We all know the Celtic legend of St. Patrick, who uses a three-leaf clover to demonstrate the difficult concept of the trinity to the people of Ireland. We have no idea whether it is true, but it couldn't have hurt that the number three was important to the resident Druids.
So, why haven't Canadians come up with a legend of the trillium, our beautiful three-leafed plant which blooms during the season of Easter? There must be something here for Christians to develop!
Today was Mother's Day and we headed north of Bowmanville to Long Sault Conservation Area. We had a hunch that the timing was right for the trilliums in bloom, and it paid off. Where else do we see hectares and hectares of wildflowers this beautiful? Daughter Jocelyn joined us and we all drank in the sunshine and the blossoms. We are hoping we avoided the poison ivy, but we had to slog through the mud of the return route. The trees swayed in the strong breeze, like Tolkien's Ents on the march.
We chose the eastern entrance to the conservation area, which has a small parking area. If you are looking for trilliums, get out there soon.
Every spring I wait rather impatiently for the purple trilliums to appear in our woods because I know that after 1 or 2 weeks the white trilliums will be here. To me it is a time of renewal, reflection and joy. Sorry I missed church today, I hear it was a really good service.
ReplyDeleteTwice we have had bad experiences with local protests that left me questioning the wisdom of this approach. Once when my son was 4 yrs old we were stopped by protestors as we entered the road leading to the Emergency. Not only did the protestors prevent us from freely accessing care, but my son was caused a great deal of anxiety by the faces pressed up against our window as they accessed whether they would let us through. There was a fire burning in a garbage can that frightened him in this context. They let us through, but our son was traumatized. Another time we were walking in our neighborhood during a teacher's disput. We were stopped by picketers and told we could not walk on the sidewalk in front of the school. I was pushing two babies in a stroller, with two more toddlers holding on to my sides and three preschoolers, and all the children went rigid with fear. I was left with the option of defending our right to walk straight through or to struggle across the street like a victim of crime. I chose to quietly cross the road (not at a crosswalk as one likes to do when teaching children) but in the middle of the road in front of a busy apt. block. When I saw the protest on the news this morning I had the same disquieting feeling that something is askew.
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