Clouds

One thing I love about being at the farm and especially at our cabin just up the grid is the sky. Clouds and the weather in general just fascinate me. So here are some photos taken at the farm the night before we left to return to Calgary. 

"There is no thunder in her hair,
upon her lips no rain,
yet world and weather through that door
have come alive again,"

from Six Songs from a Play, First Song
by Patrick Anderson

Loon

"NOW DO U UNDERSTAND WHAT HEAVEN IS

IT IS THE SURROUND OF THE LIVING"

The Changing Light at Sandover

by James Merrill

Clouds in the slough

"The birds have vanished down the sky,
and now the last cloud drains away."

from Zazen on Jingting Mountain
by Li Bai

After the rain.

"What are days for?
Days are where we live.
They come, they wake us
Time and time over.
They are to be happy in:
Where can we live but days?"

from Days by Philip Larkin

Heading Home (September prairie)

"In scenery I like flat country.  

In life I don’t like much to happen."

from Passing Remark

"Wherever we looked the land would hold us up. "

from One Home

by William Stafford

Blue skies smiling at me, nothing but blue skies do I see

"We do know this much:
that it billowed white at the mountainous top
and its flat underside was the grey of headstones;
that it slid onto the land and felt its way
over the contours of several western states, 
always moving eastward, from left to right
the way eyes move over print
as if it were reading the earth with its blind shadow. 

Otherwise, it did nothing
but allow itself to be blown through the high cold 
atmosphere,
though it was always changing shapes
and assumed in its lifetime the form
of Australia, the head of an enormous dog,
a sheep on the run, a hippo with its mouth agape, 
and even the camel that passed through the eye of Hamlet. "

from Biography of a Cloud

by Billy Collins

"Today was the first time in a couple of weeks that the smoke pulled back enough to allow us blue sky. We planted some volunteer spruce that we got from the farm and raided Rigmor's garden for cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots and corn. And the harvested hay field suddenly sprouted a neighbours cows takings a walkabout under the blue skies. 

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war. No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted out of a love poem that you used to know by heart."

from Forgetfulness 
by Billy Collins

Stormy Weather

"My people, now it is time

for us all to shake hands with the rain.

It’s a neighbor, lives here all winter.

Talkative, yes. It will tap late

at night on your door and stay there

gossiping. It goes away without a goodby

leaving its gray touch on old wood.

Where the rain’s giant shoulders make a silver

robe and shake it, there are wide places.

There are cliffs where the rain leans, and

lakes that give thanks for miles

into the mountains. We owe the rain

a pat on the back—barefoot, it has walked

with us with its silver passport all over the world."

from Wovoka's Witness

William Stafford

Last night my wife mentioned a storm moving towards

us from Belbutte a tiny community to the west. Soon

we had thunder and lightning and Mammatus clouds

behind the cabin.

"Characteristics. Mammatus are most often associated 

with anvil clouds and also severe thunderstorms. 

They often extend from the base of a cumulonimbus, 

but may also be found under altocumulus, altostratus, 

stratocumulus, and cirrus clouds, as well as volcanic ash clouds."

from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammatus_cloud

View from the front porch with a shaking Shih Tzu

in my lap.

The rain hits the slough. 

 Twenty minutes later all is well.

Drive to Shellbrook

"In scenery I like flat country.

In life I don't like much to happen."

from Passing Remark

by William Stafford

I have a new camera, a Canon Rebel T6i with a 18-135 lens, the lens

does allow me to come closer to capturing what I love most about the

prairies, the interaction between sky, space and clouds. And I am glad the

town of Shellbrook still has a grain elevator to stand up against it.

"Pioneers, for whom history was walking through dead grass,

and the main things that happened were miles and the time of day-

you built that town and I have let it pass."

                                   from Prairie Town

                                       by William Stafford

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor

 towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where.
And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.

from Burnt Norton

             T.S. Eliot

somewhere in the Hand Hills area, Southern Alberta

"All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay

Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air

       And playing, lovely and watery

               And fire green as grass.

       And nightly under the simple stars

As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,

All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the nightjars

       Flying with the ricks, and the horses

               Flashing into the dark.

And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white

With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all

       Shining, it was Adam and maiden,

               The sky gathered again

       And the sun grew round that very day.

So it must have been after the birth of the simple light

In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm

       Out of the whinnying green stable

               On to the fields of praise."

   from Fern Hill

   Dylan Thomas

and possibly my all time favorite poem.

                                          

We did stay with Helen's mom at the farm

while we worked on the cabin.

Below is a photo is of Willow Two, the first Willow appears on  

the banner for this website and was a great friend of mine.

We often took long walks together and my very sentimental

poem Paths was written for Willow

Willow Two while physically 

similar is quite different behaviourally for one she will

not go very far with me on a walk, she also is quite a 

hunter and kills even the Garter Snakes that come her way

I did manage to get one away from her while I was there

but it can be a bit disconcerting to find pieces of them.

I suspect both traits may stem from the fact she has some 

Great Pyrenees blood which would make her more territorial

and a home body. She is a lovely dog however and we get 

on well.

I do love the fields and skies of the farm and thought 

I would share some photos.

 

 

 

 

Paths 

                        “Of tender joy wilt thou remember me,”

                                                                        Tintern Abbey

                                                                                          William Wordsworth

Time was I did not walk this path alone, but words uncounted

can not tame the world to hold your shape once more.

Gone now, so very gone while I await some future call.

But until then I am here, remembering a questing spirit,

who pads the pathless night, the trackless starfields,

the wild aurora, thru the great winding fields of light.

When called, will you return by way of these tamer fields

so that one day we may take that walk together?

                                       Guy

This morning we had impressive clouds

the colour seems a bit more dramatic

than I remember but I did not do much

editing. They did not signify extreme

weather, we had a cloudy morning and

a warm mild afternoon.

I am working on cloud identification

I think these are cumulus but I would

welcome a correction if you disagree.

Kathie from http://kathiesbirds.blogspot.com/

has suggested these are mammatus clouds

and they certainly look like them. Thanks Kathie 

"Never alone

While over unending sky

Clouds move for ever.

Calling them beautiful

Humanity is in love with creatures of mist."

                                          Cloud

                                              Kathleen Raine

Sorry it has been a while since I updated

my blog on our work on the cabin. Things came up.

Monday July 18th.

Work on the roof continued it is plus 30 degrees

on the ground with the metal roofing and tar paper it is

worse up there. Helen's brothers soldier on.

Helen surveys the neighbourhood.

Tuesday July 19th

That is not the camera, our contractor supplied two

different shades of red roofing. The other sides match,

it is only this side, the one you see when you arrive

that had to be striped. 

Another 30 plus degree day but Ralph and Brian finish the roof.

Helen and I have palmed sanded the cabin and begin staining.

We finish the front and the far side. The front we stained by hand

the side we used a power sprayer to shoot stain everywhere and 

then rolled the stain even with a roller and a bit of brush work.

That was a better method faster and more even.

The neighbours were also busy, we saw up to three beavers

on the slough at the same time.

I guess were were a bit noisy.

Wed July 20th

No photos, we had hoped to finish the staining but after
two hours, the rain got worse since we were worried about the
road we went to the farm. As we arrived at the farm the
power went out about 10:30 am and was off the rest of the day
lots of wind and rain. We have had a fair bit of wind

this trip with lots of fallen limbs.

Thursday July 21st

Power still out but since we are using a generator

we finish staining and begin cleaning up. We are leaving Friday
and so we cannot actually stay in the cabin this summer.
Next spring we will build the outhouse, put in the floor and
appliances (propane), and mosquito proof it so we can stay
later in the summer. We will also have it skirted to keep
the wind and critters from getting underneath.

Power back on yeah.

We also hope to open a path so we can see annother slough

that is beside the cabin as well. Also we will clear some other

 paths. However we will leave most of the woods intact

since it is the very reason we bought the land. The woods

have many plants including an impressive stand of

stinging nettles.

and some Pincherry

A final look at the cabin, the patio door boarded up to

discourage access. It will take years to actually finish

but that is part of the adventure.

"Once more. Say, you are in the country; in some high land of lakes.
Take almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries
you down in a dale, and leaves you there by a pool in the stream.

There is magic in it. "

                                             Moby Dick

                                                                        Herman Melville