17 January - Snow Day

 

A system moved in from the Pacific bringing lovely snow to our island. With temperatures hovering around freezing, snow makes a big mess here. Streets are icy and people are unaccustomed to driving in such conditions. Schools were mostly cancelled, and people were encouraged to work from home. 

I always feel like it's a holiday when snow comes. Tim and I went for a long walk around the bog while it snowed. I tried to photograph the Spotted Towhee, and so many of the images included spots of falling snowflakes. 

So much beauty in the snow. Mary Oliver writes these lines about snow falling at night: 

Snow was falling,

so much like stars

filling the dark trees

that one could easily imagine

its reason for being was nothing more 

than prettiness

We noticed a number of branches broken by the weight of the snow. A bit of green moss clung to one, a bit of colour against the black and white landscape. 

Home again to wander around the garden. Snowdrops and hellebores buried by snow. Soft mounds indicate low plants, and everywhere, branches outlined in white. 

Indoors, I made tea and sipped it while looking out the window. A good afternoon for making soup and biscuits. Now, by evening, the snow is already disappearing, shaken off branches, leaving them bare and dark once more. 

16 January - Ducks, Little Girls, Woodpecker

 

On Tuesdays we pick up the little girls from pre-school and bring them home for lunch, naps, and play time. Today we took a turn around the ponds to watch ducks coming in for a landing on the ice (smooth), waddle on the ice (awkward), and gather in the open water spaces. 

They love climbing on rocks, making silly poses, and all sorts of imaginative play. 

One of their most persistent games is Owner/Pet. The pet option varies - today it was tigers, but has been kittens, unicorns, or puppies. They play so well together and make me laugh quietly to myself as I listen to their interactions. I don't want them to ever lose the imaginative way they approach the world, yet I know it is inevitable to some degree. 

Our weather is warming up and another system is moving in tonight that could bring snow, or rain, or freezing rain. One can only wait and see. 

This female Downy Woodpecker is a frequent visitor to our feeding station. I like her elegant outfit and the polka dots on her wing and tail. 

A simple dinner tonight - Beef and Cabbage Skillet, Rice, and a salad, I think. I baked a Banana-Pear Cake while the girls were playing. Then to relax for the evening. 

15 January - Ice

 

The third Monday in January is purported to be the "bluest" day of the year. Today was mostly bright and sunny and a wee bit warmer, making an afternoon walk very pleasant, with no "blue" feelings. I've found that getting outdoors is a good way to boost my mood, if needed. 

There is a low-lying area near us known as Panama Flats. It's a park full of grasses, treed areas, and paths winding in all directions, and some water. When torrential rain falls, the Flats are flooded, protecting the higher ground all around. After our cold snap, the shallow waters are frozen, enabling skaters to twirl and glide at will. We went out early this evening and watched young and not-so-young hockey players, families with gas fire rings, and skaters of all abilities enjoy this rare opportunity. 

My parents bought us skates when we were quite young. When the small lakes surrounding our town were thoroughly frozen we would pack up the car with skates, toques, gloves, and jackets, along with a thermos of something hot and spend a few hours on the ice. It was fun, but I never got the hang of feeling comfortable on the ice. My knees would stiffen up in fear of falling, which, of course, I did a lot of. I much preferred tobogganing down a snowy slope. 

Tonight Tim wished for skates. He was always much better at it than I ever was. The ice was smooth and dark and free of snow - perfect for skating. As darkness fell, I watched the graceful swooping movements of lights across the ice - skaters with their headlamps. Almost, I wished I had my old skates. Almost. 

How do you feel about ice skating? Any memories to share? 

14 January

 

Yesterday's post never happened. It was an unexpectedly busy day with guests staying quite late (a fun dinner party), and I went to bed shortly after tidying the kitchen. I'm a wee bit obsessive about not missing a day in a challenge, so I'm finding myself feeling somewhat rebellious by doing so. 

We've had the coldest temperature recorded in six decades here. Not very cold compared to other places on earth, but -11 Celsius means that gardeners will have lost some plants. Time will tell. The frigid temperatures are moving eastwards now and ours are moderating, although still below freezing. Sunset colours have been vibrant, staining large swaths of sky from orange and red to pink and violet. 

I've been perusing a new to me book, Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life. The book is set out in three parts: Part One is a gardener's biography, Part Two is a year in her gardens, and Part Three is a traveler's guide. I confess to heading straight to Part Two, but will begin at the beginning soon. 

The daffodils I purchased last week are fully open now, and this morning's fleeting sunshine cast strong shadows against the wall. 

Beatrix Potter loved the wild daffodils that grew in the Lake District, but she had many cultivated daffodils in her gardens. She had enough different kinds to have blooms in her flowerbeds for two months. 

Some housekeeping notes:

Thank you for the lovely comments about the photo of my mother and her three younger siblings. To clarify, she is the eldest of 10 children, so six more followed after the photo I showed. 

Also, Anonymous, from Victoria, wrote that she had found a good hairdresser here. Thank you for your kindness. You can email me by going to my profile and clicking on email. However, the day after my disastrous haircut I had another cut at a salon recommended by my daughter, and I'm so very pleased with it. Bad hair can be a bit of a trial. 

I'll conclude with Beatrix Potter's comment on winter - "There has been some lovely weather--to look at." 

12 January - A Bit of This and That

 

It's been a day of pottering about. Laundry this morning, some cleaning. Making soup - broccoli and ham this time. The photo above is from our hike last weekend. I'm certain that water is frozen today. A deep freeze arrived and it's colder here than I can remember, -10 Celsius, which isn't all that cold relative to other parts of Canada. I ran a few errands and found the wind to be the worst part of being outdoors. 

Spending time with a seed catalogue is a good way of ignoring the cold, especially when huddled by the fire with a cup of tea. Seed catalogues are lovely for dreaming, and in those dreams I have all the room I need for all the plants that appeal to me, and of course, they all grow beautifully. If only. 

Up in my sewing room I'm going through my scrap fabrics and cutting them into squares and rectangles. I love making scrappy-style quilts and I'm hopeful that this process will both inspire and keep the scraps under control. I've only begun with the scraps and I expect those piles will be quite tall when I'm finished. 

A photo from 75-80 years ago - my mother with three of her younger sisters. She is in the top right. Sadly, these younger siblings have passed away into heaven before her. Don't these little ones look sweet in their dresses and cute haircuts? 

I wonder about photos in the future. Yes, we all have hundreds or thousands of them in digital form. But will anyone see them? Will they ever be retrieved? What do you think? 

11 January

 

Our snow event has been a non-event. It was fun watching the snowflakes come down for a short while, but they were few and far between. Temperatures are dropping and we'll have a couple of very cold (for our area) sunny days. 

I drove up to Sidney-by-the-Sea today for a haircut. The stylist I loved moved to the mainland and she recommended someone else. I'm not convinced. I came home, wet my hair, and did it my way! 

Before coming home I stopped by the water for a short walk. Chilly wind blew in off the water and the clouds were gathering.

At home a brightly coloured House Finch visited the feeder. Normally, they are not quite such a vibrant red. So pretty. 

Daffodils are field grown in our area for shipping around the province and beyond. I bought a bunch yesterday, tight buds that are opening beautifully. Such a bright cheery flower. 

I'll leave you with a quote by L. M. Montgomery - "It was one of the nights when the storm wind hurtles over the frozen meadows and black hollows." A sentence to make one draw closer to the fire. 

10 January - Sun and Bookshelves

 

This morning's sunshine streaming in through the big window onto the plant table in the living room was a tonic. How bright and beautiful. How energizing. I'll take cold and sunshine over milder temperatures and dark rain any day. Clouds rolled in a bit later, but the day was generally bright. 

Tim completed the work on the kitchen last spring before our long trip, but the end wall, where we planned to put bookshelves, had to wait until December. It's now done and I spent several hours filling the shelves with books and deciding how to place them. They are not organized according to colour, but like authors are together. Mysteries, English authors, cookbooks, non-fiction, etc. 

That wall was always a big blank. We put the fireplace in several years ago and had some furniture alongside, but having these bookcases and cupboards adds such coziness to the room. Now the renovation has moved to the staircase. Fortunately, my live-in contractor cleans everything up at 5 pm so the construction mess is minimal. 

In the photo of the kitchen there is an image on the wall; here is a closer look. It's a print on canvas of the Atlantic Ocean taken from a cliff top in Newfoundland during one of our hikes. A bit of the grass shows in the bottom of the photo. I wanted something with movement and colour, and I like that it's a bit abstract. 

This evening's sunset from my bedroom window. This evening I'll be reading Helen Rebanks "The Farmer's Wife - My Life in Days". 

Tomorrow the temperature is expected to drop dramatically. We may even get snow on Friday. Here's hoping!

9 January - A Look Back to Our Trip - King's Landing, NB

 

Wind howled around the house all night long and throughout today. Ferries were cancelled, 12,000 customers lost electricity, and it was a good day to reflect back on the summer. 

After leaving Quebec, we traveled to the small village of Hartland, New Brunswick, home to the world's longest covered bridge. Built in 1901, it was first used in an emergency. An urgent need for a doctor on the opposite side of the St. John River had the construction crew lay down planks so the doctor could drive across in his horse and buggy. 

The bridge is 1282 feet (390 metres) long. Our visit was on a rainy day and it was nice to walk while protected from the wet. 

Our next stop in New Brunswick was King's Landing, a 300-acre site with over 70 historical buildings moved from various places. The village presents life as it was in the mid-19th century. 

All of the buildings were brought here from somewhere else, and the stories presented in each building are based on the families who once lived and worked in them. 

Costumed re-enactors played their parts well. They cooked, stitched, and worked as they would have done 200 years ago. It was enjoyable to interact with them and learn about the daily lives of people from a variety of walks of life. 

In one home a gardener demonstrated saving seeds. Dried flowers were available for purchase. 

We wandered up and down stairs, through houses, barns, churches, shops, and even a printer's establishment. There we were able to print bookmarks for ourselves. 

Although it was a humid, sticky day, the re-enactors baked bread, made soup, and worked as their predecessors would have. Tim enjoyed seeing the carpenters work with old tools fashioning furniture, repairing windows and doors, and also blacksmithing. 

I always enjoy seeing table settings and pretty china dishes.

This house had a beautiful view over the river. 

Meticulous care was taken in moving the buildings. In case of this stone house, each stone was numbered and removed, then reassembled just as it had been originally. 

What I like most about history is learning about the way people lived daily life. Throughout the centuries, we have always been concerned about shelter and food; only the methods and details have changed. People of the past felt the same emotions we do, and faced many of the same challenges. 

Do you enjoy history? What about it appeals to you?

8 January - A Good Day for Something Warming

 

No snow arrived, but there's been a lot of rain making the day rather dark and dreary. Fires inside, lots of tea, and a delicious bowl of warming chicken and vegetable stew with a hint of Middle Eastern flavour for dinner. It was hearty and warming, just the ticket for a wintry night. A bit of preserved lemon added a bit of zing, but that's easy to leave out should you wish. I've added the recipe to my recipe blog, found by clicking the link above. 

I spent the day mostly indoors, doing some rearranging and organizing. 

Just before Christmas I treated myself to this book - Nature Tales for Winter Nights. I love the art on the cover. The author, Nancy Campbell collected these tales at a time when she "wanted to nestle into the words of others. I would read to travel deep into winter without suffering its dearth." 

The first excerpt is from Anne Frank who wrote on the 24th of December 1943 "Whenever someone comes in from outside, with the wind in their clothes and the cold on their cheeks, I feel like burying my head under the blanket to keep from thinking, 'When will we be allowed to breathe fresh air again?'" She, hidden away for protection, did not have the luxury we have to go in and out as we please. I am very glad that I can go out into the cold and return to warmth. 

Looking at the table of contents, I see other selections from authors I know, such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Susan Fenimore Cooper, Vincent Van Gogh, along with many with whom I am not familiar, but look forward to getting to know. 

7 January - Afternoon Hike

 

Walking is a daily routine for us, but sometimes we want to go a bit further afield. Today we drove a few miles north to John Dean Provincial Park. Although cloudy skies prevailed, no rain fell, and the temperature was perfect for what turned out to be a strenuous 2-plus hour hike. 

My watch informed me that we climbed the equivalent of 92 staircases today, and 12,492 steps. I won't argue with the numbers because I can feel some tiredness in my legs even now, several hours later. 

Large white mushrooms nestled against a fallen log.

The long scars seen on the trees are strips of Yellow Cedar harvested by the First Nations Peoples. They use the bark strips to produce threads, sometimes dyed, for clothing, mats, blankets, and hats. Through long years of experience the First Nations learned how to harvest bark without killing the trees. 

A small ferry that carries a dozen or so cars travels across the Saanich Inlet. 

By 3:30 pm the light was fading, but still glowed on the long stretch of the inlet. On the right side of the photo a few buildings show where Brentwood Bay is, close to Butchart Gardens. 

The evening has been a quiet one; some television, some reading, and a simple supper. We'll sleep well tonight. 

6 January - Books and Hyacinths

 

A pale blue hyacinth is beginning to bloom. It's rather stunted, but fragrant. Behind the flower the string of lights on the patio railing forms lovely bokeh. 

After yesterday's rain, today has been sunny which always makes getting out for a walk more appealing. We passed a group of people doing Tai Chi in the park. Such controlled and graceful movements. 

My current stack of books. Surprisingly, all non-fiction other than Winter Solstice which I've nearly completed. I'll be ready for some good mysteries when I've read through this stack. The Last Secret of the Annex is finished, and I've just skimmed through The Betrayal of Anne Frank as there is much of the same material. I'm reading Israel slowly, a bit at a time, in an effort to gain more understanding of the current conflict. The Last Island is a local book about a biologist's experience on one of the small islands to the north of our large island. 

There are bookshelves in most rooms of the house, and some serious shifting around is going to happen soon. Tim has built in bookcases on either side of the kitchen fireplace and I'll be consolidating books. For the past year or two the shelves seen above have made me smile when I walk by them for they are organized by colour more than anything. Whimsical and fun. I'm sure a librarian would be horrified. 

5 January - Weaknesses

 

Yesterday's sunshine gave way to a steady drizzle today. In spite of that I was out planting garlic cloves. Usually they are planted in the autumn months, but I was late last year, too, and gardening experts around here say it's fine. I wanted to get them tucked in before a cold snap arrives next week. 

One hellebore, Ice and Roses, is blooming profusely. My other two plants, both white, are still tight buds hugging the ground. A little posy of hellebores and candy tuft add life to my kitchen windowsill. 

On another blog I read The Weaver of Grass, Pat asked, "What are your weaknesses? What can you not resist?" I thought it would be fun to ask the same question of my readers. Here are a few things I find hard to resist:

1. Books - I try to borrow as many from the library as possible, but some I like to read and re-read, and so my bookshelves are full. 

2. Potato Chips - aka Crisps in the UK and Europe - An open bag of these is irresistible. I love the crunch and the saltiness. So I try not to purchase them very often.

3. Chocolate - I eat a bit every day, preferably 78% dark. Just a square signals the end of eating after dinner and is most satisfying. Chocolate desserts are my favourites. 

4. Fabric - I am inspired to purchase fabric beyond what I produce with it. This year I have a goal of using up and not purchasing more. We'll see how far I get with it. 

5. Pretty stationery - Note cards and journals (especially journals). And lovely pens and pencils to go along with them. A freshly sharpened pencil is a beautiful thing. 

Now it's your turn. Do tell. 

4 January - Sunshine!

 

To my delight, the sun peeked out for a few hours today. I took a walk through my garden and surprise - snowdrops are blooming. My neighbour has a large patch of them beside the road and I'd like to ask her if I could transplant some to increase my paltry clump. I've read that you are supposed to divide them "in the green" right after they've flowered. 

Raindrops hung on rosehips which are fat and red this year. 

I went for a walk with my eldest daughter and her daughter while the sun shone and the wind blew. It really felt like spring. However, there are rumours of a cool down to more normal temperatures and perhaps even some snow. I'd love that! 

Meanwhile, green is the colour of the day, from bright moss to lawns that look better than they ever do in the heat of summer to the weeds that are growing in my vegetables beds. 

I've been reading about bitterly cold temperatures in Scandinavia and lots of rain and wind in the UK and Europe. Whatever the weather, I hope you are warm and cozy. 

3 January 2024

 

Five energetic grandchildren arrived at 9:30 this morning. Although the eldest is 10 years older than the youngest, the cousins all do well together. First up was a craft that the younger two could get involved in - rocking paper birds. Everyone coloured and glued and cut, resulting in a small flock of unique birds. 

A walk to the playground was next. The youngest is beginning to realize that she can't keep up with the others no matter how hard she tries. "I'm coming!" is an oft-repeated refrain. These four girls and one boy are such delights. On the way home the older ones climbed a tree to "escape" from the younger ones who were fierce tigers racing after gazelles. 

After lunch the two little ones went home and the elder three made dioramas, at their request. The dining room table was awash with all sorts of bits and pieces to add to their creations - I'm happy for them to use up whatever I have on hand. 

After a movie and pizza supper, they left and I collapsed on the couch. Whew! A fun day is exhausting. I'll spend the rest of the evening reading and sipping tea. I'll sleep well tonight!