Rosemary for Rain

“ Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.” – John Updike

As bikes flow past behind the wooden bench I’ve found to sit on, I’m grateful for the dappled shade surrounding me on another day caught up in a heatwave. On my way down to the beckoning ocean to catch a breeze or two, I made my way underneath a towering green canopy filled with the prehistoric squawking of Great Blue Heron young, with the immense shadows of the adults flying overhead, I felt like I was wandering through a hidden jungle at the edge of our burgeoning global city. I have already met a friend and there are too many strangers to count claiming their own patch of shade – it seems if I gathered all the news of the day, it would be shouting out loud, “our world is burning”, in fact, the whole Northern Hemisphere has become victim to climate change, experiencing its hottest year on record. Sadly, it looks like the tipping point is upon us…

Hopefully an evening at the beach to hear cello playing beside the sound of ocean waves will be a balm for worried hearts. I walked down to English Bay with a Mason jar of ice tea to meet my Mom, eager to hear the cello player, a traveller who asked to join in for the sunset revel that we love so much. Each song played that night drew people closer to the sounds of the accordion, guitar, and drum as the red sun set behind the haze of smoke drifting in from Alberta, Saskatchewan, California and as far away as Alaska, Russia, and Greece, a reminder of how connected we really are!

We woke this morning to the acrid scent of wood smoke permeating an apartment open to any breeze that might blow in during tropical nights reminiscent of Mexico. Each summer we hope for days redolent with soft, warm sunshine and enough rain to keep the grass cool and green. Instead we are left with thirsty leaves falling in late July and grass so dry, a careless cigarette tossed can start a brushfire. As I move from room to room up here in my aerie, my eyes anxiously scan the horizon looking for smoke, a sense of menace overshadowing what should be idyllic days.

There are still good things to contemplate – sitting on my balcony in velvet darkness to watch the yearly fireworks display over the bay with a glass of dark red wine, delighting in the scent of magnolia in the air on walks through my neighbourhood and rosemary for rain (a beautiful Italian saying I came across recently!) as temperatures drop leaving behind the hottest July on record.

A beautiful shot of one of a trio of “forgotten beasts of the forest” near Lee’s trail in Stanley Park (Vancouver, B.C.).

Another beautiful beast captured near Lee’s trail, one of our favourites, in Stanley Park (Vancouver, B.C.).

…and drumroll, here’s the third beautiful beast to be found near Lee’s trail in Stanley Park (Vancouver, B.C.).

At the time of this posting, no rain has fallen in over 30 days…