This Beltaine my covenmate and I hightailed it, okay we ambled casually, over to Queen E park in Vancouver.
A beautiful place and highly welcoming. The nature wights of the place were actually a bit confused as to why we’d bother to ask permission to do ritual there. Don’t get me wrong, they appreciated the courtesy, but they’re so welcoming they just never worry about such things.
And yes, spring flowers were certainly the bloom of the day. The number of hyacinths was remarkable, sending an intense wave of sweet scent over the whole park. I love getting up close and personal with flowers, I’m guessing that’s obvious by my picture style. In one case I got so close I was inside the flower:
Being Vancouver there were the odd markers of recent rain:
Now it wasn’t all flowers, all the time. There were plenty of trees for us to commune with. Many tall, straight and fair. And some of them curlier than…well, the phrase that comes to mind is a bit rude and gives also the wrong impression so without further ado, one of the curly trees.
After touring the grounds and doing our magical thing, we headed into the Bloedel Conservatory which is in the middle of the park. There was talk about closing it last year as part of a series of budget cuts, but so far it’s still there. Inside there was another stream, a lot of tropical plants and trees, well labeled actually which was lovely, a display by the local orchid society and a selection of tropical birds.
There was some truly remarkable orchids, but I think my favourite were these ones. First because of the colour and second because they made me think of two high society ladies discussing passerbys.
As we were heading towards the door we were greeted by yet another bird, this one who was kind enough to let me take his picture while he kept his eye on us. Right up until the little kid came wandering up and then he was out of there!
And that, my dear lovelies, was the end of our ritual day. From there it was lunch, a little metaphysical book (mostly window) shopping, and then a lacsidaisical drive home through the gorgeous sunshine.
Happy May Day to all! And to all a great night.