La la la

The music's playing, the laundry's folded, my hair's in its usual silly weekend pony tail (although this time it's a LONG weekend pony tail. That means even less care taken than usual, in case you wondered), and I seem to have been very wordy in the past few days so this time I'm not even going to bother thinking about what I'm typing.

Yep, this should be brief. It likely won't be, but really it should be.

I will, however, tell you a little bit about today's pointless flower. Oh, before I go into full-on blather mode, I should say that the theme of the week will probably be flowers just because there are a few out at the moment so that's what I took pictures of.

Today's pointless flower is known as Golden Bean or Buffalo Bean (Thermopsis rhombifolia, for anyone who wants to look it up). It's one of the earlier wildflowers around here, and is usually found in pastureland or in dry areas along the highways. It's probably poisonous, but then most members of its family are so that's not terribly surprising.

This is one of those plants that has a very strong childhood association for me. I'm not going into detail about it because I'm not in the mood (did I mention music, pony tail, et cetera, et cetera?), but I've picked many, many bouquets of Buffalo Bean to proudly present to various grandmothers or mothers (ok, just the one mother) over the years. Buffalo Beans don't make terribly good bouquets, but since when is a child bothered by practicalities like that?

Buffalo beans are a big part of my seasonal continuity. They're something I keep an eye out for, like the return of the tree swallows in the spring or the ripening of the saskatoons in summer. It's a thing that's hard to explain to a city dweller, I suppose, but even in the modern day I think there's still a part of a townie's brain that measures the seasons by something other than an arbitrary calendar.

At least I hope there is. That's the way I grew up, anyway.

We'll end with a bonus photo, since I'll be away from the computer tomorrow. It's a very pretty (if somewhat the worse for wear after the last rainstorm) violet AND A SPIDER!

Yay spiders.

And shut up, world. There's nothing wrong with taking pleasure in watching a flower decorate itself with a spider. Just think of it as a brooch or something.

Yes, I know I'm a freak. It makes me happy. Makes the blog slightly more interesting too, if you ask me.

That's it for now, then. See you... the day after tomorrow, I guess. Happy Victoria Day.