Nature

BRRRRRRRish

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Laura

The ice storm had some very nice effect on the THO forest. Have a peek.

I knew the storm was coming so I spent a couple of nights with my cousin Tracey. The house is strong, so I was not worried about it caving in on me, but I was here in Ontario for ice storm 98 and saw the effect that ice can have. I was concerned that I could be trapped by falling trees.

When the ice stopped falling and I found out from my community that the roads were sufficiently clear, I drove out. It was interesting out there! Like having bags of ice dumped on your head. Slowly dropping ice-cubes, actually.

Today, I worked my first day at the market. It was miserably cold! The nicest parts of the day were my friends Guillaume, and Geoff popping in to see me. Sadly I missed my oldest boyfriend Kevin and his fiancee Tim. I gave up at 1:30 because I was frozen to the ground.

Here is proof that I was there! (Photo credit: Prof. Geoff Smith)

Categories: Art, Forest, Kingston, Nature, Original Art work of Laura Moreland, Simple living | 4 Comments

Flying Easter Eggs!

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Laura

We did not have any rabbits who showed up on Easter Sunday morning. There was not even a tiny egg hidden, but there were a lot of visiting woodpeckers. My husband and I sat outside in the sun reading and watching the woodpeckers flying around. There are a ton of tiny downy woodpeckers around THO. They are so cute flitting up and down the trees looking for insects. They are quiet too, so if you don’t keep your eyes open you miss them. We also have at least one hairy woodpecker he is a lot noisier than his tiny cousin. Both the flap of his wings and the hammering of his beak on the trees is loud. They are quite similar in appearance. both are specked and showy with a little red on the back of their heads, but the the size difference between them makes them easy to distinguish.

My sister has a pileated woodpecker who lives near their place. Unfortunately, I have never caught a glimpse of it, though she says it is a frequent visitor. They are very noisy birds! I saw one only once before and hope that a least one will come to join me in the forest this year.

On another quizzical note. When we arrived on Friday there was a wild animal at THO. I do not know what it was. I did not see it too closely because it ran when we pulled the car in. It was the size, colour and shape of a fisher, but it appeared to have softer fur similar to a cat. It also had a bobbed tail with a spot of white on the end. This is not an April fools thing if you are wondering. I really would like to know what it was. ANYONE?

Categories: Forest, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Open your eyes, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario, View | 6 Comments

I Will Huff and Puff… and Sneak About

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Laura

Speaking of things that lurk in the forest, it looks like we had a visitor in the night. Actually I think that there were four or perhaps five of them. It is hard to guess because the footprints are all mixed up. They were travelling East. This visitor left paw prints as big as the palm of my hand. I think he must be a very big boy!

Can you believe that I never heard a peep or a howl. Incredible since they were very close to THO, the snow is so crunchy and I sleep with my head next to the open window.

I wish I would have seen them!

Categories: Forest, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario | Tags: animals, nature, outdoors, paw prints | 6 Comments

Wood Spirit and the Wolf

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Laura

I have finally installed the wood spirit that I purchased from wood carver, Steven Kenzora. When I wrote about the purchase in an earlier post, I said that it would be put in a place of honour.

Since picking it up I gave quite some thought to where this would be. I decided, finally, to secure it in the arms of an ironwood tree and is facing the entry door of the house. The tree is due North-West of THO which marks the line between black and white, earth and air and is directionally the mark of the winter solstice with respect to THO itself. What is interesting, at least to me, is that the tree, an ironwood (considered to be magical by those who practice Wicca) seems to have grown in the specific location and shape to hold this carving. Ironwood is a slow growing tree with a 7.0 growth factor; so this tree, with a ten inch diameter is about 75-85 years old. I guess this tree is a sister to Twerp (so named for Tolkein) who is due South-West to THO and perhaps 20-30 years older than what is now named, Wood Spirit Tree. Interesting too, I think, THO has ironwood trees that are at all four directional cusps and each is within a couple of hundred feet of the house at each of the cusp directions.

What I did not notice until I joined the two is that there is a howling wolf that was carved by nature into the wood which Steven carved into. Like the Wood Spirit the wolf is a symbol of community and communication, but the wolf is also a loyal guardian.

A lot of symbolic meaning hidden in plain sight. If you know about these things than you may have guessed that I have been recently influenced by a viking.

Can you see any other symbolism that I failed to mention here?

Categories: Art, Erazim Kohák, Forest, Magical, Nature, Ontario, Open your eyes, Tiny House Ontario, View | Tags: arts, meaning, nature, Symbolism, Wiccan | 6 Comments

Snowshoes

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Laura

It is great to get out on a sunny afternoon and snowshoe! Yesterday, my husband and I strapped up and headed out.

There are lots of tracks out there in the forest. The little arrows of wild turkeys, our own tracks, coyote/wolf/dog tracks, the little tracks that look like human babies but are really racoons and another long fingered critter perhaps the dreaded fisher. On our walk about we also found a few holes which may belong to weasels. Sadly too, it looks like one of our paper wasp colonies died this winter. Their entire hive was shredded and opened.

What in life could be better than having your own little place and some land to walk on?