Wednesday, February 14, 2007

4-0-Wonderland in particular

Some years ago, I lived in England for four months on a 'busman's holiday' as they would call it. Before I moved there I was would say that I was a bit of an Anglophobe - I didn't understand the endless layers of British culture that would made things like Paddington Bear, Princess Di, and Monty Python make sense to me. After my four months, I wouldn't say that I converted into an Anglophile (as I don't worship all things British for the sake of being British) but there are certain aspects of British culture that I admire tremendously.

One such British thing the arts and environmental group Common Ground. Inspired by their book England in particular : a celebration of the commonplace, the local, the vernacular, and the distinctive - I am re-imaging the world around me through their work.

For example, Common Ground has created a list of places to find snowdrops in February.

And so I started to think... what is the equivalent of early blooming snowdrops for Southwestern Ontario? According to some local field naturalists, candidates for the first flowers to bloom in these parts are trilliums, jack in the pulpit, and the wood rush.

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