April 8, 1917
As I did on Good Friday, I set out early in the morning to sketch. Annie wanted to do an Easter Bible reading at 11:00 and I promised to be back before then.
It was a warmer day today. It was above freezing before I went out. The sun was out and it was making nice shadows once again with the birches. I took one of the walking paths behind the lodge, but it was difficult to walk any distance. The snow is mostly gone from the paths, now mostly mud that sucks in your boot at every step. Going up hillsides was tricky too, because the snow, more like ice, was slippery making it difficult to get a decent foothold. I went for a good tumble downhill and my sketch box popped open during the descent. Luckily, it wasn’t difficult to recover the contents and I hadn’t starting sketching yet. But I did my sketching with a wet backside.
I settled on another woods scene today. This time, the birches were mixed in with a few young red maples and some poplars. This is the second growth forest, – trees started growing at the same time. They’re are all competing for the light so there growing as tall and as a skinny as they. There’s not a big tree that’s alive for miles around. The big trees are dead trees that were drowned at the shoreline.
I made it back in time for Annie’s Bible reading and dinner at noon. Talk at the station is about a big battle in France soon. The letters from the boys are saying that they’re getting ready, but the not much more than that is coming through the censors. One of the consumptives from Ottawa has a brother there. She says there’s not much to learn in his letters but he’s written they’ve been training in numbers for several months now. Something in the works that’s going to make Somme like an afternoon picnic. We won’t know what happenen until they’re all dead.
During the afternoon I stayed by the fireplace reading. Lt. Crombie was all bundled and propped up in his bed on the verandah. Instead of pursuing me, Daphne spent time with Annie in the kitchen preparing the Easter Dinner.
And a fine Easter Dinner it was. Ham, brazed potatoes, turnip and a pineapple salad (canned pineapple). Dessert was pie made from northern spy apples. They’re the only apples manage to survive winter storage and keep their taste for cooking.
Shannon got a telegram today. Another guest will be arriving tomorrow. Charlie Scrim from Ottawa. That lifted my spirits, Charlie was a guest last year and we became good friend. He has the consumption like the other folks, but not nearly as bad.
Tom Thomson's Last Spring 