Thursday, January 18, 2024

Snow and home again.




"No wiser now 
Than the spellbound child
who first beheld beguiled, 
Long seventy years ago
Enchanted snow."

                                               Enchanted Snow 
                                          Melville Cane


After mentioning that there was little snow, it snowed on Jan. 5th, the day before we were heading back to Calgary.






Then winter arrived with a vengeance. I sent this email to my family on Jan. 12th.

"We are okay. We had to go out for a minor medical errand this afternoon. The temp registered outside the cab, we made no attempt to start the car, was -35. That was not the wind chill. I did do a bit on the walk this morning and I said to Helen it was about as cold as I could ever remember. Nina and Whateley are only out for a minute or so but sometimes Nina limps in and has to be carried up the steps from the landing."


But it is supposed to warm up on the weekend.

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

It has been a long time since we had a cow day.

 


I believe this unusually coloured cow is referred to as Mousey, but I find it is best not to get attached. 


Golden

Golden lay light upon the sill

after lunch, after school.

Day lingers slowly, a patch of light,

time pursues day retreats

but the moving trail is still new

and I wonder at the golden pool.

The window still speaks of sun

after night after years, decades of time

I see that golden time, still.


Guy

One of my older poems.


Tuesday, January 2, 2024

We are getting a few flakes at present, these photos show how much snow we had last January.




"White are the far-off plains, and white
The fading forests grow;
The wind dies out along the height,
And denser still the snow,
A gathering weight on roof and tree,
Falls down scarce audibly."

from Snow, by Archibald Lampman

Monday, January 1, 2024

Last night we had a lovely supper and visit with family

 


“Above us, stars. Beneath us, constellations.
Five billion miles away, a galaxy dies
like a snowflake falling on water. Below us,
some farmer, feeling the chill of that distant death,
snaps on his yard light, drawing his sheds and barn
back into the little system of his care.
All night, the cities, like shimmering novas,
tug with bright streets at lonely lights like his.”

Sunday, December 31, 2023

After all, time is not money. It is an opportunity to live before you die. Donald Culross Peattie

 


On the nine hour drive from Calgary to Central Saskatchewan on Dec. 29th we saw almost no snow. The fields were mostly bare the entire way. Given that we had watering restrictions right up to Nov. in Calgary and only two small snowfalls in Calgary from mid Oct to Christmas it has been an incredibly dry fall and winter. The bit snow at the farm is way below average and the temperatures unseasonably warm.


 

The pages above are from A Book Of Hours by Donald Culross Peattie, 

Decorations by Land Ward, 1937. The book was a Christmas gift from my brother. 

Saturday, December 30, 2023

At the farm Christmas 2023

                                                     


"When the great wind comes
and the robberies of the rain
you stand on the corner shivering.
The people who go by—
you wonder at their calm.

They miss the whisper that runs
any day in your mind,
“Who are you really, wanderer?”—
and the answer you have to give
no matter how dark and cold
the world around you is:
“Maybe I’m a king.”"

from A Story That Could Be True
by William Stafford



Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Willow Two passed Nov. 20

 


We lost the farm dog Willow Two in Nov. Although unrelated, she looked
a lot like the original Willow shown in the blog banner. She was the sweetest 
of dogs and beloved by the whole family. She has a friend to foxes and a
terror to snakes. She liked to excavate a hole  at the bottom of the side 
steps to use for naps. And she loved snacks.


She was a good dog.

"Because of the dog's joyfulness, our own is increased. It is no small gift.
 It is not the least reason why we should honor as love the dog of our own life, 
and the dog down the street, and all the dogs not yet born."

Mary Oliver

I am having trouble with my external drive and was limited
 in the number of photos I can access.