Jane Spavold Tims's Blog, page 7

autumn red

We visited our camp yesterday and found a bush of hawthorn, sharp with thorns and red with berries. On the way home, we saw mountain ash, laden with clusters of red berries. And in our driveway are red rose hips and the dark red of the fruit in our crab apple tree. There is a drab side to the fall months, but these bits of colour make me happy.

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All my best,

Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)

a drive along the river

Two weekends ago, my husband and I took a favourite drive along part of the Saint John River in New Brunswick. The Jemseg Ferry Road is a short loop, beginning at the Scovil side of the ferry at Gagetown and continuing along a meandering road to Lower Jemseg. The area is a cluster of bogans, ponds and meadows where we often see osprey and eagles, ducks and turtles. Once, many years ago, we saw a glossy ibis and I added it to my life list of birds.

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On our drive, we were amazed at the blooms of swamp (or giant) sunflower along the river banks. This sunflower has yellow petals (not dark towards the base), lanceolate (long narrow) leaves, alternate leaves, and a magenta stem. Helianthus giganteus, a relative of the cultivated sunflower, is not native but an escape. Crowds of the flowers followed the road and framed almost every view of the river.

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The sun was setting as we drove along and the yellow flowers were all facing the west. This tilting of the flower head to follow the sun is known as heliotropism.

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As you can see from the colour in the trees in the photos, we have only a short time to enjoy these beautiful fall flowers. We drove the same road just yesterday and most of the flower were already gone.

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All my best,

Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)

the rock project continues

My ‘rock project’ has an important personal implication: keeping me physically fit and active. Every day, I try to walk the loop, at least twice. Not a long distance, but it gets me outside, in nature, for some time each day and keeps me ahead of being crippled by my arthritis.

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The ‘rock project’ includes anything that encourages me to walk the loop. Today provides a great example. Today, I walked the loop twice, once to collect some rocks to create a small table-like structure in the woods beside the loop. I used three piles of rock to create the legs of the table and a larger, flat stone to create the table top.

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I have used this table to display two small iron birds.

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Now, when I walk the loop, I will watch for these little metal birds, a small tribute to the real birds I often see on the path or near the bird feeder.

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Small projects like this keep me active and encourage me to walk the loop. Other projects include:

clearing unwanted vegetation from the small iron faerie beside the pathcontinuing to work on the rock wall at the start of the loopplanting mosses and periwinkle on the platform of ‘rockhenge’finding two ceramic ‘mushrooms’ I put into the woods years ago and giving them a new home by the edge of the loop

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Keep walking!

Best regards!

Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)

I’m Buying a New Brunswick Book

In spite of the weather forecast, I plan to be at Dog Eared Books in Oromocto on Saturday, September 16, 2023, to chat about my books and see a few other NB authors. It’s Buy a Book by a New Brunswick Author Day!!!!

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I’ll be focusing on my Kaye Eliot Mystery Series and I’ll have some props! I’ll bring a ‘grinning tun’ from How Her Garden Grew …

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a ‘sundial’ from Something the Sundial Said …

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a piece of granite to represent a grinding stone from Land Between Furrows (no way I’ll lift a real grinding stone although we have one on our front doorstep)…

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and a bit of my own stained glass work to represent the stained glass in Stained Glass…

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I’ll also bring a cover painting or two so I can talk about creating a cover….

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Hope to see you there from 11:00 to 2:30 at Dog Eared Books (281 Restigouche Road in Oromocto). I also hope to see other local authors, including Chuck Bowie and Jordan Trethewey!

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All my best,

Jane

a Kaye Eliot Mystery — number 5 in the series

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The Kaye Eliot Mysteries are cozy, family-based and set in a small fictional community in Nova Scotia. So far, there are four in the series.

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In November, the fifth volume in the series will be released. Pareidolia continues the story of a family who loves solving mysteries together. ‘Pareidolia’ is the tendency to perceive a specific, meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern. Think of ‘the man in the moon.’ In this cozy mystery, Kaye and her family search for images in the marble floor tiles of a century-old country house, now used as a wedding venue.

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The floor tiles are clues to the location of a valuable hidden sculpture. Each tile reveals the next line in a story, told in the black and white patterns in the marble of the tile. If Kaye can find the sculpture, a beautiful wedding venue will be available for Kaye’s friend Clara, free of charge.

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You will love the various rooms in Marshall’s Elegant Weddings, the quirky folks who live in the community of Stone Ridge, and the members of the Eliot family, especially five-year-old Matthew. You may not love Kaye’s plan for her family to spend the entire week of March Break staring at black and white tiles. You may never again look at the floor in the same way.

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a glimpse of the mysterious house featured in the book

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This week, I am working on the book cover painting for Pareidolia. It will show Clara and her husband-to-be, the stone-mason Daniel, sitting in the hall of Marshall’s Elegant Weddings, dreaming of their future together. All around them are the marble floor tiles, some showing clues to the mystery.

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All my best,

Jane

(a.k.a. Alexandra)

the rock project – update

It sometimes takes years to make progress on a project. That has certainly been the case with ‘the rock project,’ begun November 2011 and reported here https://janetims.com/2011/11/13/plans-for-a-rocky-road/

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The original project was to add a circular component to the driveway and to install a few rock features along the way. In part, this was to allow us to avoid backing out to the road in front of our house. It was also meant to give us an interesting walking ‘trail’ as we get older. This was the feature map as it existed in 2011.

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Over the years, we built a rock fireplace and added a concrete bench. And, last summer, we brought in gravel and rock to finish the circular roadway and a rock feature I refer to as ‘rockhenge.’

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‘Rockhenge’ consists of a platform, fronted by six very large rocks and accessed by a stone stair. Eventually it will be planted in periwinkle and moss.

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The roadway allows a pleasant walk in the grey woods.

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Now that the road is done, we have more plans for the rock project.

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This summer, every time we go for a drive, I bring back one or two rocks towards the building of a stone wall along the front of the area where I feed the birds. I also added two small solar-powered lanterns; they shine every night and make the woods less dark.

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The next step in our project has begun, with the creation of a small platform, a flat surface to put another concrete bench. It will be a place to sit and watch the woods and occasional wildlife.

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A future part of the plan will be to build a narrow roadway through the grey woods, to the back of our property.

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Not having to back out of our driveway has made life better and safer for us. The circular drive is also an exercise opportunity — every day I try to find the time to walk the loop. Every evening I watch the little lanterns flicker and shine. I love this place where we have lived now for 43 years. And with the ‘rock project’ ongoing, I love it even more.

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All my best,

Jane

(a.k.a. Alexandra)

exploring the legendary 2

Interesting and different weekend!!! I participated via webcam in The Quest, an effort to gather more information about the Loch Ness Monster. This was a weekend organized by The Loch Ness Centre. To add my bit to the effort, I stayed right at home and observed remotely.

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I watched the webcam at Lochend for 6 hours from 7:00 AM to 1:00 PM Atlantic Time (11:00 AM to 17:00 PM Scotland Time). It was not boring. This was partly because there was a lot to see: people on the opposite shore, birds and flocks of birds, sailing ships, speed boats, and cruisers, and a couple of things I couldn’t identify. I recorded my observations every 1 to 2 minutes and took some screenshots.

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Loch Ness is a long, narrow lake (27 km long) in the Scottish Highlands. The area where I watched is at Lochend, near Caledonia Canal, the northern outlet of the Loch. The webcam panned back and forth, showing the water and land between a long narrow beach to the north and a point of land to the south (near Dores).

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Most of the boat traffic I saw came from or went into the Canal.

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a cruiser begins its voyage into Caledonia Canal

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I quickly found, because the webcam moved on a pivot, I would not see a continuous sequence of events in any one area. For this reason, I divided the viewing area into four sectors (A, B, C, and D) so I could identify the sector where any particular action was occurring.

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The wind was blowing, so the water was choppy and riffled. The water of the Loch is also very reflective, so elements of the shoreline are reflected in the water. All of this means that waves appear long and thin, are constantly moving and appear darker near the shore — easy to make an observer think they have seen a long dark serpent-like monster.

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Some of the things I saw:

birds, individually or in flocks, on the water and in the air…

a large flock of birds on the waterthe flock takes to the air

… ships of various types: sailboats, cruisers, speedboats and canoes…

… and people, in small groups, on the opposite shore, walking, swimming, canoeing, watching…

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I also saw two things I couldn’t identify. One was a dark ripple in the water of Sector B that moved northward for about 9 minutes and then disappeared. Another was a white, stationary blob that only appeared for about a minute, also in Sector B. I made photos of these for the Loch Ness Centre, but didn’t get photos of my own. I submitted these two and I understand I will eventually hear if they were observations of interest. Neither would win any prizes in the ‘looked like Nessie’ category!!!!

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All my best,

Jane

(a.k.a. Alexandra)

exploring the legendary

All my life, I have been interested in legend, and in particular the creatures of legend: the Ogopogo, the Sasquatch, the little folk, the Loch Ness Monster and so on. Perhaps it is my general interest in biology, my writing about science fiction and my love of story. I also know that we humans do not know ‘everything.’ Each day I learn of a new species I have never known about before. Or I hear of the discovery of a new plant or animal. Or I marvel at how strange nature really is.

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For these reasons, when I heard on CBC that there would be a new, concentrated search for the Loch Ness Monster, the first such effort since the 1970s, I thought it would be interesting to participate. The Loch Ness Centre is organizing The Quest for the weekend of August 26 and 27, 2023. The weekend effort will include observations by volunteers at arranged locations along the shore, as well as explorations by drone and underwater devices.

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I am not traveling to Scotland any time soon, but the interview said people could take part remotely via webcam. So, I went to the website and now I am registered to watch Loch Ness for five hours on Sunday.

The Quest

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I will be watching the webcam at Lochend, near the outlet of the Loch. The webcam swings back and forth, so I will get a full view, constantly changing. Watching a bit of water for five hours will present challenges, no doubt, but I will prepare myself for a long haul with water and snacks and lots of enthusiasm. Botanists are used to watching plants grow, so I am looking forward to this new adventure! Here are a couple of views of the area I’ll be watching.

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The participants have had a briefing and a briefing package. This weekend, there is a preparation presentation via Facebook and wrap-up sessions at the end of each day, also via Facebook.

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I will have fun and perhaps I’ll spot something of interest. The organizers tell us to expect to see water craft, floating logs, standing waves, debris, and, yes, perhaps even Nessie!!!!!!

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You can also participate. The organizers have said that latecomers are welcome. Just look at the website above to discover how to join in.

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All my best,

Jane Tims

(a.k.a. Alexandra)

My Table at the Book Fair

On April 22, I’ll be with my books at the

First Annual Greater Moncton/Riverview/Dieppe Independent Book Fair.

Over 35 tables. Lots of local authors. Books, books and more books!

April 22nd. 10am – 4pm. Riverview Lions Club

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I’ll have all my books with me:

The Kaye Eliot Mysteries…

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My poetry books.

The collection a glimpse of water fall was shortlisted for the 2022 New Brunswick Book Awards…

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My science fiction series Meniscus…

the story of building a new Human community on a dystopian alien planet…

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and my new children’s book,

Wink in the Rain...

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Hope to see you there!!!!

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All my best,

Alexandra (a.k.a. Jane)

Wink in the Rain – new story for children

My new children’s book, Wink in the Rain, is now live on Amazon.ca. This is a story about Wink the elf and his search for an umbrella so he won’t get wet in the rain. In the book, you will meet Wink’s friends: a little girl and a red-backed salamander named Ribbon.

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Wink in the Rain teaches children the value of:

perseverance (never giving up), friendship (valuing friends),innovation (finding new uses for things).

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You can find this book at Amazon.ca here. After April 15 it will be at Westminster Books in Fredericton and at Dog Eared Books in Oromocto. I will also sell them at the Moncton Regional Book Fair on April 22, 2023 at the Riverview Lions Community Centre.

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All my Best,

Jane