From the guestbook Thursday, Jun 13 2013 

Esperanza and Genealogy and Uncategorized , acairfearann 15:17

“An Acrostic To a Young Lady on the day her wedding to Maurits C.C. van Loben Sels:
Helen Ellsworth – lovely name!
Echo of thy strength and sweetness
Love, that’s made of flowers and flame,
Envies thee thy rare completeness.
Name like music on our life
Earnest, mellow, gentle, singing
Let us, ere its long eclipse,
Linger on its bell-like ringing
Seven names though thou shalt wear,
Worthy, noble and complete,
On them thinking now I swear
(Rose by any name so sweet)
Thou, when memory fails, shalt be
Helen Ellsworth still to me.”

by Robert Underwood Johnson, May 31, 1905
Not a bad acrostic. Line 3-4 rises above the rest, quite the turn of phrase there.
I ought to add: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Underwood_Johnson for information on the author!

 

New England weather Thursday, May 30 2013 

Uncategorized acairfearann 12:47

There is something rather absurd about a frost on Monday night, severe enough to curl some young leaves, and on Wednesday night a line storm with a spectacular hour long light show, and today it is about ninety.
I will say that last night’s storm was impressive to watch: the fast moving black front edge with a sudden increase in wind and drop in temperature; the lightning streaking across the sky; and the sub-audible thunder that you really ‘heard’ because the plate on the wall in the dining room was constantly vibrating, with periodic rattles from nearby strikes. It rattles when low-flying planes come over or in thunderstorms, why that plate (or that wall) picks up the vibration I am not sure. It doesn’t pick up road noise.
Still being able to scan the meadow in close to daylight conditions (albeit a purple sky), but picking up greens and reds, with the light lasting long enough to really look at the meadow and the hills beyond, on average once every thirty seconds for well over half an hour is an awful lot of energy! Lots of ground strikes on the hills to the west too. Would have been neat to get some pictures, since with a much faster camera it would have been possible as the strikes tended to last for ‘long’ times.
I have to admit that while those storms are spectacular to watch, I can’t help but think of all the trees that make lovely targets here, and what a mess it is when they are hit…

 

Memorial Day Monday, May 27 2013 

Uncategorized acairfearann 12:08

(Speech given by yours truly at the town’s ceremony)
“Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”
That quote is from General Logan in 1868, on the establishment of Memorial Day. Memorial Day was established, following the Civil War, as a day of mourning for those fallen in the service and defense of the United States. It is fitting that Memorial Day was first associated with the Civil War, for that war is the most glaring example of the nation’s failure to live up to its ideals as a free republic.
The observance of Memorial Day spread gradually, by the 1890’s most of the Northern States recognized it. Following World War I, it became a national day, honoring the fallen Americans of all wars, and so it continues to the present. It is probable that in New Hartford, the earliest public observances started in the late 1880’s, when a monument for the Civil War began to be discussed by New Hartford’s veterans. That monument, in the North Village Cemetery, would be dedicated on July 4th, 1893. Nine percent of New Hartford’s population served in the Civil War, about on average for Connecticut towns. That is a percentage that America has not seen since, for which we are thankful; though, one need only look at the town’s parks and graveyards to be reminded that the need for such service and the sacrifice continues to the present day. The roll call of the fallen is long, and grows ever longer.
We are often told to thank the active military, and veterans, for their service. And that is surely a right thing to do. But, I would argue, that a quick word of thanks is an easy option, little repayment for a life.
The military’s oath, states in part: to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same. Their faith is given not to the people, not to the government, not to the continental land mass labeled on a map.
To the Constitution of the United States. That remarkable document which sets forth a narrow way between the individual’s inherent free will and the collective duties of society, with the idea that in so doing the greatest possible freedom of opportunity can be preserved.
As civilians we take no such oath. Our lives are not the coin which buys our freedom back from enemies. We are not asked to bear undaunted the final sacrifice. But if we neither honour nor guard our freedom, than our thanks, and our love, is poor indeed.
Freedom is not easy or safe; there are no guarantees of equal success. It costs, it costs lives, it costs time, it even costs money. But it does not cost the spirit. There is no greater thanks than to live as free men. There is no greater way to honour a willing sacrifice of a life than to ensure that the cause for which they died is not corrupted. The fallen give up their lives, not for love of war, but that we may live freely.
We live because of love, and so on this day and all days, we should remember Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

 

Wildlife Wednesday, Apr 24 2013 

Uncategorized acairfearann 13:22

One watches one’s step it seems, I opened the basement door to be greeted by a very pretty garter snake. He was in no particular hurry, and went off along the garden, giving me a very good opportunity to watch him.
I can’t help but consider the sheer level of life around this place (at the time I was observing the snake, I was also able to see nine different bird species, three different butterflies, and numerous insects or arachnids) and wonder at how much my neighbours (whose lawn care is busy vacuuming the lawn) have or don’t have.
It isn’t that, on principle, I object. They have every right in the world to vacuum the lawn. It’s just, I wish that I could show them the inherent wonder of this world in all its burgeoning diversity. No doubt they see it in other ways. I hope, anyway.
(the butterflies were: Cabbage Whites*, a Spring Azure, and a Mourning Cloak)

*the Cabbage White does challenge my love for said burgeoning diversity!

 

Feeding the Birds Sunday, Apr 21 2013 

Uncategorized acairfearann 13:29

I am not at all sure that we meant the pergola, from which one may usefully survey the garden and all three birdfeeders, to be a perch for a big Red Tail Hawk…. On the other hand, the peas will be safe from the crows that way.
I actually am very glad to see a number of raptors hanging about, it seems to me that if the top of the food chain is around, the bottom must be at least decent.
The count right now includes the Red Tails (a breeding pair who have been here several years), Long Horned Owls, Short Eared Owls, and the Cooper’s Hawk. The last memorably nailed a robin at high speed about twenty feet from me the other day. Quite impressive.

 

Gravity won! Saturday, Apr 6 2013 

Uncategorized acairfearann 15:18

IMG_3466

The looming menace by the barn, an ancient, massive, and very dead sugar maple finally came down. Actually, it crumpled about twenty feet up, leaving a gorgeous snag. A good illustration of how dead trees fall over unexpectedly; when it came down (sometime between feeding the horse and returning home at 9ish) the wind had essentially died down and it was dry (and so it wasn’t waterlogged). Thud. Nice of it to miss the barn. Didn’t do the fence any good, but it needed repair anyway.

The photo was taken a few years back. It finally broke just above where the forked branch going over the barn is in the photo. The trunk fell quite nicely along the fence line, which did require a bit of jury-rigging at night with the aid of car-lights. The section of trunk between where it broke and the top fork in the photo is now neatly arranged under the fence line and all the rest (which was in the road) is picked up*, so the town can’t get wobbly about big old trees. I can’t say I will miss walking under it several times a day.

*The toy got its first real trial! It managed to move the trunk just enough so that it lies along the fence line, it can stay there for the next decade or so. 22 horses is not enough, however to pick up a sugar maple trunk of that size. Nor is the chain-saw hefty enough to get through anything other than the limbs. There is a reason it is called Rock Maple.

 

On juncos Tuesday, Apr 2 2013 

Uncategorized acairfearann 13:19

I don’t care to have favorites, with the implication of exclusion and rank; so I never played the ‘my favorite X is …’ game well.  Still, watching a flock of juncos yesterday, I had to admit a certain fondness for them.  We have many birds here in the winter months, gathered in flocks, so it is easier to observe them closely.  The bird feeders attract the usual suspects: chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, cardinals, white throats, all the woodpeckers, finches, etc.  They all have a certain unique charm and habit.

Of all of them the juncos are the least flashy.  No striking colorations, no loud conversant songs, no gymnastic manuevers.  Just a group of little, ground-feeding birds.  Yet, I would challenge one to capture all the nuances of a junco’s colouration.  They are described as ‘slate coloured’, a laughably useless descriptor, unless you know slate very well indeed.  Then it is quite accurate.  Purple, green, brown, blue, black, grey…not iridescent like a starling, but a subtle constant shifting of colour.  The white flash of the belly, tail, and the light edges of the wing feathers make them remarkably eye-catching in motion.  Somehow, they also have a gentleness that other flocking birds seem to lack.  I have never seen a quarrel in a junco flock, unlike the finches or starlings.  A dull coloured bird well worth the second look.

 

E-books and books Sunday, Mar 24 2013 

Uncategorized , acairfearann 12:00

a minor thought thereon…

I’ve mentioned before that Esperanza has a large library, between 12-16,000 volumes.  Many of those books have inscriptions in them, as it might be: ‘To Carlotta, Christmas 1889’ or ‘with love, WWE’, or simply a name or date.  When I look through my own books there is a combination of visual and tactile memory at play. I remember that this or that book was given to me by a certain person at a certain time.  The connection, the memory of the relationship, continues to be recollected.  It is not simply a book, it is that Particular copy of that book.

Now, I don’t have any e-books so I am not truly qualified to say.  But it does seem to me that, because the e-books lack a physical presence, the memory of a relationship is less likely to last.  We can’t relate to a file on a computer in the same way that we can an actual object.  It is, in my view, part of the tangle between the virtual and the real.  The virtual reality can slide away without leaving a palimpset, no traces which will modify either the present or the future.  It is substantially harder to do that in the real world.

Or am I wrong?

 

Utter lack Saturday, Mar 23 2013 

Uncategorized acairfearann 12:18

of inspiration….so a whine instead.

It is snowy, cold, and windy.  I think it is all a matter of expectations.  Having had firmly in mind that March would be heading towards spring, it is difficult to be almost at the end of the month with snow on the ground.  This, of course, wouldn’t have bothered me up in Ontario, where the rivers didn’t begin to thaw until mid-April.*  It would be bizarre in Edinburgh, where the daffodils start up at the end of February.  And farther south well…  People get used to everything, we live happily in every climate.  However, as individuals we quickly develop certain expectations about the weather.  What is normal is highly individual and we adapt so quickly to a location that it is easy to get discombobulated.  So we whine.  And now in the great age of the internet, somebody can usually be counted on to pipe up with some comment about how ‘you ought to be in X!’

Of course, it doesn’t help me at all that the liturgical calendar is at its extreme this year; Easter is about as early as it can get.

 

*Nothing distracts one better from studying for finals in a quiet bit of the library than watching the ice floes come down river and slam into the concrete wall of the bridge and library.  (Trent University, Peterborough; the library is built into the river)

 

Distractions Tuesday, Mar 19 2013 

Uncategorized , , acairfearann 12:26

It is currently doing the freezing rain thing.  At least the several inches of snow didn’t stick to the trees, so the weight shouldn’t be too bad.  But we are back to a white and grey landscape.

The distraction factor comes from several very disgruntled chickadees which are hanging out on the west porch, right out side my window.  One of them just came and perched on a chair arm and gave me quite the look.  They are clearly of the opinion that this oughtn’t to be happening.  The cardinals are also of like opinion.  The male cardinals have been quite busy chasing each other and any passing female.  Several inches of snow topped with ice was clearly not in their plans.  I suspect that the chickadee in question is the same one that was determinedly investigating the porch and house for any likely nesting holes a few days ago.  Granted, this is less of a distraction than last year’s woodpecker, he attempted to enlarge a hole in a post right outside the window.*

….I now have three cardinals, two juncos, a titmouse, and several chickadees in the quince and forsythia bushes below the porch.  Every year I think about getting rid of those forsythia, (they bloom for a week or two and then I spend the summer trying to keep them in control and below the porch railing)*, and every winter the birds remind me why I haven’t yet.  The birds adore those bushes.  I suspect that they are on the route between the tall trees to the north of the house and the bird-feeders on the south of the house.  Some chickadees use the Japanese Maples and the redbuds to the east of the house as staging points between the tall conifers and the birdfeeders.  Birds coming from the pines to the north and west probably use the forsythia and the apples.  If I could tell the birds apart, I would bet that there are distinct patterns and territories used by the birds.  There may be east side and west side families for all I know!

The perils of wildlife.*

*the porch posts are box posts, the hole is for the awning poles.  I suspect the woodpecker gave up when he realized that this wonderful hole had no floor.

*The railing is a good six feet high, you would think that would be tall enough…

*Actually, it really is spring.  The bear has raided the trash cans and I nearly walked into him late one night a few days ago.

 

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