Guest blog post:
Every year when the laburnums bloom in my back yard, I think about going to see the laburnum walk at Van Dusen Garden, where there's a whole curved row of golden blossom trees with blue under plantings. This year I finally made it on Sunday afternoon, which was sunny and gorgeous. Besides the laburnums, there were: banks of pink and white rhododendrons stretching 10 feet high overhead; five baby ducks nibbling on lily pad leaves in the pond while their mother supervised; small children watching baby ducks while their own mother supervised; and a big blue heron watching the same baby ducks with a hungry gleam in its eye. I think it was the same blue heron that earlier made some photographer's day by suddenly breaking its stone-still pose and snapping up a tiny fish that had gotten too close. The photographer had been waiting for two hours for that very thing, which happened a few seconds after I arrived on the scene. I didn't get the shot, of course, but took a couple of photos of the pond where it happened. Such beauty and nature, just a pleasant hour-plus walk from my back door!
