



Happy Thursday.




Happy Thursday.

It takes centuries to grow an ancient woodland. A springtime to grow blossom. Eight minutes for sunlight to reach Earth. Eight years for a white …
Patience
A beautiful walk through the English woodland from Adele at Walk with Wildlife. Please click the link above to see the rest of this lovely nature post and the many others available on Adele’s blog.
With the arrival of May’s lovely sunny days and with our temperatures hovering around 25 C (77 F), attention is turning to more summerish pursuits. Beaches are becoming populated, boats have come out of storage or dry dock and even though the water is still cold – the rivers and creeks running into Okanagan Lake are swollen with snow melt from the mountains – swimmers are beginning to take the plunge.



Although we no longer recognise the ancient celebration of May Day with May poles, flower garlands, religious devotionals or even at all, perhaps it’s time we brought it back. The arrival of May – what a lovely thing to commemorate and honour!
Happy May 1.
Recently, we did a leisurely visit to the Similkameen Valley just to the south of us to buy some wine and to admire the orchards and scenery.





It was a lovely spring day and we also came home with some great wine, too. We have to wait a bit for the fruit, though!
Happy Tuesday.

Ultimate confidenceUltimate TrustUltimate Burden
Secrets
A beautiful picture of two little finches from Mark Wade at Photographic, Impressionistic, Illusionistic. To see more of Mark’s photos, please click the link above.
Sun showers are an interesting weather phenomenon. In one spot, thick heavy clouds may be dropping significant rain while a few metres away, it’s sunny.

This was the case recently when I went for my daily ramble. There were some dark clouds producing a misty rain and a bit of a rainbow …

… while on the other side of the lake, the sun shone beautifully.

The contrast of sun and dark cloud probably shows better in this photo.

The sun was shining on these azaleas but you can see the dark cloud behind them. Eventually the weather cleared completely and I finished my ramble without need for an umbrella.
Happy Monday.
The Okanagan sunflowers are blooming!

Except these aren’t actually sunflowers at all. These are arrowleaf balsamroot plants, and they are entirely edible from their roots to their blooms.

They grow only in a limited number of pine forests in the Okanagan Valley and somewhat farther south as the valley extends into Washington state. They possibly grow elsewhere but in that case they would be transplants; the range of the arrowleaf balsamroot plant is limited to this area; they are uniquely adapted to this valley’s naturally dry conditions – this is geographically the northernmost tip of the Sonoran Desert – and with their extremely long taproots can find water deep underground.

They were an important food source to First Nations peoples; the roots and seeds were ground for flour, and the leaves and stalks were steamed or consumed raw. This incredibly nutritious plant with its high degree of anti-inflammatory properties is now making a return to local kitchens and can be found on some restaurant menus.

Presently they are blooming profusely all over the hillsides and especially among the pine forests, brightly beautiful with their yellow faces, but they have to be enjoyed now as the blooms only last about a week.
To those to celebrate, Happy Easter and Happy Passover; to those who don’t, happy Sunday. 🌼

All photos taken on October 31, 2024. The main reason for visiting this park was for the lighthouse views. The lighthouse viewpoint is up a short …
Vancouver in Verse – A Little Lighthouse Keeping
A beautifully photographed Vancouver lighthouse trail hike from Allan at Picture This. Please click the link above to see the entire post and also to browse Allan’s gorgeous landscape photography.

Late afternoon on Skaha Lake beach. No swimmers yet, but soon.
Happy Sunday.
M and I recently spent the day checking out the Okanagan Valley’s spring progress.

We had beautiful weather; windless, sunny and 16 C (61 F).

We sat outside at Skaha Lake – it’s the smaller of the two lakes between which sits our city – to enjoy lunch at a favourite restaurant. It was warm enough that I had to move into the shade! The sun had a bit of power happening, As we ate, we saw a bald eagle swoop down and grab some lunch from the lake, too.

The weeping willows are all showing the light green of new growth.

We headed out into farming country where the wine grape vines are greening, the orchards are blooming and the farmers are very, very busy.
It was lovely not only to see spring but to feel it, too. 🍃