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Wishing you a good year. It’s hard to believe the first month of the new year is old enough that it will be time to read the hydro meter tomorrow. How does time manage to get by us so fast? It arrived in a day, on the first of November to be precise. In all, we have had two major snowfalls, ample to provide ideal winter sports conditions. Problems have arisen when the thermometer has spiked, giving day-time highs of as much as 6° Celsius. The keeper of the ski trails has, nonetheless, managed to maintain fabulous conditions over at Shannondale Trails. Reports from skiers are invariably so complimentary that we are concerned that Dave’s now-swelled head is in danger of exploding. |
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Days are lengthening. The yard light went on this evening at 5:30. At the last check, it was 5:10. The brilliance of a sunny day, with blue skies and the white ground, make me happy to be a Manitoba resident. And here’s a good reversal for you. A neighbour was so excited to get back from his family holiday down south) that he was emailing to find out the local ski conditions.
Here’s to new beginnings, to recharged energy, to looking at life’s challenges from new angles – and here’s to YOU – happiness, success, in your endeavours in 2010.
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Autumn 2009
After a summer of unfailing splendour, the yellow daisies have finally bleached out. Seed-laden poppy skeletons drift on the wind. Even after cutting, the lawn soon resumes its preferred comfy attire of yellowing leaves.
A growing number of plants sit lined up on the grass, topped and root-bundled, awaiting relocation in the garden. Several packs of bulbs are sitting on the hoozier counter in the kitchen, likewise waiting. The tractor is still hitched to the mower. Any idea of further haying is wishful thinking at this point and other chores are waiting the Bobcat’s services.
Most of the tomato plants were pulled today; the still green ones are headed for the basement and a thick bed of newspaper; the ripe ones will shortly be going into the roaster for a third batch of spaghetti sauce. Is there still a chance of some plus ten days, to finish painting the two outbuildings started in June?
Apples everywhere, on the verandah in pails, in the small trailer in the barn for horse treats, filling one of the ten gallon crocks, a well-started rosé wine. Surplus produce, that didn’t grow in my garden, to pick up from kind neighbours (Please bring your own containers).
Noiro, the pipe-line pup
The lawn furniture on the deck sits empty, a silent reminder of summer that was. The long- term summer camper has broken camp and departed, leaving behind tangibles of good times shared, including one Border collie pup. Time to move from the unheated cottage into a house bedroom. Jacket on for yard work, plus the heavier leather gloves. There should be enough hay and straw in the barn now for the equines’ winter needs. The other long-term B&Ber remains, and a smattering of overnight guests continues.
Much house cleaning to do, a challenge when the doggies napping and the grey weather pull me to also down-gear, take a break and curl up with a good book. The woodstove has been called back into service. The smell of wood smoke hangs in the yard. Soon, there will be trips to the bush of generous friends, to stock up, mostly on deadfalls, before the snow renders that chore too difficult.
A lovely season, fall, with the evidence of Nature’s provision everywhere. And, if one can just keep pace with the current jobs at hand, the promise of the long winter’s sleep, somewhere not too far down the road.
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July 2009
Happy Birthday Canada, and Jin Bin and Kathryn.
Finally, days of lovely summer weather. The yard is beautiful with all the perennials in blooming mode, the house comfortable, windows frequently left open to enjoy the breeze. AC has only been resorted to a couple of days so far.
Birdsong everywhere and at all times of the day. As well, lots of hungry peeping in the bushes around the house. Busy parents flitting back and forth, attempting to keep up with their children’s voracious appetites. This morning a parent was teaching its youngster how to take a bath on a rock in the water garden, with a treat ready when the child got its feathers properly soaked.
Two lovely babies crossed my path recently. One had such a tiny-limbed velvety little body, with long silky brown ears its largest feature, extending down to the little white chest. When it’s play-time, they fly in all directions, as do the minuscule bouncing legs. Bleating is reserved for calls to Mum, when the distance apart becomes too great…… As for number two, Max and I were formally introduced under the yard-light. He was on his way to his new life and quite sleepy, as the hour was late on a tumultuous day in his young life. He managed several good licks to my face and neck, then cuddled into my jacket. Coat is nearly all black, with ears that are still floppy, a bit of gold in evidence on oversize paws and chest. Small resemblance as yet to the future guardian of the homestead down in the valley.
The excitement of looking, for days , and finally seeing, long-awaited seedlings break through the soil surface. Visions of a mature something beautiful to look at or delicious to eat.
Morning coffee in the sunroom. Sounds of the breeze moving amongst all shades of greenery. The loveliness of it all. This is my cottage at the lake, my mountain retreat.
Did the past dreary months really happen?
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April 2009 in Manitoba
| It’s April, the grungiest month of the year. The sun is deceptively warm, the wind frequently glacial. Impressive snow dunes hold out in several unhandy spots in the yard. The horses have mostly haired out. Cats have relinquished the winter security of their nests in the barn, for the hope of treats and sun-bathing on a cushion on the deck. |  |
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Sightings at the feeders have recently included a flock of beautiful purple finches and a few big sparrows, as well as all the winter regulars – jays, siskins, redpolls, juncos, hairys and downys, nuthatches, the big bad magpies and, of course, the chickadees. This morning, doing chores, I heard the old blood-stirring call for the first time, but never did catch sight of a few geese as they passed over the barn. On the weekend, a flock of red-winged blackbirds started up out of the neighbour’s woods as the car went by. And so many crows, up high, announcing in their raucous way that they’re back in circulation.
Concerns this time of year shift to overland flooding and keeping basements dry. As the snow disappears, preoccupations of last year are once again revealed – weed patches requiring attention, fences over-due for upgrading, outbuildings in need of shingles or paint. Must hurry up and finish those inside winter jobs, to be ready for the CALL OF THE GREAT OUTDOORS. We did finish the new duvet cover and four pillows to match. The kitchen make-over is about done. Can we also manage to get a new coat of paint on the sunroom, in something livelier than the current, aged and washed-out beige?
And speaking of the sunroom, it’s starting to look like a greenhouse in there. I wonder if I was premature in planting those wonderful one hundred day squash? They are shortly going to require a trellis. The peppers, tomatoes and herb seedlings are all doing well. And no complaints as yet from the sunroom’s full-time residents.
The woodpile is pretty low now, which coincides with my current level of enthusiasm to keep the woodstove perking.
Yes, it’s definitely the dirtiest month of the year. Attest to dried grey doggie prints on vinyl floors. Or, the current indeterminate colour of the car. Or, the appearance of the horses after a (groan) roll. But there’s also a thrilling sense of SOMETHING HAPPENING. New babies arriving, The Earth thawing, warming, germinating. New energy. And, one evening soon, I’ll be busy unawares at some job, and suddenly realize what’s different. - “They’re back!” - The frogs will once again have started up their spring song down in the west pasture wetland.
