Rural Life

Rural Life is full of unexpected things for me today.

I am still wrapping my mind around finding the Robin's nest empty. No sign of male, female, or juvenile robins around. I found some broken egg shells under the nest. I am willing myself to believe the three baby birds lived and those are the shells that they made their way out of and then tossed out to make more room as they grew. I am having to work hard to will that belief.

Another surprise for me today was how gorgeous and accessible Sicamous Falls are from the Lake. My friend, who is 37 weeks pregnant, dropped by to take me there for a short hike. She said she is walking slow, but she goes just the right pace for me.

First we went to the dump to try to see the Marmots. That was my suggestion. She laughed out loud and said "sure". How wonderfullly rural! No Marmots were seen, but the view of Mara Lake made up for the second time animals were not where I expected them to be.

We stopped half-way back down Two Mile road after that and went for the short hike to see Sicamous Falls. There were at least three places where the decent is enough that there is a perceptible drop in temperature. Just right on a hot day. The water in the stream was much icier than the Lake temperature right now. The mosquitoes were out in droves. The sound of the Fall made conversation difficult, but the beauty of the walk made conversation unnecessary. The moss and the mushrooms caught our eyes after we had stared at the Falls long enough.

The final part of our tour was to check out the barrel garden at Arta's. I just can't believe the zuccini plants actually have zuccini on them. The green peppers, dusky eggplant, pumpkin, and cucumbers all have enormous leaves and are flowering. The tomatoe plants have cute tiny green tomatoes on them. The pole beans have wound their tendrils so many times up the trellis they would be hard to take down. And lest yhou feel jealous, know I also have one barrel that is just weeds, with one common weed winding its tendrils up a tomatoe wire basket I left and forgot to pick up. Yes, the good and the bad, all growing away with minimal tending on our part. When I moved here and was bragging about our strawberries someone said to me, "You are in the Shuswap. If you put a shovel in the ground and leave it, even it will grow."

Happy gardening to all