On the Quebec Side 2

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Skies can be dramatic or calm over any landscape but I always seem to feel an atmosphere of energy that differs wherever people dwell. Some places I avoid with caution and others draw me to them with a resonant harmony so uplifting. I enjoy-feel joy- driving country roads, especially near lakes like Lake Temiskaming, regardless of weather.

I’d like to explore that side road sometime.
Here’s a bird that knows how to ‘ride the waves’.
While we were at Fort Temiskaming, the sun shone brightly as the rain came down all around.
On the way back home, I was fascinated by both clouds and landscape.
The greys of the road, the clouds and the silo all seemed in harmony.
I don’t recall ever following those arrows, so that will be another day.
A glimpse of sunlight on a golden field…
Wrapped harvest
Harvest under a stormy sky
Farm animals in distant fields…
Fields near Notre-Dame-du-Nord close to the Ontario border and home in Temiskaming Shores on the Ontario side of Lake Temiskaming… a short drive but it always feels like an adventure.

On the Quebec Side

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We drove through blinding rain and bright sunshine along the Quebec countryside and farmed shores of Lake Temiskaming recently. It has always been one of my favourite local drives and often stirs memories of drives through France.

A quick snapshot before we couldn’t see anything but road…
The sky began to clear…
By the shore of Lake Temiskaming, I considered the courage of travel on its waters by the Indigenous People, the Voyageurs, the Explorers, the Pioneers.
At Fort Temiskamingue, where the Hudson Bay Company traded for beaver pelts, artists have created realistic scenes to portray what once was.
This is another glimpse into the history and activities at the Fort.
These are a reminder of the fur trade. I’m sure it was quite a rough ride when strong winds stirred up the water.
When our children were young, my husband and I brought them to see The Enchanted Forest at the Fort. The Cedars then were much more curved by the Artist ‘Wind’.
There’s a strange feeling when you pass among these trees and old graves scattered about, a feeling that was heightened years ago when the Cedars were more dynamically drawn by Nature.
If trees could talk and tell us their stories…
These Cedars do feel ‘enchanted’ still…
I took more photos of our travel on the other side of the lake from our home but this is long, so I’ll make another post.

Getting Ready

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Like a squirrel gathering nuts here for a long, cold winter, I have been gathering art and craft supplies for future creative endeavours. Moving here to Northeastern Ontario from Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia last June meant leaving much behind again but I did manage to transport what I thought were essentials in my old car. My son relocated his office to another part of the house so now my daughter and I share this Arts and Crafts Room while she is visiting. (I’ve only photographed ‘my stuff’ and even then there are several yarn bins for weaving projects and shelves of tools and supplies tucked away elsewhere.) The photos are the room ‘as is’ for now, neat and organized. When it becomes creatively messy with use, I’ll call it a ‘Studio’:)

Like a squirrel…
I bought and assembled a cabinet with much struggle to understand instructions, a humbling experience, then filled it in all of a few minutes.
I wonder how long this cabinet will stay organized and tidy.
I’ve temporarily tacked my painting over the new desk I assembled as I had to dispense with the frame of this mixed media to roll it for a space in my car, otherwise it would be among ‘those things left behind’. Some might consider it ‘tacky’ but it makes me happy to look at this and recall how the rain contributed to my art.
A wider claimed corner for supplies to remember it’s pristine state in the future:)

I managed to save a few of my weavings and paintings for myself, having gifted such (as well as sculptures) and donated others to charities. Like my poetry, I think of these as simply my hobbies.