Tiger Lilies, Raku

What do tiger lilies and raku have in common? Why they form part of the experience of our day, that's what. The early part of the day, while it was cool, breezy and the sky only half-full of clouds, so that intermittent sun brightened the day. And we bethought ourselves directly after breakfast to take advantage of those conditions, perfect for a jaunt in the ravine before settling ourselves down to the work of the day.

For me, cleaning our house, top to bottom, starting out with dusting everything, then mopping the wood floors, then washing all the other floors. The dusting takes hours, on three floors replete with all kinds of furniture and objets d'art, that other people call bric-a-brac, take your pick. There's so much of it, requiring exquisite care, that it takes forever to ensure everything has been dusted. The rest of the work, inclusive of washing floors (on knees, by hand) takes no time at all, by comparison.

For him, it was back to working in the backyard, to make room for the new garden shed he plans to install. Which meant the sacrifice of another tree, a venerable ground-hugging juniper that had spread incredibly wide, taking up, he said too much groundspace exactly where he plans to build the shed. I sequestered myself indoors, busily overlooking the sacking of one of our gardens. Tomorrow is another day, I'll mourn the loss then, and transplant what I can.

In the meantime, before embarking on these plans, out to the ravine we went, to distribute peanuts, take photographs, entertain ourselves with the antics of the woodland creatures, and exercise our two little poodles. Cool enough for long sleeves and long pants; providing protection from those bloody little predators, mosquitoes well. The dragonflies haven't taken their own predations seriously enough of late, though they've a lot to catch up on considering all the rain we've been experiencing.

So much so that mushrooms have begun to spring up here and there, although it's hardly the season for them. They're resulting from exaggerated soil moisture and decayed wood from tree roots. They're not the colourful types that we see in a multitude of shapes and sizes in the fall, merely fungi responding to soil conditions, but noteworthy nonetheless. As is the unexpectedly sudden appearance of Queen Anne's Lace; surely too soon in the season? And chicory starting too, for heaven's sake.

And it's just amazing how tall some of the fleabane stalks have grown, up to my height, 5-feet. Goldenrod and fall asters have grown their foliage, but await their time in the presentation of appropriate showings. But daisies, fleabane, cowslips, buttercups, cow vetch, and clovers in abundance dance all over the forest floor, beside the trails, bright and fresh and flamboyant in their way. Talk about timely; there too are the tiger lilies, just where we remember them to flower, every year.

When we make our way out of the ravine, we pass by the community mailbox as usual, to retrieve our day's mail, and there in our little box is the key left by the postie to unlock the large box down below meant to house items too large to fit into individual boxes. It's a gift from our youngest son, the scientist, furniture-maker, potter extraordinaire. We unwrap it to reveal a raku vase that he has recently fired. Our home is decorated with his pottery, and furnished with some of his antique furniture reproductions.

Vocation: biologist, avocation: furniture-construction and pottery. Like his brother: amateur astronomer, professional historian and outstanding musician. Like their father, capable of doing anything, anything at all.