Posts Tagged ‘wood’
waking from winter …
Not everyone has been snoozing though the colder months …
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
the colour of November #2 – wood for the winter
November in New Brunswick can be bleak. Before the snow is on the ground, the colours are dominated by browns and greys. Like the browns and greys in our woodpiles.
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We have several woodpiles. These include ranks of large round wood, cut and split into stove lengths, and stored in our shed. We also have spruce and fir kindling, chopped fine to start the fire. In the garage is a pile of smaller round wood, mostly the limbs trimmed from our maple trees. This smaller wood will be the base for our fires, a way for the flames to step from the kindling to the bigger wood.
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Nov. 14, 2013 ‘wood for winter’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
defining our spaces
Fences have always been my favourite type of human architecture. I like them because they are a place to sit and observe the landscape.
The reasons for building fences are varied. They mark the boundaries between properties, keep domestic and other animals in or out, create a visual edge to property, prevent uncontrolled movement of vehicles, provide privacy, and so on. Did I mention they are also fine places to sit?
Types of fences are as varied as the reasons for building them.
On our vacation to Maine, we encountered some unfamiliar types, although I have seen examples of these in New Brunswick. The fences I liked the best were made of stone, sometimes so much a part of the local landscape they could have been natural, not human-made…
poles and sturdy metal cable…
wood with mortise and tenon…
In New Brunswick, a familiar traditional fence is made with cedar, the rails fitted together in a zigzag…
Stone fences, put together with mortar, are common around churchyards…
Farm fences are usually of the post and wire type…
My favourite fence is the type my husband builds, a modern version of the traditional cedar rail fence, held together by gravity and no nails…
lethargy
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on the breathing side
of the window
beyond the curtain
limply lifted
is a pleasant day
a dandelioned field
a sloe-eyed cow
sumac leaning on the fence
a weary hitch-hiker beside
a carless road
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reminds me
of a basket of patches
a quilt to assemble
hems to stitch
perennials to weed
letters to crumple
and stars to count
in a cinnamon
and saccharine
apple-crumble
sky
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more to do
than prop one arm
on the window sill
and lift the muslin
barely higher
than the hitch-hiker’s
wilted shoulders
unslung pack
or knee-supported head
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© Jane Tims 2010
