Posts Tagged ‘winter’
strategies for the winter
Although it is only late November, I find myself shuddering at the approach of winter. Perhaps it is the arthritis in my bones. Perhaps the need for a quilt as soon as the thermometer registers less than zero. Perhaps the climbing out of bed while the sun is still asleep.
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So, never daunted, I am making plans. These are my strategies for coping with the coming winter:
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1. hover over a cup of tea each morning – my current favorite is Scottish Breakfast, a gift from my niece.
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2. read, read, read – I read so much I usually feel guilty … but not this winter – I am going to read as much as I can – my current favorites are Elly Griffiths, Ann Cleeves and Ann Granger, all mystery/crime novels from the UK. Just to keep with the spirit of the season, I am also re-reading Edwin Way Teale’s Wandering Through Winter (1965), the Pulitzer-winning book describing his four month, 20,000 mile winter journey through the USA.
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3. watch the birds – I am determined to see a Cardinal at our feeders but, really, anyone will do … Chickadee-dee-dee!
one of the usual visitors to our feeder … the Black-capped Chickadee
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4. bundle up really well and go for a walk each day – I have had my wool coat dry-cleaned and I have cleaned out an old leather suitcase to store our mittens and scarves in easy reach.
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5. Make a couple of small quilts. Working at a quilt is one of the warmest activities I know.
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6. Knit a few pairs of socks, another warm activity. I am a good knitter … I can knit anything. Once, the top to my strawberry cookie jar broke and I knit a new top for it!
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7. Enjoy sitting in front of a fire. This includes my small electric fireplace, our big woodstove, and, outside, our stone fire pit.
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Do you have any strategies for making winter the best season of the year?
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
newfall of snow
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newfall: words escape me
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the white ephemeral
perhaps frost
the fir boughs divided
the sculptured steel
of a flake of snow
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try again
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paper stencil
on chocolate cake
powdered sugar
sifted on the rills
of the new plowed field
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again
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sweet in my mouth
the bitter melted in morning sun
white hot on my cheek
the writing lamp
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a lamp to the left
casts no shadow
(the shadow of a pen
or a hand)
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(unless you are wrong-handed)
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chimney shadow
on a fresh-snowed roof
or trees on the eastern edge of the road
where the sun cannot warm
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the morning
dusting of ice
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try again
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Published as ‘newfall: words escape me’, The Fiddlehead 196, Summer 1998.
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
lichens on the snow
As you may know, we are still under a blanket of snow here in New Brunswick. And later today a Nor’easter is predicted to bring another 30 cm. Not the best place for collecting plants as dyestuff. But, as I always find – nature provides!
Our windy weather this past week has dropped lots of Old Man’s Beard lichen (Usnea subfloridana) along our driveway. These lichens grow in the maple and spruce trees on our property but usually they grow too high to reach. I was able to collect quite a handful.
And now my experiment begins.
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Lichens have been used for centuries as a source of dye. The Roccella species, for example, makes a purple dye called orchil. I may not get purple from my Usnea lichens, but I am ‘dyeing’ to try!
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The typical extraction process for lichens is called ‘ammonia fermentation’ – soaking the lichens in ammonia for two or three weeks. Lichens also yield dye with boiling. I have decided to try the ammonia method first, although I will not use urine as was traditionally done!
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So I stuffed the Usnea lichens into a canning jar, added water and a tablespoon of ammonia, labelled the jar and put it on the shelf.
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And now we wait. I’ll let you know what, if any, colour develops. I feel like a housewife of old, wanting some dyestuff to add colour to my life, willing to make do with what is available.
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
beech leaves and berries
One more poem about winterberry holly …
winterberry holly in early winter
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beech leaves and berries
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watch the wretched shudder
of the second hand, clutch
at the day, a beech leaf, intent
or winterberries persistent
through December
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peeling paint on the door
of the shed, insistent –
resist new color
parchment leaves and paint chips rattle
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on a day in January
a grey-green flake of paint
is tumbled by wind
and vermillion berries surrender
drop
by
drop
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indifferent snow
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
winterberries
Before the winter snows are entirely gone, I want to share this poem. All through the winter months, winterberry holly clings to its bright orange-red berries, refusing to let go …
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winterberries
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berries of holly persist
long into winter, cling to
the bough, after leaves have fallen
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grief refuses to let go
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but what is one berry among
so many – in the end all
berries desiccate and die
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birds wheel in limitless sky
look below and see
one red pixel punctuates
vast emptiness of snow
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
february chill
memories of a walk on a cold night …
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spaces in the dark
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white on the pasture
interrupts the night
clings to cold twilight
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footfalls
beside me
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a black horse
assembles from shadow
ponders the snow
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your coat
folded around me
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the horse lifts its head
knows where deer hesitate
where wings brush against barn boards
where I stand in the snow
and shiver
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never so warm again
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chill spaces around me
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no feathers to fly
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
new-fallen snow
On this wintry day … finding the right words to describe new-fallen snow …
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newfall: words escape me
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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
~
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Published as ‘newfall – words escape me’, the Fiddlehead 196, Summer 1998
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
getting ready for Christmas #4 – vintage postcards
For a few years, I have hung examples from my collection of postcards on a string above the fireplace. I have postcards for all the major holidays – New Years, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Thanksgiving, Halloween and, of course, Christmas.
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This year, when I hung my Christmas postcards, I could only find six. I need more, I decided, and went on eBay to find just three more.
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By the time I finished my bidding and winning, I had 14 postcards to add to my collection.
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After I had hung some of the postcards over my fireplace, I discovered 7 other postcards from a collection that belonged to my grandmother. So now I have 27 vintage Christmas postcards. The eBay extravaganza was not necessary at all, but, oh, it was fun!
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three of my new postcards – notice, I now have two of a set of ‘robin’ postcards – will I go out to find three more I know are in the set????
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Vintage postcards, mailed in 1922 (left) and 1926 (right)
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
getting ready for Christmas #3 – a countdown to Christmas
In our house, we usually do a countdown to Christmas. Ours is a countdown through Advent, beginning on the first Sunday in Advent and marking off the days, one at a time.
Most years, I have a Jesse tree, a tradition in some Christian homes. This celebrates the long genealogy of Jesus who was of the house of Jesse, the father of David. When my son was little, we had bread-dough ornaments each illustrating Biblical events. When he grew older, and as the ornaments started to show their age, I put red and green ribbons on our Jesse tree. The Jesse tree itself is a two to three foot tall branch from a birch tree. A memory I have through the years is of ironing those ribbons to remove the wrinkles of the year gone by.
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We also have a fabric Advent calendar with pockets for small treats. Most years we put mint sticks in each pocket. This year we couldn’t find our usual mint sticks, so we wrapped sticks of chocolate, one for each day in the calendar.
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This year, I decided to create something new to use for our countdown. On Pinterest, I have seen several examples of countdown ornaments created from tags embellished with various trinkets. So I made twenty-five of these, since this year Advent and December both began on December 1st.
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I printed tags with the numbers spelled out and fixed a small memento to each one. Most of these are trinkets I have kept in odd drawers over the years – mismatched earrings, buttons, acorns, feathers, shells, Christmas pins and so on. I threaded a ribbon through a hole punched in the tag. Each day since December 1, I have hung a new ornament, tying them to the bar of a drying rack we have in the living room.
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The ornaments are pretty and remind me of the days ahead and the days that have come and gone.
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Do you count down the days until Christmas????
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
a moment of beautiful – ice windows on woodland pools
the space: pools of water in the Grey Woods
the beautiful: patterns in the thin ice
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While we wait for a lasting snow in New Brunswick, ice defines the season. On every pool of standing water, ice-windows have formed. I love the patterns these make against the amber-colored water! These are photos of ice windows taken last spring, after the snow had gone.
Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
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