Canadians All In

The Saturday Market showed that the Canadians had arrived for the 'summer' in Point Roberts.  Summer in quotation marks because, except for the abundance of greenery, it still is pretty cold and wet for summer.  The Canadians have spent the 'spring' being exceptionally excited about the Canucks, which I take to be the hockey team, but because I am not a sports person, I don't know what the current status of their excitement is.  Largely, I know what's happening by the number of cars I see that have blue flags streaming from their roofs.

Back to the Market: the Point Roberts Garden Club made a wonderful appearance, selling their abundant excess plants for a dollar or two (probably not received with that much excitement by the now three local nurseries, but it's only competitive selling for a few hours).  People were pouring out the door with plants that needed to go right into the ground, which was a little problematic since it was somewhat damp outside, but within a few hours of the market, the sun had picked up, and then Sunday was a really lovely day for planting.

Ed dispensed with lots of postcards, even to locals, but mostly to Canadians and other tourists.  One couple, who allowed their two children to choose five postcards each (certainly the longest transaction of the day...children really know how to put energy into the act of choosing) was from Dunedin, New Zealand, also the home of the only people I know in New Zealand, but they didn't know my friends.  I must have looked disappointed because the wife comforted me in that distinctive Kiwi accent, 'Well, there are 125,000 people in Dunedin."  As compared with 1,300 or 5,000 here, depending upon whether you are counting permanent residents only or summer residents, too.  And I don't even know most of the 1,300, I'd guess.

I brought some quilted baskets and quilted postcards to the market, now that my used CD's have been prohibited (not just mine: everyone's used anything...said to lower the tone), and they received a nice welcome.  Probably have to work on more of them for the Christmas Craft Faire.

Like the Canadians, the hummingbirds have all arrived but their food supply seems to be very short.  Usually, by now, there are lots of flowers awaiting them, but the late season makes them dependent upon the sugar water feeders. The fuchsias,  which are the main source of food in our yard, almost froze unto death this winter and are coming up only from the ground, which makes it a long trip to all those red flowers.  We are cooking up a new bottle of nectar every day, as are our neighbors, and yet they are eating and eating.

So Good Memorial Day, Good Beginning of the Tourist Season, Good Growing and Eating to us all!