The Sunflower Hill Chronicles, Part 11: The Meaning of a Bench
July 14, 2022 By Birgitta Jansen In May 2021, a bench appeared on Sunflower Hill. A dedication plaque fastened to the back said, “In Loving Memory of Nola Jean; March 8, 1952 – January 13, 2018. Simply The Best.” Every time I passed that bench, I wondered, “Who was Nola Jean?” In June 2022, a second plaque appeared on the bench: “In Loving Memory of Lindsay Merkel, May 22, 1953 – March 2, 2022, Fearless Leader – Beautiful Mother, Partner & Friend.” Beginnings and endings. Two
Call for Directors
The Kimberley Nature Park is the largest municipal park in British Columbia. Its 800 hectares (2,000 acres) are home to over 500 species of plants, fungi and lichens, 29 species of mammals, 97 species of birds and nine species of reptiles and amphibians. It also contains over 50 kilometres of non-motorized hiking and biking trails, which connect to the larger trail network. The Park is managed on behalf of the City of Kimberley by a volunteer Board of Directors. As we approac
The Sunflower Hill Chronicles, Part 10: Flowers and Pollinators
June 30, 2022 By Birgitta Jansen One more Chronicles from June — yes, still catching up! Around mid-June, when I ambled up the Sunflower Hill Trail a bit, a surprise awaited me. A considerable segment of the hillside was celebrating “life-in-yellow” especially along the lower part of the Powerline Trail. Yellow? The balsamroot was no longer in bloom, so what could this be? So down Powerline I went to take a closer look at this yellow riot. What I found was a variety of mostly
The Sunflower Hill Chronicles, Part 9: Observations, Flowers, and Invasives
June 24, 2022 By Birgitta Jansen The current of life with its many twists and turns has a way of interfering with our intentions and Time is an expert at sweeping away the days and weeks… Thus it has come about that this essay was mostly written towards the end of June but not finalized until nearly the end of summer. Now it’s Sunflower Hill Chronicles catch-up time. June was a remarkable month. The vegetation along the trails was super-lush in every possible shade of vibrant
