Maggie Turner: Page by Page

I’ve been sitting here in the living room this morning, comfortably ensconced on my easy chair, sipping my morning coffee, and staring up into the bare tree branches just outside the window. The sky can’t make up it’s mind about the morning, bright blue sky one minute, then black overcaste cloud cover before I know it. My attention has been focused on a fat robin perched on the branches. It is a female I surmise, based on the rotund profile, and she is preening with great care. By the time she flies away, the sky has changed from blue to dark gray. Spring is advancing, slow and steady, mostly cloudy and dreary so far. The temperatures have been around average for this time of year, which is single digit (Centigrade). Not unpleasant, but combined with the copious amounts of rain we have been receiving, not great outdoor weather either. We had rain warnings for the Easter long weekend, Friday and Saturday saw a lot of rain here, some flooding in areas, but luckily our property was not affected by that. Yesterday, Sunday, was cloudy and cool. The temperature was supposedly going to reach 18C, but that did not happen, the … Continue reading →

The weather this past weekend was wonderful. The sun shone all day Saturday. It was difficult to decide just how to spend such a wondrous day, but finally we decided to head out to the Camp to check things out. Our neighbours watch our place pretty closely. One of our neighbours, a friendly fellow who travels past our place many times in a day, in his pickup truck, on his ATV, on his tractor, or on foot, keeps a special eye out for us. This past winter he plowed a short way into our driveway, so that if we came to the property in the winter, we could get our vehicle off the road. When we arrived on Saturday the snow bank, that had built up across the driveway as a result, was still high enough to scrape the bottom of the car as we drove in. We were pleased to find that the only unwelcome visitors in our little patch were the mice in Grace the trailer. The dry trap we left there did not catch one mouse, and it was full of mouse droppings. The peppermint oil soaked cotton balls were either missing, or scattered around the floor, … Continue reading →

For decades now I’ve received telephone calls, the caller says nothing, then, after a few minutes, the caller hangs up. Sometimes there is breathing at the other end of the line, sometimes not. This caller has followed me around through all of the places I’ve lived, calling all of the different telephone numbers I’ve had. Although it upset me at first, when I was first a single Mom I worried a lot about my kid’s safety, it is now part of the landscape of life, the mysterious caller letting me know he/she/they are there. Who is it? I couldn’t say, it began just after my divorce, the persistence is striking, and the caller’s number is always masked. Someone looking for attention, here you go. We ordered our seeds online this year, and the first shipment is scheduled to arrive this week! It won’t be long now before we are out in the garden again! I am looking forward to working in my modest raised beds. If they are a success, I’ll be setting up more permanent structures for them in the future, but best to test the concept without much expense, before contemplating any significant investment. Who knows, the modest … Continue reading →

Well, here it is at last, the final day of March, 2019 has arrived. The first thing I saw when I looked out the window early this morning, was snow. Not a lot of snow, but enough to cover every surface with a blanket of white. Later in the morning, it was snowing again, but by this time the early covering had already melted in the rain. It has been above freezing since yesterday, all night long, and into today. March is leaving, and reminding me that it has winter-like potency right to the very end. March was certainly windy. The roar of moving air seemed almost constant through March, and I commented to Attila, on several occasions, that some sort of wind mill would do well here in the month of March. In primary school the we learned this rhyme, accompanied by pictures of gusty winds blowing children’s clothing about in March, and children with umbrellas in April: MARCH winds and April showers Bring forth May flowers. In 1610 this concept was recorded as:“Sweet April showers/Do spring May flowers”Source: Northall, G. F. English Folk-Rhymes: A collection of traditional verses relating to places and persons, customs, superstitions, etc. 1892. p. … Continue reading →