Here are some scenes I captured a couple of weeks ago when our backyard bay was full of ice and “bergy bits”. Maisie and Vivian, being the naturally curious creatures they are, simply had to take a closer look. On tentative paws and their noses in the air, smelling the invigorating ocean breeze, they took me along…
“Be careful what you wish for, Jennifer…”
I have always adored animals, and was enjoying getting closer to nature since my husband and I moved back to rural Newfoundland, but THIS IS A LITTLE TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT.
Yes, the big visitor showed up in our little town just yesterday, one of four recent reports of polar bears being on the island of Newfoundland so far this spring (read further and view actual pictures from yesterday from the linked article below). The Ursus Maritimus doesn’t often make its way this far south. It is when it is hungrily hunting seals, which are found on icepans this time of year, that it may end up in some of our backyards. Yikes!!
“Don’t worry,” says my husband. “Nobody has ever been attacked by a polar bear in Newtown before.”
Gee, thanks, Honey. I don’t know why I was worrying. We are, after all, only talking about the LARGEST LIVING LAND PREDATOR IN THE WORLD.
Silly RCMP, too, for warning us to be on the lookout. Oh well, as the old joke goes, I won’t have to outrun the bear, I’ll just have to outrun the husband…
I was quite pleased and flattered this week when one of my fellow bloggers nominated me for the “One Lovely Blog Award”. She is carlarenee45, one of the bloggers that I subscribe to, and I am honoured to be on her list as well. Unfortunately, I’m having trouble with our internet connection these past two weeks so I had to write this from our local library. With any luck, I should be back up and running by next week. At that time I will respond to the nomination in more detail, and suggest some favourite blogs of mine. But in keeping with the rules of being nominated, here are seven random things about me that I’d like to share.
1. I have the curliest hair you probably ever saw. It drives me nuts.
2. I became a mom at the tender age of eighteen.
3. I love interior decorating magazines.
4. I have arthritis, but if I don’t exercise regularly, I feel worse.
5. I love a clean tidy house, but I hate housework. Wish I had a maid…
6. I’m one of those oddballs that loves liver and onions.
7. When I was 14, I read “Everything you Wanted to Know About Sex (but Were Afraid to Ask)”, when I was babysitting at my teacher’s house. Quite an education (and probably explains number 2)!
My honey and I are off to Varadero, Cuba in the morning, so for the next week I won’t be on the internet very often. Ta ta for now, and we’ll catch up real soon.
As my last blog entry noted, I wanted to share with you the joys of my indoor life this past month (see related article below). There were four activities that have made February a pleasure for me this winter, and they all took place in the coziness of our home.
1. Cooking and baking Comfort Food. And, of course, eating it!
Aahhh…the domestic bliss I feel when I bake a batch of homemade bread on a cold winter day… the delicious aroma, the shiny plump loaves all lined up as they cool. Without a doubt it is my favourite comfort food. Using whole wheat flour makes it nutritious as well.
A perennial favourite among many foodies is good old macaroni and cheese. Nothing says Comfort like my mom’s recipe. The cheesy, bubbly goodness, with buttered crumb topping, that heavenly smell…are we hungry yet?
Just last night I made a hearty pot of beef stew, sure to warm you right down to your toes. The wholesome ingredients, the rich gravy; and what goes great with a big steaming bowl? That’s right, more HOMEMADE BREAD. Forget it, low carb diet, you will have to wait til spring.
2. Watching Movies
Paul and I usually take part in what we call a Movie Blitz this time of year. In a race before Oscar night, we have watched seven of the nine movies nominated for Best Picture. And what a delightful cross-section this year! There were plenty of handsome actors to choose from: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Jean Dujardin, to name a few. Be still, my romantic heart.
There was even a movie to satisfy my girlhood love of thoroughbreds: War Horse. If you haven’t seen it, you should. It’s an old-fashioned sweeping epic style of picture, done in a way Spielberg is famous for.
3. Book Club
Reading has been a passion of mine all my life. I’m talking about having to read every word on a cereal box if nothing else is handy. Our little book discussion group had a slow start, but we now have more members. The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill was our first selection (an excellent read), and now we are in the process of selecting the next one. For those who don’t know, the local library has actual book club kits that include many choices of wonderful books, both old classics and the latest bestsellers. If there is anyone out there in a book club, I would love it if you could drop me a line and share your experience.
4. Planning a Tropical Getaway
Anticipating a trip south is one of the best ways I know to cure the winter blahs. Make it two trips and you’re guaranteed that cure. The first one will be in three weeks for just the two of us, then another toward the end of April, where we get to spend time with friends and family. Always fun to have a reason to take out your summer duds in February!
As for the rest of you living in the northern hemisphere, what has kept you warm this month?
I have never professed to be a winter-loving person. I don’t ski, skate or snowmobile, and here in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, the winter can drag on longer than many of us like.
But it isn’t all bad. I do like to go outdoors on the sunny days for walks, or just to take some pictures of things that catch my fanciful eye. Last week I snapped a few shots of the glittering aftermath of a sleet storm. It is also satisfying to find signs of wildlife…and finding wildlife itself.
(For better viewing, click on the first photo to start the gallery)
But then, as pretty as all this is, my heart is looking forward. It waits patiently, yet eagerly for summer.
Coming soon: Cold and Dreary February? Nahh… Part Two (Indoors)
So here I am, on a frigid January evening. Outside, a bitter wind chill of minus 10 degrees Celsius (that’s 14+ degrees for you Fahrenheit folks), is blowing directly off the North Atlantic just a few yards from our door. My husband Paul is gone playing floor hockey at the high school gym, so I’m alone, trying desperately to chill out. Not figuratively, mind you, but literally. I turned down the thermostats so there is no heat on in my house, simply because my body feels like a furnace turned up on cremate.
This is a new and fresh hell for yours truly, only making itself known within the last couple of weeks. Somehow, I had let myself believe I’d be lucky enough to escape the discomfort of “tropical moments” at this time of my life. How I used to chuckle when one of my friends or coworkers complained of a hot flash. Ha! The joke is now on me. And for the uninitiated, it doesn’t feel like a source of external heat that hits you. It’s more like internal spontaneous combustion, where you think you just might suddenly burst into flames.
Stripped down to a tank top and appropriately, sweat pants, eating blueberries out of the freezer (still frozen), I’m trying to hold it together. I made the mistake earlier of googling other menopause symptoms, and started ticking off other lovely ailments I’ve been experiencing. Brain fog? Check. Anxiety? Check. Night sweats? Check. Mood swings? Okay, that one is just me, can’t blame that on The Change.
The website also warned that the whole process could take anywhere from two to eight years before it is done. That’s just terrific. Think I’ll go out and stick my head in a snow bank.
And now Paul is home. “It’s freezing here!” he says. He looks at my red face. “Is it alright if I turn up the heat?”
“If you must,” I bark, fanning myself with a throw cushion.
Then I realize something. In our house, PMS always stood for Paul Must Suffer. Well, the PMS might be coming to an end for me, but it won’t be ending for him any time soon. Will he survive? Will I?
Check back in two to eight years.
She is solitary,
silent as a spectre,
outside on another tentative
feline adventure.
On soft freckled pads, with
green eyes ever searching,
she sees, hears, smells the world
the way it is. Its cold reality.
Her white whiskered face
suddenly feral and hungry, she
runs, returns home to the warm lap
she has grown to trust.
No longer silent, but with rattling purrs,
she nuzzles and exchanges
a sandpaper kiss for the expected
morsel of love.
In that little Cat’s eye
that sees my soul and stares into
my heart
there is nowhere to hide.
I see my reflection.
Babies. Newborns, four-month-olds, six-month-olds, toddlers…but before they are swallowed up by the children they become. I love their newness, their freshness, their tiny hands and feet, the downy skin and clear blue eyes. And their helplessness and need for your care. My little grandson Joshua (and his mom and dad!) gave me that gift, the gift of being needed at the most basic level, at a time when I thought those days were behind me. Feeding him, rocking him, singing a lullaby. Must be my maternal side showing..
Leah…my beautiful granddaughter Leah. Her sunny smile, her boundless energy, her sweet, loving heart. The way she shares her thoughts so succinctly, but then her sudden shyness when she meets someone new (I know where that comes from!). Her innocent, yet beguiling charm.
The ocean. My new backyard…no, much more than that; it surrounds me! Every day I look out, it is a slightly different colour; morphing between shades of electric blue sapphire, or steel grey, or deep, dark, ominous navy with frothy white-caps. The sea is like a living thing, mercurial, organic, merciless. And endlessly beautiful.
Animals…and not just my cats. Horses, dogs, whales, birds, wild beings in the forest. Creatures of the sea and sky.
Conversation and dialogue, a monologue, poetry, words… talk shows, interviews, journals, diaries, songs! Slightly different shades of meaning expressed by employing a different word, an inflection, a facial expression, an innermost thought, a lyric or a verse.
Love. All kinds: a mother’s love, friend love, passionate, head-over-heels in love, idolatry, paternal love, mentor love, unrequited love. A grandparent’s love! Love for a pet. Perhaps most importantly, love of Self.
Order. I like when life has a plan, a logical sequence, a symmetry, even when there doesn’t seem to be any apparent sense to it (the challenge and reward is in the discovery of meaning where you thought there was none). On a simpler level, I love neatness and polish of style, whether it be fashion, decorating, or artistic expression.
Work. Ordinary ol’ hard work, the only way to get anything done. The idea of purpose and direction in your life, and not just something you do for yourself but for everyone around you. Getting in there and rolling up your sleeves, getting good and dirty, immersing yourself in a job for no other reason than it just feels good to do so.
The joy of cooking. The planning, the preparation, and the patience required to turn out a delicious meal. Excellent therapy for giving you focus. It can also teach you how to be more resourceful with what is on hand. All you need is inspiration, imagination, and a few dozen cookbooks!
Music. All kinds of music that is good. This includes anything that makes you want to dance and sing, no matter how silly a ditty it is. Food for the soul and spirit.
Tales of the sea. Shipwrecks, near tragedies, heroism by ordinary mortals in extraordinary circumstances. Stories of Newfoundlanders who overcame hardship as they tried to eke out a living from the sea.
Heroism in everyday life: a man who gives of himself generously to those in need, with no thought of recompense; a person coming to the rescue of someone in great emotional pain; the woman who raises a family without a father in the picture (and does it well); the bravery of someone battling an illness or condition; dying with dignity.
Books…old, dusty tomes with dog-eared pages, brand new paperbacks, the smell of ink inside, stories written before I was born, colourful, well-written fiction of today, non-fiction that inspires while it helps explain the world and our place in it. I was a devout bookworm growing up; my best friends lived inside the pages, and I hated saying good-bye to them at the end. Racing to finish that book you can’t put down, savouring every word, but hating its completion. I would love to write a book like that. That is my goal.
Hello, and welcome to my Journal! This is my first foray into the world of blogging, so being a total newbie at this, I am not even sure where my words will take us. The one thing I can tell you, Dear Reader, is that Jennifer’s Journal will be a sharing of my thoughts in the forms of prose, poetry and musings. As well, I plan to include selections of photography that I think you will like.
New Year’s Eve 2011 is upon us, and 2012 beckons with promise. I should be getting gussied up for the Ball at the Barbour site here in Newtown in a few hours, the first one in several years for us. I should be primping and preening, painting my nails, curling my locks and donning a frock to ring in the new year in style with the local revelers. Instead, I’ve happened upon The (wonderful) Wizard of Oz, a movie that has hijacked my attention for the hundredth time.
And once again, I ask myself, What is it about the Scarecrow (always my favorite), that makes my silly heart melt? Is it the way he falls about in his straw-filled pants, like he hasn’t a bone in his body, or is it the way he talks so kindly to Dorothy, making me wish I was her? Yes, I smile at the Tin Man, and I laugh at the Cowardly Lion, but it is the Scarecrow that makes me PVR the rest of the movie before I am reluctantly pulled away.
And I know it is the last day of the year, but I didn’t want to wait for January One, which would have been the expected start date of a blog. I had to ask that very important question today.
Perhaps, Dorothy has the answer?
Jennifer's Journal 
