Welcome to Autumn

Friday, September 21st.

A faint blush in the Eastern sky where autumn makes her first hesitant steps through the  hills and vales of the Lower Similkameen. 

 

Along the creekside waterways the poplar and the alder leaves are golden in the sunshine, where summer still lays claim to the afternoon, tossing her head at the calendar; warming the valley to shirt sleeve and shorts weather and leaving to autumn the alchemy of frosty nights.

 

In the garden once more the Abraham Darby delights

with its tightly packed petals, its perfume still as perfect now,

in its third flush as it was in June, newly blossoming.

 

 

A few feet away a passenger from the Chinese Underground Railway

alights at the new Depot, securely established as a Branch

from the hillside garden!

 

 

 

Yesterday afternoon I visited one of the many fruit stands

that line the highway west of Keremeos

looking for farm fresh eggs.

 

The market was bustling with travelers

and crammed with colourful bins of apples, pumpkins, squash

and nectarines side by each with all the wonderful fall vegetables.

 

Sid brought us two boxes of apples and I will set a large pan full of MacIntosh to simmer

for apple sauce and enjoy the marvelous combination of

apples cooking and cinnamon.

 

'By all these lovely tokens

September days are here

with summer's best of weather

and Autumn's best of cheer'.

Morning Road Trip

Tuesday, September 18th, 2012

Up early and on the road to Penticton to keep an 8.30 driving exam appointment.  The sky was the deepest blue and the sun was brilliant, - still low over the hills and shining directly into one's eyes,  which made things difficult for Charles, who was the one being examined, esecially as his eyes are very sensitive.

I find that one of the drawbacks to growing old is the enthusiasm the licensing people have for getting the elderly off the road and into a taxi or on to a bus, if your rural area happens to have such amenities.

The other is the sly way young whipper snapper clergy have of encouraging the elderly out of the traditional church to make way for The Emerging Church (secular...) - 'clearing the decks', the Archbishop called it.....

But I digress from our Road Trip.

We didn't linger in Penticton and on the way home I opened the window and snapped pictures as we flew along.  For the 632nd time I missed the lightning fast view we have of  Marron Lake and
the Kaleden Dam, through the trees and hundreds of feet below the road edge.

Charles, sweet man that he is, turned in a few yards up the highway, on to the Marron Valley road, which runs midway across the hills, through the Indian Reserve, coming out at Kusler's Ranch and joining the Green Mountain road through Allen Grove.  We never did get a view of the Lake and Creek, but what a beautiful drive we had.

The fall colours are not yet flamboyant, but rather soft and subtle and gently blended.  Here and there a clump of Rabbit Brush is a radiant yellow globe, crying to be taken home and turned into dye for sheep's wool, carded and spun and woven into a warm incandescent blanket.

 

 

 

We came home and had a nice afternoon nap.

Bits and Pieces

Bits and Pieces

Life consists in this

That two solitudes

protect and touch

 and greet each other

For many years this quotation from Rainer Maria Rilke stood framed, above our bed.

When we moved the frame got broken, and so now

the quotation

lives on the front of the fridge, with various pictures of dear ones

and beloved poetry, an ever loving reminder of 'LOVE'

and the complexity between simplicity and richness.

I am not sure what brought this to mind, except that I was adding to the grocery list on the fridge

and it caught my eye, my heart and my imagination

and I realized how very true this observation is as age creeps up on us.

Today is Similkameen Sizzle Day!!!!

the 11th anniversary of this unique festival during which

the Similkameen Valley praises the pepper, either hot or cold,

but preferably hot!!!

There is a contest to see which foolhardy person is able most effectively to

burn his throat and esophagus (I think only men are required to prove their bravery

in the face of hot jalapenos)!!!

When the Royal Purple Ladies quit 'manning' the

Quesadilla table a few years ago I stopped braving the crowds,

but the hot Mexican and Spanish music reaching us from the park

where the Festival was being held was enough to set the toes a-tapping, or the hips a-twirling, 

whichever were most nimble!!!

We had a really nice visit this afternoon.

Shaun, the son of English parents, was brought up on a ranch

in the Similkameen, joined the army and then served as Sergeant-at-Arms

in the local Legion before he moved to the Fraser Valley.

He has been a friend who has the utmost respect for Veterans and it

is always a pleasure when he comes to see us.

I was particularly pleased when he said he had found us in our town house by recognizing

the flagpole at the gate - the one which I had written about on my Blog,

and which he had READ about.  Gosh!  

Is this what fame is all about!!!!!

To put the icing on the cake our son arrived even before I expected him

after a long trip from the Cariboo with his cat, Big Paws (BP).

Lovely to give him big hugs......

And those are all the bits and pieces that made up the day. except for the neighbour's

 elegant yard sale where nothing was junk and everything

was clean and polished and laid out on lace tablecloths.

I wish I had a picture to show you.

I bought a nice cheese cutting board with a handy ceramic

drawer in which to keep cheese knives and pickle forks.

Do I need this?

Not really, but I thought it was pretty.

A Loom, a loom.....!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

I am absolutely delighted to have a LOOM in our home again!

It is only a small loom; a two harness table loom, - one that rests in a corner until it is time to come out and create lovely objects.

A far cry from the eight harness glimakra counter-balance with whom I had this wonderful relationship until the stiffness in my knees made it impossible for me to re-tie her treadles to produce intricate designs.

Nevertheless, I am already planning a two harness warp and a tabby weft with maybe a Brooks Lace border, - a scarf, woven with the lovely skeins of mohair and soft sheep's wool that I bought from Doe G. today.  It was Doe who lent me the little table loom, too, when I went to visit her this morning.

Charles was off to the first singing session of the fall season

Another beautiful Fall day......

Hazelnuts and Biscotti

Monday, September 10th, 2010

Weather Report:

Lovely cool morning, - sunny skies, a few white clouds in the delft blue heavens.  Just a bit over 20 degrees C at eleven a.m.  Wonderful!

Inspired first thing to mow the two little hankie lawns at the back and side gardens - as the light hand mower mower whirred away and spoke to me of the same sounds rising from my grandparent's garden, and the  carefree summers I spent there, I was interrupted in my reverie by the mower skipping over hazelnuts, blown free of the tree in Saturday night's wind storm.

Last year there was a bumper crop from the hazelnut tree, but now as I gaze up into the branches I see very few little brown nuts wrapped in their frilly overcoats.  So far I have picked up fifty-seven - hardly enough to chop up and decorate a cake.

On the other side of the house the neighbor's giant walnut trees are laden with bright green balls and the heavy branches rest on the roof of her tool shed, from where they will slide over the edge and land on the walkway between the two properties.  The walnuts we garner (with some encouragement from the owner) are enough to keep us supplied until the next harvest.

After years of growing veggies and having our own fruit trees, etc. I don't have to feel guilty about being bereft of any harvesting, - people who are still gardening are so grateful to find someone who will take their surplus tomatoes and cucumbers and squash and apples and peaches, - and especially the odd zucchini or two!!

Anyway, I do love Hazelnuts, ground up and used as flour in cookies, or chopped for muffins and cakes.
I like to make hazelnut biscotti at Christmas time - it makes a nice little gift with a mug and some hot chocolate powder. This is the recipe I use.....

3/4 cup of butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of hazelnuts

Cream together butter and sugar, beat in eggs and vanilla.
Sift together the dry ingredients and mix into the egg and creamed mixture.
Stir in the hazelnuts and shape the dough into two equal logs, about 12 inches long.

Place the logs on a baking sheet and flatten out to about 1/2 inch thickness.

Bake for about half an hour in 350 degree oven, then remove from oven a let cool.

Slice the loaves diagonally into 1/2 inch thick slices and return them to the oven to bake for an additional 10 minutes, turning over once.

Cool completely and store, - delicious!

While I was in the garden this morning I found two fall crocus - a white one and a pale purple.  I had forgotten about what a lovely autumn surprise they were last year!

A Musical Interlude

Thursday, September 6th, 2012

Do take ten minutes off, close your eyes and listen to this heavenly music.....

Chopin Ballade No. 1 Opus 23

Krystian Zimerman, Pianist

Restores the soul and makes the footsteps light!

September 3rd, 2012

This sweet picture of deer borrowed from the 'people on the meadow' in the Cariboo

who are fortunate to have these lovely wild meadow grasses

and tender wild four footed creatures to feed on them.

"Unnoticed,

the passage has occurred;

as I brood,

autumn dusk

dewdrops fall on my pillow.

The voices of insects

and the deer by the fence

as one,

disturb me to tears

this autumn dusk."

and this poem. written by 

Princess Shikishi

High Priestess of Kamo Shrine

d. 1201, Japan

 a wonderful environmental poetess whose voice echoes 

over the centuries.

A cool sunny day whose morning we have spent doing intricate things to the Roman Blind in our bedroom, -

quite an elegant curtain, but feckless in that it could not be relied upon to stay where it belonged,

and was forever falling down.......

Soon we will not have to lower it to keep the bedroom shaded from the afternoon sun -

we will, indeed, be glad of any afternoon sun as before Christmas comes

the sun will be setting behind the south-west hills and

will never shine on the Roman Blind again until spring arrives.

In the meantime we have these two marvelous months to enjoy -

September and October.

Blue skies, sunny days, wild skies, and glorious shades of fall.

Life is good....

The Night of the Blue Moon

Friday, August 31st, 2012

This posting may not have too much to do with the Blue Moon, but I am excited that it is the thirty-first day of August and tomorrow we start on that most favoured month.

SEPTEMBER

Well, the sun's not so hot in the sky today,
and you know, I can see summertime slipping on away...
James Taylor

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I see that there are dried leaves on the lawn, but they are from some mid-summer

branches whose leaves wilted when the tree at the front, which nobody is able to identify,

became a little droughted.

What I am looking for are leaves that have a little tinge of scarlet around the edges, or a mellow

aura of pale yellow creeping along the veins of the tired green sun-dried leaves,

promises of  the glowing lights of funeral costumes that will soon

illuminate the orchards, the vineyards, the meadows,

 the ditches, the fences, the mountain sides,

the trees, the gardens, - 

the whole glorious valley, kindled with the fires of autumn.

Already the goldenrod  and rabbit brush line the country roads like singing sirens,

calling to me to gather great armloads and take them home to dye the yarn

that was so abundant in by-gone years, when we husbanded sheep and lambs.

As I lay on the cusp of sleep last night I thought about the dyes and mordants

that I have squirreled away in a Navajo basket,  and about where they

might be, - that alchemy that turns yarn into gold and precious jewel shades.

Up in the trailer that houses all of my weaving - looms, warps, reeds, shuttles, etc., I think. 

 September seems a perfect time to take on the project

of organizaion, distribution, and maybe even a little creation.

The  Blue moon is extraordinarily beautiful tonight,
shining gently through clouds that drift lazily across
her lovely face.

Sweet Peas and Peaches

Wednesday

August 29th, 2012

Blogger offered me a way to download pictures by e-mail, and it seems to work, so just for a test here are the pictures of the fragrant Sweet Peas and the ripening peaches that are quickly being devoured.

I have had an interesting (and sometimes frustrating) morning, but lots of satisfaction 

in learning something new.

Still would like to know why blogger freezes up when I try to post pictures....

They are really quite innocuous pictures, don't you agree....

Fragrance in the kitchen

Tuesday, August 28th, 2012

Oh, September, - I watch for you down the road with shaded eyes, and am encouraged by the coolness of the days this week, as August prepares to pack up and hit the trail.

A beautiful fragrance in the kitchen this morning, as I picked a few fresh sweetpeas and tucked them into a small glass pitcher above the kitchen sink  Is there anything in the world that smells so delicate and light?

They are full of memories, as I'm sure they are for any prairie girl where they grew over everyone's back fence and filled the sunny days with their glorious perfume and pastel beauty.

Combined with the wonderful rich aroma of ripening peaches it is certainly the place to be if you can't be out in the garden.

Today the weather has been unsettled with a heavy rainfall just at supper time.  Callie got caught out in the storm - a few mighty claps of thunder and probably a little lightning as well.  I went to call her in, and when the rain had stopped took her treats out to rattle a bit, but she wouldn't venture forth until Charles came, and in his trustworthy  and calming voice he called to her and she came immediately from where she was hiding in the raspberry patch.  What DOES that man have about him that he inspires such comfort and safety?  Well, he and Callie have a thing going, - she is happiest spread out in the wonderful nonchalant way that cats have, all over his knees, with her head tucked up beside his arm.

Blogger is being very naughty today and won't allow any photos, but I will try once again to see if I can capture a picture of the Sweet Peas.....

Monday
August 27th, 2012

We are having morning coffee in the back garden yesterday when the next door neighbour to the East came out with some offerings for her wonderful large compost box cum worm farm - red wrigglers, which she says are much superior to common earthworms for producing castings and making deep rich friable earth.

Over the last few months we have watched a full box of leaves and yard waste morph into a half a box of gorgeous black soil, worth its weight in gold here in town where the soil seems so thin and scanty.......highly favoured for fishing, too on account of their wiggly actions and the fact that they stay alive longer in the water.

These neighbours are the age of our middle children, and very busy.  They are First Nation's people, and she is deeply involved with the administration of Band business on the Merritt Reserve, while her husband has classes in the local school, teaching and promoting education in the Native Okanagan language and culture.

He is also an accomplished and inspired flutist with a CD entitled 'It's About Time' released in 2010, - really enchanting sounds which are accompanied by piano, guitar, harp, hand drums and bird songs.  Herman plays for documentaries, short films, community events, weddings, healing gatherings and  has been nominated for the Aboriginal People's Choice Music Awards.

We lingered talking to both he and Joanna for an hour, leaning on the side fence, discussing Native issues, ranching and farming and weaving and compost and canning salmon - life in the Similkameen and education problems.  The children from the local Reserves have been integrated in the local school for over a hundred years, and during that time, at least in our family, close friendships have developed, and easy and familiar relationships exist.

Extracts from Herman's haunting CD can be found here.

Some of Joanna's Red Wrigglers can be found making themselves at home in our compost bin!!

Nice things happening in the Similkameen

August 25th, 2012

Good heavens, where has the month of August disappeared to.  It has been terribly hot here in the West, and it seems that we have been spending a great deal of time during the afternoons in the cool of the house, while all around us the tourists visit wineries, gambol in the lakes and on the beaches, and bike along the highways and byways in preparation for the Big Ironman Race that takes place this Sunday.

The race starts with a swim, continues with a bicycle course that circles the South Okanagan and Similkameen highways, and a foot race around Skaha Lake.  The locals try especially to stay off the highways where enthusiastic bikers familiarize themselves with every little bump and advantage on the course.

It is a Big Event for Penticton and its merchants and wineries and everyone else who caters to the Tourist trade, but it only cause a very microscopic stir of excitement around this household.

What has been especially appreciated around here is the wonderful music we have been able to listen to over the last two days.

Yesterday morning I took advantage of a digital ticket provided by the Deutsche Bank for a marvelous Berlin Philharmonic Concert - Sir Simon Rattle conducted.  The guest pianist was Yefim Bronfman and Brahms #2 in B Flat Major was the piece de resistance.  The allegro appassionato was gorgeous, but the Andante, I thought, was especially wonderful.




Then we had a little Witold Lutoslawski and I cannot say that I was very impressed with the strange discords in his third Symphony  - such a contrast to the Brahms.  The concert ended with Tchaikovsky's Marche Miniature and a Slavonic Dance in C major.  A gentleman who lives in Australia and listened to the concert at 3:00 a.m.gave it a wonderful critique, and I felt very lucky to have been able to listen at 9.30 a.m., and did appreciate Charles putting off our planned visit to our house and garden up on the hill, so I could do so.

Well, that wasn't the only nice musical thing that happened to me yesterday.  While browsing online I found the website of UpChucky, who has the most wonderfully complete Jukebox or Radio records of each year, starting with 1940  I listened to  "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire", and  "Blueberry Hill' and "Elmer's Tune" and "Stardust" and lots of Mills' Brothers music, and songs that overwhelmed me with nostalgia and made me wish that Charles and I could dance the way we did in those lovely by-gone years.

And then again today we visited the Legion late in the afternoon, had dinner there and listened to a great jazz band that played "Sweet Georgia Brown" and all sorts of other pieces from that same era that touch our memories and our hearts.

Music, when soft  voices die

Vibrates in the memory

Shelley

Early Morning Musings

Thursday,  August 23rd, 2012

Note to Self

If I have the luxury of an hour of solitude in the early morning I sit at the kitchen table on one of the elevated chairs that are so kind to my limbs, and put my feet on the circular bar made for just that purpose.

And I read, and I wonder, and I reflect on these years of my life. 

And sometimes I grieve for the Time that passed unnoticed, uncelebrated, unappreciated - the energy, the lithesomeness, the thirst - the great thirst for creativity and wisdom living within, but unacknowledged by the *commonstance of each day.

A full life.  So much coming and going and to-ing and fro-ing, and where was the time for just 'Being"?

Is this it?  Here, now?  If not now,  then when????

                                                                                       Nicolaes Maes

Bluebird

slipped a little treble

out of the triangle

of his mouth

and it hung in the air

until it reached my ear

like a froth or a frill

that Schumann

might have written in a dream.

Dear morning

you come

with so many angels of mercy

so wondrously disguised

in feathers, in leaves,

in the tongues of stones,

in the restless waters,

in the creep and the click

and the rustle

that greet me wherever I go

with their joyful cry:  I'm still here, alive!

Mary Oliver

A Little Respite from the Heat

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012

While I was at the library yesterday afternoon the clouds began to gather and the air began to cool - deliciously!

Shortly after I arrived home the welcome rain began......gently at first - a drop here, a drop there.  Soon, however, the storm arrived and the heaven's opened!

Late in the afternoon there was the most tremendous clap of thunder, - probably about a dozen feet above the house, I think, - the noise and the vibrations were so all encompassing!

Callie scurried along the hall, as fast as her little plump self would allow.  A sharp left turn at the bedroom door and she was safe in her narrow place of refuge between the foot of the bed and my mother's trunk that sits there full of blankets and winter sweaters.

Even her supper didn't entice her out, and all evening as the storm came and went, the thunder roared and the lightning flashed, she stayed put, probably with her paws over her ears

Things quietened down a little, and Charles went to comfort her and invited her to come and sit on his knee.  She came as far as the door, when suddenly there was another great clap, - the house quivered and quaked, and a poor cat's heart turned over!! Callie dived for her most safe place of all, - on the bed, under the duvet, where it is dark and there is a familiar fragrance of Him and Her.

When we moved she spent most of the first few days we were in town in that little nest.

Eventually the clouds moved off, grumbling and mumbling.  Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a small rainbow, but when I investigated it was just a small arc rising above the hills, and it soon disappeared.

I was outside, with camera in hand, and all that fresh rain soaked greenery around me, - the air smelling cool and clean.  There were a few interesting clouds above, but they were floating off towards the Okanagan to find other heat weary towns to play their spectacle to, and patches of blue sky were growing larger and brighter.

Checking things out.....

Today the sun is shining again, but the temperature is more moderate and friendly.