Yukon River Quest

This morning I woke up our guest Sonja Anderson at 5.30 am. She had to go to work. It was minus 2 degrees Celsius. We had to scrape the ice of her car's windshield!
Frost means clear skies! And it turned out to be a hot sunny day. Now, this very moment it is a new moon. Maybe... what comes with the moon goes with moon.

Yesterday, July 1, was already a beautiful day. In the afternoon Don and I drove out to the Champagne dump. A wild place for sure, but not the kind of wild I want to talk about. Worth mentioning is the drive to it. The roads are lined with flowers. I had Don stop a few times. The Fabaceae (pea) family is well represented. Most showy, the purples of the Heysarums. And I found two more Astragalus (Milk Vetch). White ones, showy enough, probably the tenellus and williamsii.

In the evening Sonja and I went strawberry picking. They are actually not as abundant as I thought. We had to drive out to Stony Creek, there we picked enough for dessert. mmmmmm Sonja had brought whip cream. "Thank you my friend."
About the strawberries, what is interesting, is that I wonder if they bear fruit in the true wild. I've picked them for 18 years, always on old abandoned road ways or man made clearings or beside roads. What do you know?

July 2. Early in the morning I biked over to my friend Jane Vincent. It is still frosty in the shadows. But it already feels like it is going to be warm. I had not seen Jane for a while as she had been participating in the Yukon River Quest. I am proud to tell you, that she and her paddle partner,Bodo Lenitchek came in; in 46 hours and 44 min. 2nd place,tandem canoe category. "Congratulations Jane and Bodo!"

In the afternoon Nora and I put our noses to yet another Astragalus. This a sprawling one with few, but pretty little purple flowers. Another sweet smelling one.
And later on that day, I wanted to know, for once and all, which Astragalus grows by 'elfin creek'. The place where the creek disappears is actually only 1 km. from here. Today I see; the creek doesn't really go underground, but fans out. That's where I find the Astragalus along side all the High Bush Cranberry. And there are Black Currant bushes, another favorite. I find a blooming Astragalus and it is an americanus.

As I am typing this, the windows are wide open. And the flicker hatchlings are practicing their voices.They have been doing so for the last few days. I called them fledglings last week, but actually, they do stick their heads out of the hole, but I haven't seen them flying yet. On a sad note, the Flicker nest by my outhouse, which was only 2 meters of the ground, is abandoned.