Balsam-orhiza

En route from Vancouver to New Denver along Highway 3 ("the Southern route"), coming up into Richter Pass from the Similkameen Valley, Doco and I came upon a hillside ablaze with yellow-orange flowers.  The "balsam-orhiza" or balsam root - used by the Salish and Kootenai native peoples for food and medicine, the seeds for oil.  Part of the sunflower family.

Doco found a place to pull over, 

 and I scrambled up a steep bank with the help of sage bushes to get into the flowers.

balsam root in the foreground, sage in the background ...

… their perfect day

DIane Cox visit

The reason for Diane Cox's 3-day visit from Edmonton was to hear her grand-daughter Ellie Hogan singing in the UBC Chamber Choir, here in their last performance of the academic year, April 1st.  It was splendid.  I'm sure we could just hear Ellie's clear soprano voice.

Ellie is the tall blond in the middle back

a proud grand-mother

Earlier that day, Diane and I explored the VanDusen Botanical Garden.  I almost never go there, so don't know it and it was perfect.  We could really explore.  Diane has a BSc in Botany and loves plants and gardens.  Her refrain: "This is not Edmonton!"

everywhere blossom!

except on the monkey-puzzle trees

We got through the maze, no problem, then got lost getting back to the main garden. 

The next day, a damp but lovely walk with Ellie in the Nitobe Garden ...

… and in the Haida village in front of the Museum of Anthropology.

Name this creature ...

Clue:  It's in Vancouver, in the woods near the Museum of Anthropology, on a damp day.  

(and I didn't step on it.)

Happy Easter

Wiltshire Street flowers bringing Happy Easter wishes to you all, with much love from Meo and Doco.

Dogtooth violets (fawn lilies, Eryththronium) under the witch hazel ...

Lenten roses (Hellebore) by the side fence ...

Dogtooth violets by the walnut tree stump, on their most glorious day...

 Dogtooth violets by the basement stairs (always a bit of a surprise) ...

Pear, just coming into bloom around the tree fort and chickadee box ...

And chocolate lilies (Fritillaria) in the back corner, rescued from under the snowberry ...

Can you see the fine checkerboard pattern on their petals?  I wonder how they do that?
………………………………………...
P.S. We'll be thinking of you and wishing you were here or we were there (various "there"s) for Easter Egg hunts!  Hope you find some.  love, Meo.

Musqueam exhibit #3

Diana's and my visit to the third of the three Musqueam exhibits, this one at the Museum of Vancouver (for #1 and #2, see Feb 14 and March 10).

 Here, the one large museum room has exhibits of artifacts on small display tables, dotted around.  The power in the room comes from a continuous animated film on the long wall - the Musqueam story of a two-headed serpent that emerged out of the forest and created Musqueam Creek (I think).  The serpent moves quickly.  This sequence of stills (Diana's), with display tables in the foreground, catches some of its moments.  A strong myth.

 The two-headed creature coming straight toward us, one head to left, one head to right.

The two heads re-emerging for another pass by ...

… and the serpent tail weaving a meandering creek ...

… with trout lilies (dog-tooth violets) springing up along its shores.

Saint Patrick's Day parade

Here I go again.  My first parade since about the age of 10 when we kids all decorated our bicycles with crepe-paper and rode around the neighbourhood.  And it was fun!  I had decided to go only at our Thursday evening "session" at Celtic Traditions, where I was convinced that I could at least carry my smallest, Zephyr, harp (as long as the rain held off).  To be seen and not heard.

Two problems.  First, I had no strap arrangement to help with the carrying (Molly suggested that I needed a wagon and a puller, but no time to come up with either), and even my littlest harp weighs.  I figured I could last about two tunes.  Second, I hadn't got the chords for the particular eight tunes that we were to play firmly in mind - I hadn't done my homework.  Should I or shouldn't I?

The day dawned cloudy, with just a bit of spit, and off I went, harp on my back.  Granville bus downtown to Davie Street.  Then over to Howe and Drake where the parade was to begin, and backwards up the Howe-Street bridge-ramp where the entries were gathering all in order (Scottish pipers, Irish dancers, dogs) to #C34 - "Celtic Traditions".  We were flanked, in front by Academie Duello (medieval sword-play and stuff) and behind by the Vancouver Canadians baseball team.  Celtic??  Nearby, the Aquarium had a seal mascot riding in a pedi-cab - perfect for me and a harp I thought, but no room for sharing.  I would have to walk.

our pub competition warming up

an Irish dance school getting sorted

our Celtic Traditions "float"

ready to go 

 At 11am, the line began to move, down the ramp and into the crowd.  We walked and played and smiled and before we knew it we were at Georgia and Granville and the parade was done.  45 minutes.  I had carried my harp and played - sort of - for the whole parade.

our fearless leader, Michael Pratt, had us playing all the way

the one harp 

At the end, a photo in the street, then off to the Kingston pub.  Our gang downstairs for Guinness, lunch and a "session".  Our competition, a Scottish bagpipe-band, overhead.  Loud!  Thank goodness they played only a few songs.

So I am hooked … but have my eye on a pedi-cab for next year.

Musqueam exhibit #2

Two pieces that I particularly liked from part-two of the Musqueam ("cesna?em") exhibit, at the Museum of Anthropology, UBC ...

First.  Musqueam sturgeon fishers with 30-foot-long harpoons, circa 1850

Second.  Five photos from a sequence of moving images, showing the development of the Fraser River delta and the migration of native villages, further and further out-to-sea.  The sequence also shows the colonial settlement as it developed (open circles, and shading that my camera didn't catch).  Cesna?m appears on the Fraser's north arm and "Musqueam" on the ocean's edge in the third photo.  Most of the exhibit was Musqueam stories, told by current band members, and their thoughts about their heritage and their future.