What's Blooming this Week

These Canterbury Bells are biennials.  My mom gave me the first year plants last summer.  They originally came from a packet  of seeds my Aunt Marlene brought from Germany many years ago.  They were originally blue, but over the years they have seeded out pink.  

Also flowering in the front flowerbed:

Shasta Daisies

Pink Stonecrop

And day lilies 

Out and About

Leo and the Warbling Wierdos played at our friends Pat and Deb's house for the Annual Garden Tour.  Everyone enjoyed the tour it was a great way to get out and visit in a socially responsible way during these covid times.

Meanwhile, Scout Island is flooded again with all the wet weather we've been  having.

The dock is inaccessible again

But July showers bring flowers.

Yarrow and toadflax

And a host of mustard

This meadowlark doesn't mind the weather:

Neither do the pelicans:

Or these adorable goslings:

Messing around in Boats

We took our friend Wilfred out to try kayaking for his first time on William's Lake.

Another day we paddled on Brunson Lake in Chimney Valley.

There's a windy creek meandering through the marsh.

We paddled up it till we came to a road with an impassable culvert.

Canada Day

It was a rainy Canada Day.  The usual gang went for our Wednesday walk to Scout Island.  Good weather for geese.

Some of us wore red for Canada Day:

Afterwards we celebrated at the newly opened Fox  Mountain Brewery.

The fancy light fixture was built and donated by our friend Rick:

Bulkley Hike

Another sunnier day we drove out to Telkwa, crossed the road bridge across the Bulkley River,

 then took the railway bridge across the Telkwa 

and followed a trail along the south side of the Bulkley 

that gives you a view of the backyards of the houses along the river 

and then goes through forest 

and meadows

till you wind up at a sandy beach.  

(all photos with me in then courtesy of Sybille)

Dave thought it would be a 40 minute hike but turned out we took 1-1/2 hours to get there.  Good thing the weather was nice.  

People were jumping of the bridge into the Bulkley on our way back.  We stopped for ice cream cones in Telkwa on our way home.

Some flowers:

Jacob's Ladder

Pinedrops just coming up

Pink Pyrola

Mountain Ladyslipper

 

And a butterfly:

White Admiral

 

Grand Reopening

Courtesy of the New Yorker

Trip to Smithers

My mother's neighbours have installed a community vegetable bed on vacant land for the community to help themselves

In late June I took advantage of the relaxed Covid guidelines to expand my bubble and visit my mom in Smithers.

The weather was rainy with mixed bits of warm sunshine so I got  a few walks in. 

We walked down to the Bulkley River between rain showers

and then followed the trail along Chicken Creek back to town.

A few flowers along the way:

Then we made our first foray inside a restaurant in months and had coffee at the Two Sisters' Cafe with my sister and brother-in-law.  They had hand sanitizer at the entrance and big spaces between the tables so it felt safe. Exciting times!