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Snowy Speculations

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If I could paint, I would have tried to replicate the landscape very early this morning. Illuminated by the faintest hints of light and hours before sunrise, the cold, stark landscape lay completely still in its snowy blanket. Naked trees stood proudly and quietly against this backdrop, this palate of pure white an unforgiving place for any creature, big or small, to attempt to cross without drawing attention to its existence at this time. Even our ancient tire swing looked sleepy and droopy, suspended precariously close to the ground, as if the effort of hanging from a tree limb was too much for it. To the east, the only rays of light visible were the ones coming from the across the river, and even those seem hushed and muffled, like a child tired and murmuring not to wake them up just yet.  The young families down the road have gone all out with Christmas lights this year. Bright colours adorn the night skies and my neighbours even have a Christmas Cat and a Christmas Dinosaur th...
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Hawks and Owls and Ice Rinks, Oh My!

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Hawks and Owls and Ice Rinks, Oh My! I often talk about our youngest daughter, who is a senior skater at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Skating Club. With the lockdown and closing of the local arenas, she found herself unable to skate for the first time in twelve years. So my husband decided to make a rink the old-fashioned way, without a plastic base or boards. This is risky as Niagara-on-the-Lake generally enjoys milder winters compared to surrounding cities because of our proximity to Lake Ontario which regulates our temperatures. Nevertheless he was determined. And so it began.  After compacting the snow into a rink formation, he spent the next several weeks getting up every few hours and flooding. After coming home from full days at work, he would rush out before the last of the daylight disappeared and flood until his hands froze, come in, and then do it again. Two red spotlights left over from Christmas illuminated his shape every night as he lugged the hose outside to the rink, on...
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The S.S. Willy

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                                                                                  The S.S. Willy   I frequently pass by  Four Mile Creek and this week, as I looked out over the grey water, I was thrown down memory lane for a few moments.  The creek and ravine were our backyard when we were growing up. We literally spent hours stomping through the marshy undergrowth, splashing around in the creek and the pond that formed close to the embankment. Every spring, after days of torrential rains, the creek levels would rise and spill over the banks. After the waters receded, we kids would go hunt to see what treasures had been left behind. The usual tangled fishing lines would be wrapped around tree trunks and rogue branches like spi...
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Christmas in the Country

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  Christmas in the Country In these times of uncertainty, I am reminded more than ever that our mental health can be reflected and improved by what surrounds us. This year, more than any other year that I can remember, everything that we hold dear has been questioned and life as we know it has been brought to a grinding halt. As I woke up to that dusting of snow last week and the world was covered in an undisturbed radiant splendor, I was reminded again of why our family chose to live in a rural setting. Before the dogs were let out to start the day, I took a few minutes to admire the pillowy tops of the snow on the trees and the vast expanse of fields and vineyards, quiet and serene on that cold, winter's morning. Later that day I spent some time cutting wild grapevines for some rustic Christmas decor and as I was listening to the quiet around me and feeling the warmth of the sunlight on my face, I felt a sense of peace. The occasional crack of a twig breaking in the forest as my ...
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Starling Clouds- Nature's Shape-Shifters

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  Since we moved into this home in the fall, one of the earliest memories here is of opening the back breezeway door to the loudest chorus of birds I have ever heard. It was like a swarm of thousands of bees, but at less of a buzzing sound and of the most pleasing tone and pitch I have ever heard. My father-in-law was helping us out with some renovations at the time and was just coming out of the house. So I stopped him and beckoned him to listen to the music coming from the back of the house. This was before he got his hearing aids and sadly he could not even hear one chirp! The birds noticed our presence and in an exodus accompanied by the rushing of hundreds of wings that sounded like one loud whisper, they rose simultaneously and with a whoosh were gone. Since we are in the throes of fall again and winter is approaching rather quickly, I have been conscious of our bird choruses many times over the last few weeks. They will swarm a cluster of trees and have their little chat wi...
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Doe, a Deer...

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 Living in a rural setting is relatively quiet and serene. Granted, the tourist traffic picks up for most of the warmer seasons. But now that the temperature is dropping continuously and the brilliant array of reds and oranges on the escarpment is gradually diminishing, our road has become significantly quieter. When our home was a pottery studio years before we came along, the owner also rented out a few rooms for Bed and Breakfast. When we purchased it, a little note remained in one of the rooms referring to our little house as The Potter's Cottage . Although we have changed the facade and the gardens significantly, I still feel as though I am puttering around in a cottage some days and life here is sometimes cottage-like. I often mention the wildlife and the surrounding vineyards as I sit in my office looking out the window and my deep appreciation is evident in my thoughts that I put on paper. But this morning brought a different aspect of wildlife to light.  It was late m...
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Thanksgiving Dining

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We are celebrating our eleventh Thanksgiving at our home today. We moved in late October in 2009. At that time, there was no access to the east side of the house where most of the property is although we changed that shortly after we moved in by taking out some windows and installing a sliding door and deck. It offers some of my favourite views - the escarpment in the distance, views of the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge and the serenity of endless vineyards dotted by the occassional home or barn. What's not to like? I have always loved paging through magazines or watching shows where they feature outside dining spaces across the world. They can be simple little cafe tables or long elegant rows clad in formal white table cloths featuring the most beautiful dishes and glassware! That type of setting speaks to me and I love arranging something similar for our dinner guests when the weather permits. A few years ago, my mother was off on holiday in Germany and my father was by himself for T...
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Moth in the Bed Sheets

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Growing up in a family of six kids, my mother would hang laundry out to dry as often as she could. This was of course a way to use less energy and save on utility bills with a large family. I remember bringing in towels that were so hard and crisp that they scraped your skin as you dried yourself on their abrasive texture. My brothers' jeans stood up on their own retaining the stiffness of human legs and the trademark indentation where the clothespins had secured them in place on the line. Our generation uses the dryer for convenience and ease. Out of the washer and into the dryer. Easy peasy! When we moved to our rural property, I insisted that I wanted a clothesline. My husband, who does nothing halfway, had custom metal posts made at his work that were approximately 20 feet high. These were cemented into the ground and a 75 foot clothesline was erected.  But that was not all. He built a platform for me to reach the line complete with stairs and railings on either side and a ...
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