I have worked here since 2011 telling stories of the Earth as preparation for a history of the Intermontane Grasslands of Central Cascadia and the rainswept coast that keeps them windy and dry. Now I am presenting this history, step by step, as I have learned it, often from the land itself. The history of this region includes the Canadian colonial space “The Okanagan Valley”, which lies over the land I live in above Canim Bay. The story stretches deep into the American West, into the US Civil War, the War of 1812, and the Louisiana Purchase, as well into the history of the Columbia District of the Hudson’s Bay Company. In all, the story spans the Chilcotin and Columbia volcanic plateaus and the basins that surround them. In this vast watershed lie homelands as old as 13,200 years (Sequim) and 16,200 years (Salmon River.) That’s how far we are walking together here, who are all the land speaking.
For them, life is a spray of electrons.
Okanagan Okanogan 
These are gorgeous images!
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Thanks! I love elders. But I bet you can tell!
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I can tell you do, and that they’re not the only thing you love. They’re very graceful – I’m always delighted when I spot one along a highway or roadside.
Ours are already red – maybe this one turns bluish? I’m not as familiar with more interior plants, being on the other side of the Cascades.
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Hi,
yes, these berries are a dark purple when ripe.
The flowers, as you can see are white.
Those red ones are coastal, but gorgeous too!
best
Harold
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Dear Harold,
I no longer recall how to sign in to comment on Word Press but want to thank you for the shift in perception your comments offer- such as when you refer to the patterned plants as “elders” – so important to reconnect how we see ourselves as a part of the world, being, or, from a Christian perspective, as expressions of the One Mind, that includes all that is good and principled.
Happy solstice.
Ruth
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Yes, this one mind thing fills me increasingly strongly. I am enjoying exploring it!
I’m glad you like my elders!
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so stunning… amazing plants..0
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They sure are! Thanks for walking through them with me.
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microcosmic wonder!
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Thanks for summing it up so well!
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