It is early days of February yet and I have no idea where dear Glorfindel  is so i will choose a subject for the month of February and anyone can throw in his or her two cents, shekels whatever and share insights.

I would like to talk about flora and fauna, the vegetatopm and animals in each of the areas we live in, how these creatures affect our lifestyles, art work, fashion, etc. Because I think they really do.

I live in a semi arid part of British Columbia.We are nestled in a valley with very high high hills all around and a mountain or two such as Silver Star, a world class skiing resort in winter, horseback riding and many other things in summer. We have three large lakes here, Swan Lake-Very Elvish, Kalamalka, an aboriginal name for lake of many colors and the other name has slipped my mind for some strange reason. We have orchards for many fruit and vegetables iincluding the growing of grapes , so a couple of world class and award winning wineries as well. The terrain between the lakes can be either Ireland green or brown depending on the amount of rain and we have suffered terrible forest fires about every third or fourth year and it is a nightmare. Other than that it is beautiful and pleasant here.

Wild Roses and many other kinds of flowers grow in abundance and we have millions of every green trees, pines and blue spruce and pondorosa and to a less extant deciduous trees here, it is really beautiful. We also have some rattle snakes and a few scorpions in the denser parts of the woods or the really arid areas, the cliffs and area above the lakes. We see deer and a couple of cougars, plenty of rabbits and marmets fewer bears, they are up higher.

As a consequence of the natural beauty our very small city, barely more than a large village is still back in the fifties in some ways. We do not have a single building over four stories that i know of , maybe five  but i doubt it, because it will spoil the pristine view. We have not a single escalator, not one, for that you must go to a neighboring city about an hour away. We have a college/universtiy up high upon a ridge overlooking one of the beautiful beaches that in turn look to the distant hills and mountains, and we have a ton of artists here. Every type from traditional to innovative working the paper and o

ils and acrllics to carving war boats (aboriginal) working with wool to make awesome things , wood and rock carvings and well it is a busy hands on place. We have a new performing arts centre with the same sound system now as that in Australia, there is some sort of local connection. We have a highland pipe band and all this makes for interesting clothing and styles . A lot of clothing is inspired by the flora and fauna and in summer all manner of clothing inspired by the east west and locally is to be seen. We have a sizeable British population, an East Indian one also; we have an Okanagan Band Reserve near, we have a fair amount of our French Canadian brothers and that is great, their culture and art is spectacular. Lately we have seen a rise in Phillipinos and Jamacain imigrants and theri toques and clothing so full of color are the best to be seen in the dead of winter.

We have the oldest or at least one of the oldest military bases in Canada here and all year round you can see the tanks and army helicopters and soldiers going about their business. Sometimes you can see para troopers from other countries practising whatever it is they practise over on the hills. Once a block from our home I saw too very young army tank operators , hatches up visiting with one another on their break. it seemed so wierd. So often in the summer styles are inspired by the military garb as well.

I forgot to mention the schools and programs for our aboriginal brothers and sisters. Amazing programs, teaching the ancient languages, making drums and learning the ancient drumming, the dances of the different Indian bands and nations, carving, you name it. It is totally awesome and makes you feel you have fallen into the past. Although I am Jewish my little one has some aboriginal blood and is learning the folk lore and learning the languages and dances and carvings and drum making. Beside learning Hebrew and other languages she is learning where some of the Indian tribes actually came from across the sea. Tolkien would have loved this I think.

Finrod, I have visited your gracious state and was enchanted. The cypress trees brought me to tears and I remember being taken over the water in a sort of air boat or something, can't describe it properly, but it was amazing. I was raised by Celtic people, some of who stopped in Louisanna, the Carolinas and M<issouri begore coming to Canada in quest for land that sort of matched theirs from Scotland , Ireland and Orkney. Some though were overwhelmed by the glorious temperatures and the strangeness of the flora and fauna and simply could not leave it.

We too were threatened here by so many wealthy business men who could easily buy our whole city and be done with it. Happily most of the ventures did not pan out as our area is not conducive to big business. In fact, i may have forgot to mention that every three years or so SHEPHERDING is actually taught at the college, that to me is just fabulous. And until about a decade ago gold smithing was taught, it was the only place in the entire province at the time that taught it. But the family of course grew older and retired. 

Coming from a background where owning restaurants and being chefs,(the men) was tradition many Louisianna recipes were important to us. And your music and so much is rather intoxicating. I would love to see one of your native writers go back to the beginning and do an awesome fantasy book honoring your background and state.