Posts Tagged ‘winter’
decorating for Christmas #6
In our house, everyone celebrates Christmas, even the mouse who lives under the stair. Here he is, beside his mouse hole, with his well-lit Christmas tree and wreath. He has a big gift to open on Christmas day! Heads up, the lines on the wall at the top of the photo are made by our cat!
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Merry Christmas to you too!
decorating for Christmas #5
I have quite a few nativity scenes. My favorite is my set of figures by ™Avon. I collected them more than 30 years ago and it was this set we used when my son was little. We used it to tell the story of the Nativity, starting with an empty manger, putting the angels with the shepherds to announce Jesus’ birth, moving the wise men ever closer to the stable.
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I actually have three ‘little drummer boys’ for the set; two of these belonged to my mom. I bought one drummer boy each for my mom and my mother-in-law, and gave one to Mom in 1992. Then I forgot I had given her the first, so she got another from me in 1993. I know the years because Mom labelled her belongings with the giver and year. My mother-in-law never did get a drummer boy figure!
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the three drummer boys: one of mine and two of Mom’s 1992 and 1993 (left to right)
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boxes for the drummer boys, carefully labelled by Mom
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One of my favorite parts of the Nativity scene is the white satin cloth with golden stars that make a backdrop to the figurines, reminiscent of the star-studded sky in Bethlehem.
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Merry Christmas from the drummer boys …
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
decorating for Christmas #4
Decorating in our house involves some cleaning and maintenance since I do not keep up with housework through the year. One of the things I do for Christmas is shine our basket of glass floats.
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Glass floats were once used to keep the edges of fishing nets buoyant and you can buy new floats as well as antiques. They are beautiful and come in many festive colours. I consider them a Christmas decoration because of their beauty, because they remind me of stained glass and because my Mom and Dad gave me at least one of the green glass floats in my collection. I used to keep them on top of the piano, but I have copied my niece who keeps hers in a basket by her wood stove. When I visited my niece a few years ago, I drew her collection of floats and wrote a poem about them.
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glass floats
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the fog’s still glow
penetrates glass
and air incorporated
an age ago
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weightless, flamboyant
on salt water
swell
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glass inflation
tethered by hemp
on an ocean
whipped to froth
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
decorating for Christmas #3
Years ago, on a business trip to New Hampshire, I visited an antique store and bought five of the figures to a German papier-mâché Nativity set: two shepherds, two villagers and a wise man. Since then, I have searched eBay to complete the set and last year I succeeded with the purchase of a cow, two sheep and a donkey. Along the way, I acquired several figures from the same Nativity but at different scales. Now I have quite a crowd visiting the manger! And I have two Mary figurines which may be disturbing but I can’t decide which one to keep …
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All my shepherds, villagers, wise men, angels, manger animals, and, of course, the Holy Family, wish you a Merry Christmas!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
snow duties
Our first big snow arrived Saturday night. Twenty centimeters of fluff. Time to begin snow removal duties.
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This year my husband has about 30 clients for snow removal and he has been getting ready for a couple of weeks — staking driveways, buying diesel, replacing lights in the tractor array, removing stressed bolts and moving things around the yard to make moving the snow as simple as possible.
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My duties are simple and few. I set the alarm for 3 AM, print off the client list from the computer and run the checklist — water, raisins, earplugs, client list, flashlight, cell phone, “go bag”. The “go-bag” has about sixty pounds of chain, a roll of tow strapping, assorted connection devices and anything you would ever want to pull yourself from a ditch.
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I also supply diesel when needed and lunch. No set times for anything. Just a hearty meal, packed to eat on the road, when my husband gets hungry.
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lunch packed into a cooler (or in this case, a heater) … lots of protein and calories …
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Otherwise, I answer the phone, work away at various editing projects and worry. Things can go wrong out there in snow-land and they often do. A stray two-by-four goes through the blower. The tractor slips off the side of a driveway into a deep ditch. The plow for the main roads is late. There are three cars in the driveway and no one at home to move them!
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My husband is the only one I know who talks about snow and winter longingly in the middle of summer. Everyone should love their work as much as he does!
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Enjoy your snow-day where-ever you are.
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
waking from winter …
Not everyone has been snoozing though the colder months …
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
end of winter
Although I love winter, it is so heartening to see all of nature enjoying the melting snowpack and the return of warmer days …
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As bits of fields reveal themselves, the white-tailed deer are out and about, feeding on young sprouts and the left-overs of last year’s harvest …
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The deer are not timid at all, but if the camera makes that whirring sound (remember The Lost World: Jurassic Park?) they are off in a flash, white tails lifted …
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
spring comes to the Saint John River
We have waited eagerly for spring here in New Brunswick. With late snow storms and temperatures still in the minus degrees Centigrade, my day lilies are just peeking through the grass at the edge of the snow.
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There is still ice on the river with windrows showing the last snows …
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but the ice is gradually receding, revealing vast strips of blue water …
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Every year, my husband and I watch for our own harbinger of spring …. the return of the Canada geese to the river. We went for a drive last week to find many examples of geese feeding in the bare fields and along the river edges.
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We saw geese in several fields along the way, but our best view was on a side road to one of the river’s many concrete wharves …
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prediction of spring
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necks of geese
are the steep upward
curve of charts showing:
—— longer , brighter days
——- larger areas of meltwater
——— warmer expressions of sun
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Copyright 2017 Jane Tims
an intelligent world of blue
Yesterday, we went on a drive along the Saint John River from Oromocto to Jemseg. We hoped to see some birds or other wild life. But we didn’t even see a crow!!!!
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However we did see the world painted in a sweet-toned shade of blue … the ice on the river, the long shadows on the meadows and the sky. I was reminded of Douglas Adams and his tribute to hooloovoo ‘blue’.
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A Hooloovoo is a super-intelligent shade of the color blue.
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
nichepoetryandprose 