WW: Cedar bark harvest

(Encountered this cedar while walking along the bay a few weeks ago. The distinctive scar is symptomatic of bark collecting by local indigenous persons in search of raw material for making baskets, clothing, and other practical items. And this time, if you look closely, you'll also see that someone has sketched a rough cartoon of an aboriginal man in charcoal on the debarked surface. Perhaps a portrait of the bark-harvester himself?

I've happened upon cedars like this in remote places since I was a kid. Always gives me a certain satisfaction to know that the First Nations are still out there, still being themselves, in the face of everything.)

Appearing also on My Corner of the World.

WW: Japanese cherries

(This is the fruit of the Japanese cherry tree [Prunus spp.; Cerasus spp.], whose blossoms bring world-famous glowing colour to the north and south Pacific Rim in spring. Its fruit, on the other hand, is viewed as inedible; some authorities even insist it's poisonous.

It isn't. It just tastes bad.

The stiff, bitter flesh of Japanese cherries is indeed uninspired fresh fruit, to put it mildly, but they still have the vibrant colour and heady fragrance of their more palatable cousins. Hence, cooked well and sugared judiciously, they can yield a cranberry-like jelly that's not at all objectionable.

Here I've gleaned about 3 cups of them from a local tree; I plan to simmer them in cider to impart to it their colour and perfume, much as sorbs – a similar fruit – are sometimes used. Afterward, I'll probably make kvass from the cider.)

Appearing also on My Corner of the World.

Hermit Practice

Dharma. Done.











(Photo courtesy of Danny See Chuan Sen and Pixabay.com.)

WW: Oyster mushroom catch

(Found these while biking, growing by the side of the road. Interesting thing about the way Pleurotus ostreatus behaves in these parts: it only seems to grow within about a quarter-mile of the shore. I've found them many times, but always where you can at least smell, and often see, the bay.)

Appearing also on My Corner of the World.

WW: Mt. Rainier

(Open in a new tab for a better view.)

Appearing also on My Corner of the World.

Street Level Zen: Contingent Reality

« L'être humain va toujours chercher l'horizon. C'est d'ailleurs à cause de sa conscience et son intelligence que l'horizon existe. »

Serge Bouchard

(English translation here.)


(Photo courtesy of Artur Opala and Wikimedia Commons.)

WW: English daisy

(Charming harbinger of spring, tiny four-inch version of the oxeye and a native of Europe, Bellis perennis invades fields and some lawns on the North Coast this time of year.)

Appearing also on My Corner of the World.