Thimble Berry Blossom Brushed with Dew

 ... texture of bark of tree laying in dry grasses
and tiny burnt umber pine cones ...

Bonnie and I took an after-nap stroll, just down to the stream to check on how the hills look since the spring clean-up is officially finished. That stroll should have been taken with a pencil and paper for along the way I began to count more things to do.

1. There are some brown patches where the grass didn’t take, so they must be seeded.

2. There are branches to pick up, ones that were hidden behind a bush on the first run through, or which still retained their green colour and I couldn’t tell that they had been cut. Now their leaves are curling and they stand out as needing to be taken to the trash pile.

 ...chives in bloom in herb garden ...

3. Each time I walk down there, I see a small cluster of bells – orange, and I think I must take a picture of them so that I can identify them in my wild flower book. But having no camera, and no pen and paper, I walk on.

4. Bonnie and I stop to admire a small rose bud, which will be in full bloom tomorrow.

5. The smell of the peony bushes is in the air. Later Michael will join us. I will tell him, "The name of this pink flower is Peony". He will tell me, "No, it is called flower".

thimble berry blossom brushed with dew

6. The view from the house looks different. Philipp helped take out the sapling. In a managed natural area the master gardener has to figure out which plants are the weeds and which are the flowers. On the back hill, the blackberries and the thistle berries will be given a chance to compete with each other. In either case, and whichever wins, the hill has a beautiful ground cover and now is full of flowers.

7. We stop by the culvert again, the new and improved CPR one by the road. The CPR put two culverts in there creating a lovely pool, and some smaller pools for the water to pause in as it runs down the hill.

...upper right hand corner -- meadow filled with Baby Blue Eyes...
 ... creek is filled with water spilling over rocks ...

8. Bonnie is barefoot. I can’t do that, but she takes off her socks to protect them and walks along the road or the grass, her skin resting on the pebbles or the cactus which is down low and missed by the mower. She doesn’t seem to mind. This is a skill only real BC-ers seem to have.

9. Michael pulls at his mother who is up at the house. He tells her that people are here, for he can hear our voices down by the Wedding Reach of the stream. She tells him that no one is around, but he has heard us.

 ...a new clematis flower every morning ...

10. And it is not long until all of us hear Glen, coming to mow my lawn. My lawn, and he carefully tends all of the grass to the side of my place, making it look so inviting to those who want an evening stroll.

Some will take off their shoes and socks and enjoy all of the underfoot textures.

Arta