Signs of Summer

A warning!! This is one of those tales that involves a lot of personal coincidences and vague acquaintanceships...try to keep up.

With this crappy weather of late, we've all been searching for conclusive proof tha summer is even intending to arrive this year. Yesterday, on the first day of the season, I got such proof.

This tale takes us back to last year, when Kira and I decided to go swimming at a remote spot on the Kennedy River (we later camped there on our honeymoon). While we were there, we ran into my bosses partner Kim, and a naked man with a dog. I was surprised to run into Kim, as I don't often run into her. The dog looked vaguely familiar. Kim was camping there with a friend (also female).

The next week, when we were in the office, Kim was telling the tale of the "naked guy", and how despite the fact that two uninterested females were camping there (having arrived first) this naked man persisted on being totally nude, all the time for 3 straight days. Granted it was hot last summer, but his immodesty seemed excessive.

In the coarse of this tale, it was revealed that the "naked guy" was actually a person named Steve, the roommate of my co-worker Dierdre. This made us laugh...ironic, right?

So yesterday, the first day of summer according to the western calendar (in the northern hemisphere, anyway), I was down at the river (a different river), skipping stones and throwing sticks for the dog. All of a sudden, I heard barking from a few hundred feet downstream. Curiosity aroused, I walked down for a vantage point, only too see a vaguely familiar naked man throwing sticks to a dog named Jasper. That's right..."naked guy" was out. Like the groundhog coming out of the hole, this is surely a time honoured marker of the passing seasons.

Oh...the photo up top is not related to any of this...it's simply a pleasant nature scene. I neither had a camera to take a picture of Steve in all his glorious nudeness, nor do I believe anyone would really want to see that. But bless that " naked guy" for heralding summer.

Reflections on the Nature of Fear

This occurred to me today: fear has a great deal to do with perception and definition.
Take for instance this revelation I had at work today.
I'm absolutely petrified of wasps and hornets, yet I'm not at all afraid of bees. In the course of my work, I'm exposed to all manner of flying/sting insects, but for some reason, only the wasps get to me. I run like a sissy when I see wasps.
To be true, I have been stung more frequently by wasps, but I've also been stung by honey bees and bumble bees.
So today I find myself in a place populated by thousands of honey bees and bumble bees, all busily harvesting the nectar of the salal flowers. I was aware of the bees, as their constant droning was quite loud. I walked literally through a sea of buzzing bees. I felt no fear. But I had this one nagging thought: I won't be able to hear the wasps over all this bee racket!
So then I got afraid (momentarily). Clearly, I perceive honey bees to be benign and industrious workers who mean me no harm. Wasps, on the other hand, I characterize as malicious and harmful.
Maybe it's all in my head!

Inspiration

A catchy new age title, eh?
It's true though, sometimes the world around you gives you ideas...this is called inspiration.
So today I was inspired. Not in any life changing way, but the beauty of the natural world did give me an idea on what to do with a 7x7 foot trouble area of my yard.
The amazing thing is that this beaver pond is only a 5-10 minute drive from my house, about 300 metres down a wheel-chair accessible trail. And I had never been there before (thanks Geocaching)
I'm going to steal me some off these irises and build a small swamp.
Thanks Beavers...you rule.
(now how exactly did all those irises get there??-not a native species)

Of course, inspiration can lead you to do crazy things, like the other day when I was inspired to carry the perfect river rock back to my truck from the river. Seriously, a 20 pound rock in my arms for over a kilometre.
But hey, I have a nice rock, maybe I'll put it by my new swamp.