Jane Spavold Tims's Blog, page 33

What’s in the bag? The answer …

Thank you so much for all your guesses. If you saw my blog posts about my AeroGarden and the mystery plant, you may have guessed the right answer. I also gave a hint in the comments … Fannie Flagg. So if you know the title of her best known book, one of my favourites, you may have guessed correctly!

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The correct answer is: green tomatoes! I have harvested about sixty tiny tomatoes from my AeroGarden, and they ripened very well in the paper bag. I have had about ten ripe tomatoes per day for the last week. All this from my mystery plant.

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Fifteen people guessed what was in the bag, nine correctly. The answers were generally entertaining, so this is what I will do. On Friday at noon, at the Authors Coffee House (see below), I will draw for one copy of my book ‘within easy reach’ from those who answered correctly. Then I will draw for another copy of the book from all those who answered, correct or not. If you happen to win and already own ‘within easy reach’, it would make a great gift for someone you know.

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Thanks for guessing what was in the paper bag. Lots of fun!

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All my best,

Jane

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On Friday at noon, Pat Post (a.k.a. Rosalie Lawrence) will be reading from her memoir “Scent from Above” at our Authors Coffee House, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Nasonworth. Chili and rolls for lunch! Free will donation to Cat Rescue Maritimes.

What’s in the bag?

Hi. Guess what is in the bag! If you have followed my blog for a while, you might guess! Email me at timstims@nbnet.nb.ca with your guess and have a chance to win a copy of my book ‘within easy reach’ (Chapel Street Editions, 2016), all about eating local plants. A random draw from among the correct answers will determine the winner. Postage included! Draw to take place May 25, 2018. After that, I will post a photo of what is in the bag!

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Best wishes!

Jane

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winter wren and the morning bird chorus

This morning, just after sunrise, I listened to the song of the Winter Wren. This little wren and its tiny tail shiver as he sings.  I call his song a scribble-song. Its powerful trills and whistles last for several syllables. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology website All About Birds describes it as “a rich cascade of bubbly notes.” To me it celebrates the busy joyfulness of our Grey Woods in spring. To hear the song of the Winter Wren, go to https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Winter_Wren/overview

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I have listened to the morning bird chorus every day for the last week. This morning I heard:

Black-capped Chick-a-dee

Northern Parula

Winter Wren

Eastern Phoebe

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I often include elements of the morning bird chorus in my poetry.  This poem, written about the Salmon River Covered Bridge, is in my poetry book in the shelter of the covered bridge (Chapel Street Editions, 2017). To obtain a copy of the book, go to Chapel Street Editions or contact me through the comments.

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The Salmon River Bridge, near Sussex, Kings County, was built across the Kennebecasis River in 1908. Today it is used as a rest area. In the absence of traffic, wild life has occupied the bridge. Virginia creeper covers one corner of the roof and rose bushes crowd the edges of the road. In mid-May, when we were there, birds were busy in and around the bridge, preferring to be left to their own springtime activities.

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scribble

Salmon Bridge

Kennebecasis #7.5

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The robin, chary. Her beak drips

with wet meadow grass and chickweed.

She clucks, longs to add another strand

to her nest in the rafters,

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woven with the trill of a scribble bird,

a winter wren delirious. And downy

woodpeckers, wing-flare and scrabble,

flirt in the willows, weeping.

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A warbler (yellow blur-bird)

and a red-wing, toweeeee.

Pink roses, meadowsweet

chip, chip, chip, so-wary-we

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and beneath the bridge

in soft mud beside pulled grass

the bleary track of a black bear

claws and pads

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Published, in the shelter of the covered bridge, Chapel Street Editions, 2017

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All my best,

Jane

five ways to prepare for reading from your work

I love to read aloud and my work as a writer gives me lots of reading opportunities.

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Reading at Westminster Books, Fredericton

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Readings take lots of preparation:

Practice. Stand, read and time your readings. Keeping to the allotted time respects the audience and keeps the reader calm, particularly near the end of the reading. No last minute timing revisions. No being ‘hooked’ off the stage!
Prepare any remarks not in the reading itself. I usually give a little background to my reading and make a few remarks between poems. These words will be delivered more smoothly if they are composed, written down and practiced.
Include a give-away. I sometimes raffle one of my paintings or another associated item during my book launches and readings. Everyone likes bookmarks. Business cards should always be available.
Use props. Once I gave a talk to a group of high school students about career development. I took an old pair of hiking boots with me to talk about my time in the field. The boots make the presentation funny and gave the audience an image to focus on. I often bring my cardboard stand-up aliens when I read from my Meniscus books.
Involve your audience. Always leave time for questions. Consider adding some interactive components to your reading: ask the audience mid-reading questions, pass a book around, include a quick show of hands.

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my stand-up aliens at a New Maryland market

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I have two readings and a book fair in the next weeks:

WordsSpring, WFNB

7 PM, May 11, 2018 (Friday) at Quality Inn & Suites Amsterdam, Quispamsis for WordSpring (Writers Federation of New Brunswick) – I will be reading from my two newest books: Meniscus: One Point Five – Forty Missing Days, and Meniscus: The Village at Themble Hill. Copies of all my books, including ‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’ will be for sale.

Book Launch, Westminster Books

7 PM, May 25, 2018 (Friday) at Westminster Books in Fredericton. I will be launching my book Meniscus: The Village at Themble Hill. Cary Caffrey (a.k.a. Terry Armstrong) will also be reading from his Girls from Alcyone Science Fiction Series. Everyone is welcome!

2018 Metro Moncton Book Festival

I will be selling my books at the 2018 Metro Moncton Book Festival, June 9, 2018 (Saturday), 10 AM to 3 PM at the Moncton Lions Community Centre (473 St. George Street

Moncton, NB).

 

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Reading at The Attic Owl, Moncton

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Plan your readings and your audience will appreciate the time you have taken.

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If you are in the area, please come to one of my readings. I would love to see you there!

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all my best,

Jane

Available now – Meniscus: The Village at Themble Hill

For those who are reading my Meniscus science fiction series, my new book Meniscus: The Village at Themble Hill is now available at Westminster Books in Fredericton and from Amazon, in paperback and Kindle formats here.

I will be launching this new book at Westminster Books on May 25, 2018 at 7:00, so mark your calendars!

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Humans on the planet Meniscus have had it hard. Used as slaves by the Dock-winders and Gel-heads, they live without hope, deprived of family and community. A few Humans have escaped and band together to build the first Human community on the planet. Odymn and the Slain are part of the community of Themble Hill but can they escape interference from the Dock-winders?

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You will enjoy the continuing adventures of Odymn and the Slain, as Odymn tries to recover from a parkour accident and cope with the Slain’s former girlfriend.

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Find out who is lighting a line of purple gettle-shells (the Meniscus version of the Jack-o-lantern) on the heights of The Fault where the Dock-winders can see them!

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For more information and an excerpt from Meniscus: The Village at Themble Hill,  click here.

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Coltsfoot – first flower of spring

Although other flowers quickly follow, the first flower to bloom along our New Brunswick roads is Coltsfoot (Tussilago Farfara L.). Its bright yellow flowers are often mistaken for Dandelion, but Coltsfoot is recognised by a quick check for the leaves … Coltsfoot blooms before its leaves appear.

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The yellow blooms of Tussilago form large patches in waste areas, beside brooks and roads, and on damp hillsides. Its dandelion-like flowers are borne on scaly, leafless stems. Later, the large, woolly leaves appear. Other names for the plant are Son-before-the-Father, which refers to the appearance of flowers before the leaves, and pas-d’âne (literally donkey-steps). The scientific names are from the Latin tussis, meaning a cough and referring to the European use of the plant as a remedy for such ailments, and the Latin word for coltsfoot, farfarus. The plant was named by Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist who established the present day system of naming plants.

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Coltsfoot

Tussilago Farfara L.

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Gold-

splashed beside the road

like prints

of a frisky colt’s feet

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at first glance-

an early dandelion!

but-

too early

stem scaly

no leaves          below the bloom

no perfume.

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Coltsfoot,

Son-before-the-Father

(flowers before the leaves).

Introduced from

far away.

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Old wives say

boiled greens

will ease

a cough.

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Long ago

Tussilago

sprang from where

a burro trod

among the palms

(pas-d’ane).

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Poem published as: ‘Coltsfoot’, Winter 1993, The Antigonish Review 92:76-77.

Copyright 2018 Jane Tims

 

natural treasures – gems from a day in early spring

After a wet spring, we were not certain when we would be able to reach our camp this year. Although the snow is gone, we don’t want to risk getting stuck or damaging our lane.

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just a week ago there was still snow on the road and the ruts we could see were very spongy

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We were so happy when we were able to drive all the way to our cabin door. We did a bit of tidying, put markers at the base of the little cedars we lost in the tall grass last fall and my husband did some clipping of trees over-growing the road.

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I did a small display of two of the treasures we found last year, a big pine cone and a chunk of pinkish stone.  But I can’t display the best treasures of the day:

the back and forth banter of two Barred Owls. This is the big owl who calls ‘Who cooks for you?’
the tremolo of a Common Loon on the lake. The tremolo is one of at least four distinctive vocalisations from this bird. The vibrating ‘who-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo’ is usually a call to warn of intruders or to announce arrival at a lake.
the ‘I love dear Canada, Canada, Canada’ of the White-throated Sparrow or the nasal ‘fee-bee’ of the Eastern Phoebe.

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I love our trips to our cabin and the treasures offered to us by nature every time we visit.

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Hope you are enjoying the spring season.

All my best,

Jane

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meniscus: The Village at Themble Hill

 

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Meniscus: The Village at Themble Hill

by Alexandra Tims

an illustrated long poem

fourth in the Meniscus Series

science fiction – romance – adventure

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Follow the adventures of Odymn and the Slain!

 

 

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Meniscus: The Town at Themble Hill

 

… On the alien planet Meniscus, against all odds, a small group of Humans works to forge a new life together. When a Dock-winder drone pays them a visit, Odymn and the Slain trek along the heights of The Fault, to make certain the community is not in danger of invasion. They find a new way to scale The Fault and a perfect location for building a new village. Matters are complicated when Odymn is injured on a parkour run and the Slain’s former girlfriend joins the group. Faced with a dangerous journey through the Themble Wood and the hardships of building a new community, are the Humans in more danger from themselves, the alien landscape, or their Doc-winder overlords?

 

… In the fourth book of the Meniscus series, The Village at Themble Hill chronicles the first days of community life on a planet where Humans are not allowed to associate and freedom is always at risk.

 

   home is the safest place … so build a home …

 

www.amazon.com/Meniscus-Village-Themble-Alexandra-Tims/dp/1546475982

 

Excerpt

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“What is that sound?”

says Odymn.

Looks north-west.

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Green light creeps

towards zenith,

blinking its way.

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The Slain rolls to standing.

Grabs Odymn’s arm.

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“Hide,”

he says.

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Slips over the limb of banyan.

Pulls Odymn after him.

Covers her with his body.

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Tugs at his armour,

five snaps per side

(its electric current

detectable, trackable).

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The armour detaches.

A grid of inert copper

between them.

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Above, the drone

nudges sideways,

sinks among the trees.

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Odymn holds her breath.

The Slain lays his mouth on hers

but she peeks around him,

wants to see.

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The drone hovers

a minute or more.

It blinks, effortless

on its cushion of air.

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Then it rises.

Swoops

to the north-east.

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The Slain lifts Odymn to her feet.

Finds a path

through banyan,

in the direction of Garth.

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Flawless navigation in dark

and Odymn wonders

what amethyst eyes see

in places where light

does not shine.

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About the Author

Alexandra Tims is a botanist, writer and artist living in rural New Brunswick, Canada. Her first five books in the Meniscus series, Meniscus: Crossing The Churn, Meniscus: One Point Five – Forty Missing Days, Meniscus: South from Sintha, Meniscus: Winter by the Water-climb, and Meniscus: The Village at Themble Hill were published with CreateSpace in 2017 and 2018. She has also published two books of poetry, within easy reach (2106) and in the shelter of the covered bridge (2017), under the name Jane Spavold Tims (both with Chapel Street Editions, Woodstock). In 2016 she won the Alfred G. Bailey Prize in the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick Writing Competition for her manuscript of poems about bird calls. She is a fan of science fiction – books, television and film, including Star Trek, Stargate and Firefly. Her websites feature her drawings, paintings and poetry.

 

www.offplanet.blog

www.janetims.com

 

Other books in the Meniscus Series

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Meniscus: Crossing The Churn

Meniscus: One Point Five – Forty Missing Days

Meniscus: South from Sintha

Meniscus: Winter by the Water-climb

 

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Copyright Jane Tims 2018

 

puddle ducks

This time of year the St. John River is at flood levels and backwaters are good places to see many species of duck.

Last weekend, when the water still had a few shallow grassy places for dabbling, we saw these fellows along the old Trans Canada between Oromocto and Jemseg:

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Wood Duck … notice the long crest at the back of the head …

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American Widgeon … a rosy breast and a white cap on his head …

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Mallards … notice the white ring around his neck and his yellow beak …

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Ring-necked Duck … a terrible photo … note the grey beak with a white ring, vertical white before wing and black back …

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There were also lots of Canada geese and a Blue Heron we scared up from a roadside pond …

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I am not a good photographer but that cannot take away from the thrill of seeing these birds every spring!

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Happy bird watching!

Jane 

 

 

Pileated Woodpecker excavations

The Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) is a common visitor in our yard. The size of the woodpecker and its triangular red crest are impossible to miss. The male also has a red stripe on the side of its face.

There is a big spruce tree in our grey woods where the Pileated Woodpecker loves to visit. The hole in the tree and the pile of woodchips below the hole say this woodpecker has been very busy.  The woodpeckers drill these holes to get insects.

On a drive to see the Smyth Covered Bridge near Hoyt, New Brunswick, we found a roadside tree with evidence of the Pileated Woodpecker’s industry.  The holes are almost a foot in length and deep enough to hide a hand.

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To humans, the best forests may seem to be woods with healthy trees. To provide good habitat for the Pileated Woodpecker, a forest should have lots of dead and fallen trees, to provide food and nesting sites.

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Copyright Jane Tims 2018