Trees are boundaries. They are creatures of the air, but are anchored to the soil. Most birds are like that, too. Many put their nests up in the sky, supported by trees. They even […]
The Oriole in the Coal Mine
Snow and Bunchgrass in the Okanagan, or This Ain’t Mexico
Look how the wind that takes the Okanagan’s water away in the summer creates drifts around the bunchgrass in the shape of its mounds, effectively concentrating the snow where the plants can […]
Okanagan Rhododendrons and Climate Change
In the Okanagan Valley, rhododendrons, so glorious in the rain forests on the Pacific Coast, and so frost tender, grow at elevations between 3,000 and 5,000 feet, in moose swamps of black spruce, alder, […]
Learning from Birds
Gulls face the waves. Ducks face humans. Gulls blend in. Ducks don’t. When gulls get in a line, it is so that they can each face the water. If they’re not facing […]
Weevils Among the Flowers
‘Tis the season for flowers to go a-blooming. Dandelion after Yesterday’s Four Inches of Snow Went Away Oh, who’s that hiding behind the flower, being all shy, like? When we were all […]
The Importance of Colour
Oh, the ironies. A girl spends thousands of generations evolving the capacity to change colour to match the shades of individual grassland flowers, and then? Well, they die, and weeds take their […]
Okanagan Okanogan 