Bowls and an Extra B

Sunday morning’s walk was spectacular, but then I always say that don’t I? Everything is so lush and green, many of the wild plants have finished blooming and so now the grasses are thriving. It’s beautiful to see them all, so tall and laden with seeds, gently bending in the wind. And the fragrance of Summer is here. It’s the smell of dryness. It’s a delightful smell, because it is the smell of heat and Summer.

We went for a good long walk, and then we came home for a brief respite, and I fed the brood their lunch early. I wanted Her Highness to feel satiated while we were at the Fire Truck at Silva Bay for lunch with Kris and Steve. All the gardens are well watered, so I was looking forward to an entire day of pleasure.

It was 14° at Silva Bay. I was glad to sit in the sun to stay warm, and it is always fun to visit with Kris and Steve. There were lots of vendors at the market, and there is always music (that is sometimes terrible) and kids playing on the enormous grass field. I love eating at the Fire Truck in the Summer, and I enjoy seeing people having a good time.

When we got back, it was overcast and I chose not to work on the fence around the Plum¹ tree. Instead, I lit another fire and napped on self-indulgence day. I bought two nice bowls, and I’m going to get a third, from a local crafts couple. He turns wood, she burns designs into his products. I love them. They’re for two lovely young people, Ashlee and Alex, who are marrying in Summer. Ashlee is my long-time friend, Dianne’s, daughter.

I am giving Ash and Alex three bowls. I’ve asked for another in a different shape and with another avian creature as the design. And I’m going to get another two bowls for me. I love them!

It got quite dark in the late afternoon. It was My Day, so I had a low fire going. The cats love it. They always come to the chairs in front of the fire. Wood is my great indulgence. Fires have always brought me great pleasure. The smell of wood smoke in the garden is incense. The little sparks add life to the room. Televised fires burn on holidays. Fires brought people together. They are ritual to our species.

I went to bed hoping for rain. Yikes, it’s been a long time. I don’t think we’ve had a rainstorm here since Spring 2025. We’ve had showers that are light and few that were heavy. This, in a region of the world famous for rain.

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1.    Beth kindly brought my ignorance to my attention. I’ve been incorrectly spelling Plum when referring to my tree. Dumb me added a b.

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I loved biology in high school. I grew up with pets, pets that I needed. I took Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at UBC. I had ambitions that were thwarted by a profound squeamishness. The smartest person in the room was Wendy Taylor. She was beautiful and silly smart. When we had to choose a lab partner in our first lab class, I approached her. 

I told her I was very squeamish, but that I thought I might be the best illustrator in the room. I proposed that we partner, and she would do all the cutting, and I’d illustrate our papers and ace the course. She said yes and we scored in the 90s that year.

What I loved most in anatomy, was learning about the evolutionary history of parts of our body. In the history of our ears are the gills of fish. I found it incredibly interesting to learn about natural evolution and adaptive evolution. It’s the history of our biology and anatomy that used to help scholars date bones found by archaeologists before carbon dating.

I thought that the driver of evolution was betterment. I wrote a paper for my final paper for one course on evolution. We had to write about what we learned from our course. I didn’t do any research at all; I just sat down and wrote from my heart. He’d asked me to write about the part of the course I loved. I aced the paper and was very proud of it. 

It offends me that people reject science. I loathe the anti-vaxxers. I loathe a lot of things about contemporary life. We are living in the age of stupidity. 

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We had one brief and light shower this morning, and now the sky is brightening. It was a big fail on rain for last night and today. That's what I thought would happen. Sigh. We have an open day. I may get the fence around the Plum tree done, I may not. But I will not need to water today except for one or two large plants.

These are bud caps. That's what I call them. Every little branch
on all the bigger branches on all the even bigger bracnes, etc., etc., 
develop these caps as tthe start of new growth. The caps are cast
off as the green branch begins to grow. There are billions and 
billions of them, Sheba brings scores of them in every time she
comes into the house. They stick to her hair.

Above and below: The bowls I bought at the artist fair on Sunday.

 Buttercups and tall grasses fill the field near P.P.

The Maple Trees are drenched with seeds.

Grasses wave in the meadows.