Plants don’t grow in dirt. Well, maybe snow buckwheat. The old glacial river eddy (above) high above Priest Valley had its gravel bed stripped away fifteen years ago. So far, nothing has […]
Weeds, Nature, Erosion and Hope. With a Fly, too.
What a Great Year for Bees!
Look what they’d done to the road cut above the hill. They’ve absolutely tilled it, digging nests. I my eight years walking this hill, I’ve never seen anything like it. Go, team! […]
Beauty and the Feast
The mountains have bloomed for Easter. Beautiful Arrow-leafed Balsam Root! Beats me why the whole city doesn’t shut down and take to the hills. And yet, for all that gorgeous display, the […]
Sagebrush Shares Her Water and Builds a World
Have a look at this sage brush: Like all plants, she gathers most of her water from the top surface of the soil, where it is most quickly lost to the dry […]
The First Petal of the First Blossom of the Sun
It’s a good day for arrow-leafed balsam roots. They have come fast (in two days). If you hurry, there’s still time for some fine steamed sprouts. Their menthol flavour is not yet […]
Magpie and Porcupine and the Moon in the Grassland
Here’s a lovely correspondence. First, the magpie nest. Well, two nests. Lovely wooden moons in the trees. And then the porcupine in a mountain ash in a dry creaked high on the […]
Getting Dizzy Hunting Marmots in January
Following the new deer trail uphill because the clouds are so beautiful today. Ah, the hawks are back. Here’s one looking for a marmot on Marmot Rock, on Marmot Hill. […]
Cultural Evolution in a Post-Canadian Landscape
Today, sober reflection. Tomorrow, a celebration. Kind of a small difference, eh. When the 5,000-year-old rattlesnake den on the hill was blasted away to make room for the luxury view homes the […]
Green Water Doing its Green Thing
Blue water pours freely under the sun, white water rushes with gravity, grey water is polluted by human use, black water is water that could be there, according to the capacity of […]
The Day the Sky Came Down to Earth
The shallots I planted last July are blooming now, and replacing the lost nodding onions up on the hill. The sky has noticed. Welcome, Sky! These blue beauties were in the mariposa […]
