New beginning

For several years our daughter has given us a beautiful calendar by artist Nikki McClure. Each month has a word -- to contemplate, or to find connections with, or to just make us say, "hunh." January's word is Fix. To which I say, "hunh." Because we are fixing things around here, as it turns out. The illustration is of someone using twine to repair the handle of a rake.That’s something I have actually done in the last two years, though never before that.We lived busy urban lives in the US when Amanda first began to give us these calendars.  Back then I thought each month’s print showed a sort of dream, something beautiful but imaginary and unattainable, something to look at and admire.

Now each January we hang the new calendar in our old island kitchen. We have tried not to change very much in the kitchen of our 1850s house. Having electricity and running water in the kitchen is lovely, though. The walls are insulated gyp-rock now, instead of plaster, above the moulding. But the moulding is original. The kitchen utensils hanging from the hooks were here when we arrived.  Greg has painted them black so now they are objects of art, kind of.  Since we have mice the jars on the shelf are the most practical way to keep dry food.

Nikki McClure's calendars honour the quiet beauty of the seasons and simple experiences of life. Since we moved to McNutt's Island in 2007, it’s odd how much our lives have become like her calendar illustrations. Her art no longer seems to me like a dream. She illustrates our new reality. To which I say, “hunh.”

Nikki gave me permission to use this image.