Jane Spavold Tims's Blog, page 6

drear November: feeding the birds… and other wildlife!

Every winter, we feed the birds. I have records going back to 2011 and I have photos of birds visiting the feeder for many years before. I notice that I get chickadees, nuthatches and bluejays when I feed with only sunflower seeds. I also get finches, grosbeaks, sparrows and juncos when I feed with a mixed seed variety. Both grey and red squirrels visit our feeder. And a white-tailed deer.

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Last week we bought a new feeder, so I could have both sunflower seeds and the mixed seeds at the same time. I filled both feeders when we arrived home, later in the afternoon. The next morning, not a seed in either feeder. By the tracks all around, I know a deer cleaned out both.

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I don’t mind feeding a bit to the squirrel and deer. But not the whole lot! So this morning, I altered my tactics. I put the mixed seed feeder on a hook off our deck, so high the deer can’t reach it. The sunflower seed feeder can stay in its place, but after this I will only put a quarter of the usual feed there. That way, the birds can get feed during the day and the deer can nibble on left-overs without ruining my budget. The squirrel will be able to reach the feeder on the deck, but I will lure him away with peanuts.

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Do you feed the birds, and do you have any strategies for making certain the squirrels and deer don’t get there first?

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All my best,

Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)

drear November: Project #4 – writing and finishing a mystery story

As you may know, I have finished the final draft of my Kaye Eliot Mystery, Pareidolia. It is now available on Amazon.ca — just click here.

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Pareidolia began as a search for an unusual way people from the past could communicate with people of the present. Each of the Kaye Eliot Mysteries has looked at one of these cross-time communication methods:

How Her Garden GrewlettersSomething the Sundial SaiddiaryLand Between the FurrowspostcardsStained Glassstained glassPareidolia?

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Every day I stare at the tiles in my kitchen and wonder at the images I see. One tile fascinated me in particular. I could see faces, and also horses and dogs, depending on the angle I considered. This made me think that a story or puzzle could be built into the tiles of a building and the idea for Pareidolia was born.

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Have a look at the tile above. Do you see a Siamese fighting fish? a horse’s head viewed from above, a dog, a scary skull with teeth? What do you see in the circle, bottom left? …..

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When I published the book, I wanted some of these tile-images to appear in the book. So as the Eliot family searches for the story in the clues, I show some drawings of some of the images I have seen.

As I say in the Acknowledgements for the book, ‘

‘…the strange little drawings I use to illustrate this book are of the creatures and faces I have seen in those tiles. Please do not think of them as poorly rendered drawings, but as the miraculous drawings of geological processes.’

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Have a look at tiles you see and find a few images of your own. A great activity as you wait for an elevator!

All my best!

Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)

drear November: Project #3 – preparing a new trail

A week ago, my husband gave me this year’s Christmas present – a new length of trail for us to walk. He flagged some trees to open up an old trail in our grey woods. Then he hired some local men to fell the trees, cut them in four foot lengths, and set them to the side of the trail. Today he was out with the tractor, taking out some of the high spots.

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Last weekend, he took me for a walk to scope out the new walkway. It’s still very rough but you can see the final trail if you use your imagination. Over the winter and next spring, he will clear the stray branches, smooth the bumps, and fill the hollows. The trail is 750 steps from beginning to end. It loops the back half of our acre lot and extends to an old road on the property behind us which we also own..

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One of my favourite parts of the trail is a small clearing I visited with my Mom years ago. She found Ghost Pipe, also called Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora), growing there. This is an odd plant that does not contain chlorophyll. It is white in colour and the flower has between 3 and 8 waxy white petals. The flower occurs, as the name suggests, at the top of a stem bent like a pipe. Mom loved her find so much, she put a ring of shingles around the plants to protect them from trampling.

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In later years I have visited the site regularly although I have never seen the Ghost Pipes again. A few years ago, I put an iron bird feeder there on the surface of a big hardwood tree. The feeder has the image of Saint Francis of Assisi.

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I think of this little grove as ‘Mom’s Park.’ My mom has been gone more than 20 years but her love of plants, and her aim to protect them, is with me every day.

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I have written about Mom’s Park in the past ( here ) and repeat the poem I wrote for that post here:

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ghost pipe

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in grey woods

Saint Francis

cast in iron

watches wild

life pass by

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red squirrel

ceaseless jitter

white-tailed deer

pauses, listens

a chipmunk

runs the log

fallen tree

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time also

passes by

Aralia

and bracken

replace white

ghost pipe, once

grew here, all

nature a mirror

of our lives

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When the path is more defined, I will put a small bench in Mom’s Park where I can sit and enjoy our grey woods.

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With this post, I will thank my husband for such a thoughtful gift. These days, walking in our woods is synonymous with keeping up my health. But our grey woods will always be my favourite place to meet with nature.

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All my best,

Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra )

a new cosy mystery

The next book in the Kaye Eliot Mystery Series is out! In Pareidolia, Kaye Eliot and her family find another mystery to solve, in the form of messages from the past. A famous 19th century artist has hidden a mystery in the marble tiles of his home. With a single clue beginning ‘Once upon a time,’ the artist has hidden a valuable statue in the house.

Pareidolia is the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern. For example – the man in the moon.

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When Kaye and her friend Clara are searching for a venue for Clara’s upcoming wedding, they stumble on a century-old mystery. If Kaye can find all the clues and solve the mystery in a single week, Clara’s wedding reception will be free of charge! A powerful motivation for Kaye and her friends.

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As always, I include maps to use to follow along as the mystery unfolds.

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The book is now available from Amazon here. I will have books available at Dog Eared Books in Oromocto at the Fair on December 2, 2023.

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On these cold days, I know you would enjoy this mystery!

All my best,

Jane (a..k.a.Alexandra)

drear November: Project #2 – a small quilt

When I visited my mother-in-law during her last year, I started a small project with her. As I sat and talked with her, we worked at a lap-sized quilt for her granddaughter, my husband’s niece.

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She could not do much of the work but she chose the fabrics from a selection and showed me how to organize the patches. I sewed them together as we talked.

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When she was younger, she loved to quilt with her neighbour friends and sister-in-law. My husband remembers a big quilting frame set up in the living room and the ladies drinking tea and sewing. When my father-in-law died, I helped my mother-in-law set up a smaller frame in her living room and visited her during my lunch hours to quilt … we made a huge quilt with green and amber autumn leaves. I learned a lot about quilt-making from her.

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The quilt we made for my niece was simple, made of squares of two patterns:

one is of violets in shades of blue, with green stems and leaves and interwoven silver;one is of tiny yellow roses on a background of vines and leaves.

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For the backing, we chose a bright floral print, showing pink and red flowers with green leaves.

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Now, many years later, I have decided to finish what we began. For the binding, I have chosen and ordered a pretty pattern of green leaves from Spoonflower. The greens will match both top and underside of the quilt.

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During November, I will finish sewing and binding the quilt. Instead of setting up a quilting frame, I will do the quilting with the fabric stretched across a large wooden hoop.

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This will be an enjoyable and warming project during the dark evenings of November. When I am finished, I will mail the quilt to our niece, along with the story of how her grandmother helped with the quilt.

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Are you doing a project to ‘warm’ the November evenings?

All my best,

Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)

drear November: Project #1 – emergency supplies

In November, one of my projects has been to establish an equipped emergency shelf for our home. We always keep supplies on hand in case of a power outage, but I want to bring those things together so a last minute scramble is not needed.

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Canada’s ‘get prepared kit’ recommends the following items:(https://www.getprepared.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/yprprdnssgd/index-en.aspx )

Water — two litres of water per person per day (include small bottles) Food such as canned food, energy bars and dried foods (replace once a year) Manual can openerWind-up or battery-powered flashlight (and extra batteries)Wind-up or battery-powered radio (and extra batteries) First aid kit Extra keys for your car and house Cash, travellers’ cheques and change Important family documents such as identification, insurance and bank records An emergency plan – include a copy in your kit as well as contact information

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I recently purchased our safety shelf for another purpose, but when I brought it home, I knew it was perfect for our emergency supplies. On the safety shelf we have:

bottles of water, for washing and other uses; we always have water for drinking on handcandles ( I have so many candles, having light during a power outage is never an issue)matches (to light candles and the wood stove)a ‘go-bag’ – packed with flagging tape, compasses (I have eight compasses of various types due to my work life in the woods), more candles and matches, a flashlight, paper and pencils, a small first aid kit, extra keys, and a manual can openera box of extra food: canned beans, trail mix, energy bars, raisins, canned fruit, canned soupa fire retardant blanket for putting out small fires quicklyan emergency plan

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Our Emergency Shelf — edited because you don’t want to see our back door or our recycling bin (the top will be a surface for emergency groceries)

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Our ‘go-bag’ has been around many years and began as a safe-in-the-woods kit for our son. We spent many hours at our home and cabin in or near the woods, and the ‘go-bag’ includes instructions for my son if he was ever lost in the woods. All these years later, it is a precious keep-sake, but still useful in its wisdom.

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Our emergency plan is simple:

our addressour home and cell phone numbersa list of phone numbers for other family membersthe location of our shelf of emergency supplies (!)a place designated as a meeting place if there is ever a firethe duty to check and replenish supplies once per year in November!

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We have personal experience with emergencies, most memorably in the guise of Hurricane Aurthur, in 2014. We have a small generator that kept our refrigerator and television going. The storm put the power out for seven days and our biggest help was from the Oromocto Fire Department. The firefighters supplied us with water for our containers and cases of drinking water. I will be grateful to them forever.

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our back deck, during Hurricane Aurthur

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Now that our emergency shelf is prepared, my main fear, of having to scramble and find our various supplies, is over.

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Do you have the needed supplies in case of an emergency? And are they organized in a way you can find them quickly?

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All my best!

Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)

welcome, drear November

November is here. Not my favourite month, but a month I try to face with planning and determination.

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Why the word ‘drear’ for November? After the colours of October, November seems a month of blacks, whites and greys. Snow has already fallen here in New Brunswick (we had 10 cm on October 30). The days and evenings are colder. The trees are mostly bare trunks and branches. The days are shorter and lower exposures to sunshine encourage the doldrums.

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But November has some fine characteristics. The oaks and beech trees cling to their leaves, creating slashes of orange and copper on the landscape. The month begins this year with a gibbous moon, waning from the full Hunter Moon of October, so clear nights will be bright, at least for a week. The crisper drier air invites deep breaths as I walk the loop of our driveway. And cooler evenings invite warmer activities like quilting and embroidery.

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We have a few plans which will improve our lives:

We are planning to add another loop to our driveway trail and are having some dead and encroaching trees removed so we can walk more easily.I am working on a special shelf in our house to be an emergency station, in case we have winter power outages and flooding. It will be a place for storing water, candles and other things we might need in an emergency.I want to complete a small quilt I began years ago with my mother-in-law. When it is completed, I will send it to my husband’s niece as a memento of her grandmother.Reading is always on my list of things to do and this year I have a new way of recording the books I read. Emily Arsenault at Dog Eared Books in Oromocto, New Brunswick has created ‘The Book Lover’s Journal’ with space for listing books read and making comments on the reading experience. ( https://www.dogearedbooks.ca/ )As you may know, I am working to complete ‘Pareidolia,’ the fifth book in the Kaye Eliot Mystery Series, to be available by the end of November.

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I am a planner by nature and by training, but I think having a plan at the first of any month helps it to progress more smoothly. Items not completed become the plans for a later month. And accomplishments feel so rewarding.

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In the next posts, I will talk about each of the plans mentioned above and give you an idea of my progress through ‘drear’ November.

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All my best,

Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)

Happy Halloween

October 31 is approaching and already houses are decorated for Halloween. Ghosts, imitation cemeteries, carved pumpkins and various ghouls decorate the houses in our area. The decoration I like the best is in Harvey, a community not far from where we live. Almost every year a circle of dancing ghosts appears, around an old apple tree, in a mowed field. Every year we drive to see them dancing.

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When I was a kid, most people did not decorate for Halloween although carving a pumpkin with a funny face was part of the fun. Halloween meant dressing up and filling a pillow case with goodies from a visit to neighbouring homes. Afterwards, we would sort the treats into groups and I would stow the pillowcase in my closet so I would have treats for many days to come. The last time I went out trick-or-treating was in Grade Twelve!!!!

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Happy Halloween!

All my best!

Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)

‘outside-in’

In the last few days, I was at the home of a friend and recognized a painting on her wall. I painted it years ago, in 2015, in a still life phase of my art. The things included in the painting were possessions I love and still have, mostly depictions of items normally found outside: a marble egg, a book of wild plant identification, two statuettes of mushrooms from my collection, a seashell from my Dad’s collection, a chunk of amethyst, a special fern-embossed candle holder and candle I keep on our mantle, red berries from our berry bush, and in the background, the fern curtains from our living room.

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 ‘Outside-In #3 – Far from the Sea’ September 17, 2015 (24″ X 20″, acrylic, gallery edges) by Jane Tims

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I looked up the others I had done in the series, all still life. No. 2 was a painting of the stained glass window in our house (I can see it from where I am sitting). Included in the still life are my hollow silver bird, my large glass jar, filled with potpourri, and a stack of plant identification books. The pine cones in the painting are from our yard … every year this time the big pine releases its cones in tight, sticky packages. After they sit in the sun a few days, they dry and open, releasing their seeds.

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‘Outside-In #2’ May 14, 2015 (24″ X 20″, acrylic, gallery edges) by Jane Tims

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The first in the series was called ‘Outside-in’ and depicted the large green resin dragon I keep among my indoor plants. It also shows my moss garden inside its glass cloche. I makes me sad to see the vines of my Mom’s lipstick plant which died a few years ago.

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‘Outside-In’ February 12, 2015 (24″ X 20″, acrylic, gallery edges) by Jane Tims

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In these days of de-cluttering and getting rid of things, I am glad to still have all the items in the paintings (except the vine). However, the paintings themselves are no longer with me, sold in Isaac Way’s Art Auction in Fredericton. Who purchased them? I only know the whereabouts of the one in the home of my friend.

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Perhaps I will be inspire to do a 4th painting in the still life series, depicting some of the other things I love. We will see.

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All my best,

Jane (a.k.a.) Alexandra

new Kaye Eliot Mystery, coming soon

I have spent the last week doing the final edits on my next Kaye Eliot Mystery. The name of this one will be ‘Pareidolia,’ meaning the tendency of people to see specific, meaningful images in random visual arrangements. Those who see a ‘man in the moon’ will know what I mean.

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In this book, the Eliot family will tackle another rural mystery, this time in a huge old house and its marble floors – marble floors with images embedded for those who look closely … a story told in ‘pareidolia.’

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a glimpse of the River Room in ‘Marshall’s Elegant Weddings’

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The book and the mystery occur around the planning for Clara and Daniel’s upcoming wedding. Clara and Daniel, the stonemason, are Kaye’s friends and will be known to readers of the Kaye Eliot series.

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studying the tiles

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The image for the cover of the book is completed, an acrylic painting that shows some of the scenes within the old house – a house being used as a venue for weddings and anniversaries. The marble tiles are also featured in the cover image. Only a rectangular area of the painting will be featured on the book cover.

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painting for the cover of Pareidolia (can you see faces in some of the tiles?)

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The book will be available in late November 2023. This is the fifth book in the series. Come roam with Kaye and her family in rural Nova Scotia and enjoy the antics of the Eliot kids and their friends.

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The other books in the series are:

How Her Garden Grew

Something the Sundial Said

Land Between the Furrows

Stained Glass

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Looking forward to sharing this mystery story with you!

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All my best,

Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)