When I was a teenager, we had this handsome, nasty, aggressive old Banty Rooster. He was a beautiful, boastful, prideful, arrogant individual that would attack me at every opportunity. Whenever I approached the barn, I would do so slowly, searching out every beam, every corner, every cervice, for that darn bird.

Not spying him, I would confidently enter, and then BANG, out of nowhere would he would appear. Rusty, adequately named for the brilliant bronze feathers that graced his scruffy neck, the bronze illuminating the blues, greens and reds that adorned his body, would fly at me, in all his glory, not relenting till I fled the barn for safer pastures.

This old rooster is a hen, she is made of metal and cannot fly. I have lovingly recreated her into something completely new. She will find a new home, in the spring, amongst the trees in our garden.

A good friend of mine has loaned me a book called Advanced Style by Ari Seth Cohen. A beautiful picture book of amazing older women. Each elegant and refined, determining their own style and flash. Just like the recreation of my old bird, above, we continuously redefine ourselves, adding colour and glam, often creating someone completely different as we journey through the chapters of our life.

I remember going to the grocery store, when I was first married, and buying a head of lettuce. This, oddly enough, was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.

Unti then, for me, lettuce was something that you gathered from the garden and was eaten, in season, from early spring til late summer. Winter foods included kale, root vegetables and green beans from the freezer. Lots and lots of green beans.

I haven’t had a real vegetable garden in more than 20 years, and with a property with very poor soil; we live on a road with several gravel pits, we decided, this time around, to go with raised garden beds.

Our plan was to build two, 8 feet by 4 foot beds. Due to covid19, our local lumber supplier had a shortage of lumber and so, for the same price, we now have two 10 feet by 5 foot garden beds.

After constructing the bed frames we covered the ground with cardboard, then added a layer of old, decaying wood. On top of this we spread a ton of last year’s leaves. Topsoil, from different parts of our acreage then topped up the beds. A large bucket of old horse manure, from our wonderful neighbour @Hawks Landing, was blended into this top layer.

Today, our first crop of locally grown garlic cloves, carefully spaced to break my habit of planting things too close together resulting in very little produce, entered the ground. A blanket of straw from our favourite farmers market, Harris Farms, will keep these little bulbs warm and comfortable during our snowy winter months.

Our hope is that, next summer, we will be able to provide ourselves with fresh produce, with extra for our local Food Bank.

We’re planning on growing a variety of vegetables, but no green beans!

Pickling has been a passion for probably a proportionate period of my person. Pickling with personable, pleasant, people, adds plenty of pop to the process making the preparation more pleasurable and ‘pesto’ a packed pantry!

Packing cauliflower, perhaps picked at pre-dawn, into prepared pickling syrup is not only probable but profitable as a flavourful favourite feast for a fabulous friend.

Processing proper peppers, red and green, with purple onions and pointy celery, sprinkled with pure pickling salt and boiled in a pretty potful of brine, packed into pretty pints provides for a properly prepared platter for a private BBQ parade.

Symbolism in Native American Culture.

The dragonfly spiritually embodies the stripping away of negativity that holds us back, helping us to achieve our dreams and goals. Dragonflies are the keepers of dreams, the energy within that sees all of our true potential and ability. Dragonflies inspire spiritually and creatively, they help us on the path of discovery and enlightenment. They remind us that anything is possible.

I was finally able to take part in a social distancing gathering with my peers of twenty years.

The dragonfly and the butterfly symbolize the people we are and the work we have done.

All of these things, we gave to the people we worked with.

I am very thankful to have been a part of this compassionate, caring, inspiring group of women.

The Butterfly symbolism works as a representation of resurrection, change, hope, endurance, and courage to embrace the transformation to make life better.