Today had been an interesting and eventful day. Finished the last bit of Tigers in the Snow by Matthiessen and Hornocker, then went on an expedition to the River Valley with my son, which is always a lot of fun for both of us.
Trying to give my long dormant bent toward Natural History full reign lately and instead of trying to push it to a dark corner in the back of my head Ihave started to take my first fumbling steps toward figuring out how to learn what I wish to know in my own way and see if it leads anywhere productive. Hence my recent predeliction for photographing and attempting to identify the local varieties of weeds that I have been seeing all my life without knowing their proper names, or in most cases, any name at all. I have also noticed a distinct absence in this area of the city of a lot of weeds that were common around our farm at Buck Lake, that I would have assumed would have at least a few representatives here in the city, the distance between not being great, and the climate and soil types for the most part the same. I imagine part of it is because of intensive spraying by the municipality of Edmonton. One of my favorites when I was young was Pastinaca sativa, or Wild Parsnip, which always looked very exotic with giant elephant ear like leaves and a thick hollow stem that combined to make for great fun when I felt like trouncing a mass of vegatation with a suitable stick. Aah, the simple pleasures of youth. Other favorites were Pineapple Weed, Matricaria discoidea, which I always thought looked cool and a carpet of this plant feels great on the toes and they smell good too. Pineapple Weed is related to Chamomile, Matricaria Recutita.
In any case, during our walk I was collecting and photographing various of these plants. The picking of which few would frown upon as they are scheduled weeds in Alberta. Plants I am not aware of the status of I'll simply photograph in situ. Found some interesting plants today that I am still trying to ascertain what they actually are.
Also got involved with my son playing in a rock pile and managed to shatter a piece of some variety of sandstone into a servicable cutting tool, the evidence being me slicing my thumb open pretty good leaving me bleeding pretty bad in the middle of nowhere, and my son still intent on having a picnic. So I grabbed a fistful of wild grass and wrapped it around my thumb as a makeshift tournequete while we sat for our picnic. We then returned to our rock smashing site, and I was again drawn to the same rocks which I have been finding a lot on our walks, and started smashing them again hoping to uncover something interesting. I ended up finding a couple of geodes, and was so intent on my discovery I backed into a bush which seemed to be the home of some very cantankerous bees which chased me around for a bit while my son sat and had a bit of a laugh. The bees called a halt to our geological expedition and we returned home.
Built a fence in the backyard to keep the dogs from a Peony we just transplanted, and had a quick chat with my uncle from Buck Lake where I was raised who I haven't spoken to for a couple of years and haven't seen since I was at my father's funeral. This phone call put me in much better spirits, I had been fearing the worst, but everyone was still doing well back home and I am heading out for a quick visit on Saturday to pick up some of my things that have been stored out there since I left home at eighteen for the big ol' city.
The item I am most excited about having home once more is a saddle that was made in 1867 in Kansas City that has passed down through a few hands in my family, once belonging to a cowboy named Johnny Wright from Texas, who gave it to my uncle Laurel Ives, a professional Rodeo Cowboy, who left with my father when he moved to California, and my father then gave to me a couple of years before he died. I'll rest a lot easier knowing it is with me, it is one of the few heirlooms I have I absolutely do not ever want to lose. It weighs half a ton so I hope I never have to hump it out of a burning building though.
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