’?
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
Arthur – after the storm
Over a week after Tropical Storm Arthur, I am thinking about the new pattern of life we adopted during our six days without electricity. Without our usual electric lights, stove, refrigerator, computer and television, we adjusted our days.
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First there were candles. I have lots of candles, but three pillars in the living room sent enough light into the main part of the house for navigation. We also had our small flashlights. They lit the darker rooms and made us safe on the stairs.
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The next ‘necessity’ was gasoline for the truck and for our small generator (2000 watt). Although we began the storm with very little gasoline (we were not well prepared), we waited a couple of days to fill up, to avoid the long lineups for gas at the few stations open after the storm. Since most all of Fredericton was without power for the first two days, so open gas stations, fast food places and grocery stores were hard to find!
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Once we had our generator working, we had a hot meal at supper time each evening, on our small electric hotplate. By the end of the six days, we were using our generator for fans to keep the house cool and to watch DVDs on our television.
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Water, of course, is always a concern. We had lots of water on hand, about 22 4-liter jugs I keep for emergencies. We were able to buy drinking water and ice for our cooler, although these items were flying from the shelves!!! By the end of our adventure, we had filled our jugs a couple of times, once at my son’s home (in the city, they had no power, but they did have water), and once from the Oromocto Fire Department who were so kind to us.
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On Day 6, workers from NB Power and Hydro-Quebec, and a tree trimming crew from Maine arrived to remove the trees from the downed lines on our road. They worked all day to re-establish power to about 500 customers who depended on this particular line. We were so grateful to them, knowing they had worked since the storm hit. We were just one group among many waiting for power. On Sunday, July 13, there were still 5000 customers without power in Fredericton. By the time of this post, NB Power says most power will be restored. It is certainly the longest power outage we have ever experienced in this province.
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three candles
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three candles
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between ruby glass
and hard wood floor
a slide of light and three
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extinguished candles
smoke lifts from smoulder
each mote a particle
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of spectral light, mosaic
shard, image
reassembled in three
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dimensions
shepherd, hawthorn
lamb
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© Jane Tims 2011
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