Warning - Picture Intensive --- For Leanne

One of our customers at the store is in France right now. She's been there for about three months so far and will be spending, in total, a year there. She called the store a couple days ago, while I was working; we had a lovely chat. One of the things she said she was missing was this...

...no, not the buildings in the background, but the yellow flowers. They look like mini sunflowers.

They are, in actuality, Arrowleaf Balsamroot. I know this because I looked them up online a couple of years ago, shortly after we moved to Kelowna. I'd never seen these flowers anywhere else and they definitely say "spring" in the Okanagan. In native lore, they are a medicinal plant. Right now, I forget just what they'd be used for and it really doesn't matter. I can understand why Leanne might miss the sight of these harbingers of spring. The other yellow flowers in the picture are Oregon Grape. Right now, they're blooming everywhere, too. Later, they'll have tiny purple berries, which are edible, but quite sour. John has an old recipe for Oregon Grape jelly, which we may just have to try this year.

And, just because I didn't only take pictures of these flowers, I thought these might make Leanne REALLY miss Canada and the Okanagan.

Enjoy, Leanne!