The Inspiration of Winter

Right now the wind is howling outside, the snow is blowing and it’s very dark.

Fortunately we are inside with our hot cups of tea and our fire, but a little while ago we had a short power outage and I’m hoping I can finish this post tonight!

The smell of wood burning has a wonderful fragrance.

It snowed earlier in the week which forced me to FINALLY dig up the last remaining brussel sprout stalks and bring them inside.

A touch of frost is supposed to sweeten the taste of these mini-cabbages.

As much as I hate to see the end of growth outside, winter is a great time to slow down and refocus on creative pursuits like painting and writing and cooking. A couple of days ago we were  driving past scenes of trees with their twigs covered in snow. It’s such a beautiful and surprising sight every year for me. It seems that one day the trees are in green leaf, the next day they are raining rainbow coloured leaves and then the first snow falls and beautifuly outlines the shapes of limbs.

The simplicity of colour and form is a nice change from the chaos and colour of summer.

In the car we passed lakes with the most spectacular, blue reflections and when I went to bed that night, I couldn’t get them or the images of distant hills and snow covered fields out of my head. I kept seeing blues and soft yellows and deep indigos. The next day I had to pull out my new water-soluble oil paints and try to capture the feeling of those scenes.

First Snow in Nova Scotia. oil on canvas. 6"x12" by Flora Doehler

I realize that right now I am loving the smell and texture of oil paints more and more. I love blending two edges and getting that soft, dreamy, fuzzy look. It’s so evocative of the dreamlike setting that I see when snow is softly blanketing the landscape. The smaller painting had a red ground on the canvas and I think it makes the white areas sparkle.
Using very similar colours, but using a white ground on the canvas resulted in a more subdued variation.

Dreaming of South Mountain. oil on canvas. 6"x36" by Flora Doehler.

But you know, when you’re open to it, inspiration can come from the craziest places. Even in the rain. The other night while Larry drove, I snapped lots of photos with my digital camera. I was fascinated with the reflections on the road. I got home, uploaded them to my mac computer and using photoshop, I sandwiched shots together to get the feeling of driving on a rainy night.
Here are 2 of my results.

Exit at Bear River.

Light Show.

Here is a little video to show you the overlays I used.

I hope you give yourself a chance to enjoy the drama that marks the true beginning of winter in Canada.

Melting

Here is a quick weather report for you. It’s late on Monday night and it is pouring rain outside. The mountains of snow have shrunk so quickly as to not be believed. There are probably many basements with puddles in them tonight.

I took a walk around (with icers on) outside the house that we are renting in Bear River East and listened to the sounds of the ice in the trees melting and dripping on the crust of snow underneath. I rushed back into the house to get the recording device and the camera so that I could share this with you.

Last night we had an ice storm with freezing rain pellets, but all the ice has melted.

This morning Larry pulled our garbage and recyling down the driveway with 2 sleds.

Back from garbage duty.

Spring is on it’s way. I know this because I can smell the earth again!

Electricity, Plumbing and Snowshoes

I know it’s been way too long since my last post, but I’ve had a February cold that dragged on and on that ate up my time and sapped my energy.

Snow, snow and more snow.

 Meanwhile, the house renovation work continued even though both Larry and David took turns having colds too.

Lighting for the future studio.

Our big house news is that as of last Friday, just hours before another snow storm arrived, Nova Scotia Power inspected the roughed-in wiring and it passed!

Now our electrician Ron Schnare and his son Todd can close up the electrical boxes and attach the light fixtures. Then there will be a final electrical inspection and we’ll be done.

Figuring out where the plugs should go.

The 2 electricians blitzed the house in less than 2 weeks. They rewired the whole house with more outlets and switches and lights than we have ever had anywhere we’ve ever lived! It’s quite ironic actually that we’ve come to this sleepy little village to live frugal lives, but have 200 amp service and more plugs than things to plug into them.  That’s what life is like living to current electrical code!

Catch 22 means you need 200 amps to operate the electrical tools!

As well last week our plumber, Brad Isles, was busy installing air vent pipes and drainage pipes.

Peter and Larry framed in closets and bathroom things and finished building out all the wall studs in order to fit more insulation in.

There are thousands of steps yet to take.

David leveled up the strapping that the drywall will attach to – a job that requires lots of stretching to the high ceiling and holding up heavy stuff higher than your head!

You're looking at new wiring, new chimney and a new closet space.

While all this house activity was going on, Bear River saw a series of snowstorms with a winter carnival thrown in.

We haven’t had the usual mid-winter heat wave that teases us into thinking spring has finally arrived. In spite of that, I’m really not finished with winter yet. It is so beautiful here when the snow swirls and the aftermath is gorgeous. I am enjoying my snowshoes so much because they enable me to explore the great outdoors in deep snow – something I’ve never done before. This is a little video of my big snowshoe adventure around our house.

My icers (that strap onto my boots and have metal cleats) have also been totally life transformational. I can’t tell you enough how wonderful it is to walk down our long icy driveway and never slip at all. 

Larry shops for a quiet bathroom fan. Details, details.

I am proud of the efforts and hard work that all these men are putting in to restore this house that hopefully will still be overlooking Bear River long after we’re gone.

Meanwhile I cook a few lunches and get to spend wonderful creative time in the studio. How lucky am I? Extremely lucky! But more on that next!

After lunch in the studio.

Bear River Volunteer Chain Gang

Pick-axes and shovels flying.

I went into the village today and saw what looked like a chain gang of people I knew and a few that I didn’t. They had picks and shovels and had decided to reclaim the sidewalks that go across the bridge that connects the Annapolis side of Bear River to the Digby side.

These 2 strips of concrete that span the bridge are the only sidewalks in this entire village. I suppose that’s why the municipalities of Annapolis County and Digby County (Bear River’s 2 governing bodies as we are not an official entity) don’t bother clearing the sidewalks.

Carol taking time out from her holiday week to bash ice.

In case you hadn’t heard, there is going to be a wonderful Winter Carnival here starting tomorrow and ending on Sunday. There are events happening for everyone and this is all being done on bake sales and donations and with no government funding. Well after all, if they won’t pay for clean sidewalks or to even put in sidewalks or for a water drinking system,  then how can one expect a handout for the events that are coming up.

Imagine 800 of them lighting the village!

People have been busy making ice candles for the event. How is this done? Well, you fill up a large icecream container with water and then insert a smaller yogurt container weighted down with rocks into it. Freeze and voila! A beautiful candle holder. Apparently there are already over 800 sitting in freezers all over the village, just waiting to come out and light the way across that bridge to the hand-made ice rink outside the fire hall.

There is even a contest for ice sculptures and there are already a wide variety of snow people and dragons too, appearing  around the village. I was out taking pictures of it today when I ran into one of the snow person creators:

Standing guard at the post office.

I know it’s kind of late and short notice, but I hear that at midnight tonight, a second chain gang of people are going to tackle the other side of the bridge. This time they’ll have a volunteer with a back hoe so it might be a little easier.