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One Ringy Dingy, Two Ringy Dingy…..
K and I attended an antiques and collectibles sale on the weekend, at which we saw several vintage telephones – mostly black, all with rotary dials. For some reason, I have been thinking about telephones ever since. Until 1975, the community in which I was raised had party telephone lines. Our telephone was a brown…
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Nursery Rhymes, Nightmares and Night Stands
It’s raining, it’s pouring The old man is snoring. Fell out of bed, Bumped his head, And couldn’t get up in the morning. I read recently that this nursery rhyme is really the story of a drunk old man whose inebriation was the cause of both the snoring and the fall. You cannot believe everything…
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Leaving
For one last time, we drove out to the farm house we had built in 1981 and lived in until three months ago. I climbed over a snow bank to read the hydro meter, remembering times when getting to that pole felt like scaling Mount Everest. I jest, of course, but there were…
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Cold Weather Blather
I miss the birds. We used to sit at the kitchen table and watch the winter birds, chickadees mostly, although there were blue jays, magpies and woodpeckers to see as well. We put out bird seed and suet and watched them go to it. I hear that blue jays are abundant this year.…
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Goodbye 2018
“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.” ― T.S. Eliot The last day of the year, a day traditionally given over to reflections about the past. For us, 2018 was all about reflections on the…
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Little Trees and Vinarterta
At the home I lived in for thirty-seven years, I had a seven foot Christmas tree. It took up a great deal of space in my living room and I had to stand on a chair to place the angel on top. The tree came in three parts and the lights had to be connected…
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Some things I am thankful for
SNOW – even if I don’t appreciate it falling in October. I am thankful that the part of the world I live in experiences the four seasons with such clarity of separation. I am grateful that snow plowing and removal will no longer be one of our winter chores. BARN CATS – even if ours…
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Autumn equinox – winter style
At an auction sale in Hamiota, MB, we looked out the windows to see fat snowflakes floating down. By the end of the sale, the ground was covered. The flowers in the hanging pots and planters around town were still blooming, but they were covered in snow. We drove out of it as we went…
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Summer’s end
It happens every year. You’d think I would learn. In August, when both young and mature hummingbirds are at the feeder, I cannot keep up with the demand. I am boiling sugar water at all hours of the day and night. We try to count the birds frenziedly fighting for space at the feeder.…
Rural Routes, Blog Version
Looking at the world with country eyes
Rural Routes, Blog Version 