How serious is the wildfire situation in Canada? Very. Yellowknife in the North West Territories with its 20,000 population is being evacuated as wildfires there are steadily approaching. Communities in Alberta and in British Columbia are on alert, and many have had to evacuate given the ongoing threat of combustively dry conditions in Canada's superb forests. Wildfires not close to human habitation are allowed to burn themselves out. Those where firefighters are dispatched pose a threat and are destined to be fought. Three wildfire-fighters have lost their lives to these conditions in the past month.

We see similar situations elsewhere in the world, from Hawaii to Greece, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, the United Kingdom and France. Our youngest son who lives in British Columbia does a lot of alpine backpacking for recreational enjoyment. He decided on an area off the Duffy Lake Road not far from the Stein Valley this week. On Tuesday when he set up his tent at the mountain summit he ascended to, he had a clear view in all directions. And all he could see was wildfires everywhere, charred landscapes.

It looked, he said, like an atomic bomb aftermath, the smoke rising in all directions. He stayed there until Thursday when he returned to Vancouver. He is intimately familiar with the geology. He is a biologist, after all, and what he's seen in the destruction of forests is exceptional, well beyond yearly wildfire events. 

For us, unusual weather consists of daily rain eruptions. Either through thunderstorms, a series of thunderstorms following directly on one another, or unannounced sudden downpours. This too is not 'normal' for us. All that rain, however, does limit the potential for wildfires, although Ontario and Quebec have had their share of wildfires and evacuations this summer.

We've been fortunate enough to manage getting out to our nearby ravined forest daily in between rain events with our two little dogs. There was afternoon rain yesterday, evening rain and rain through the night and morning rain, then out came the sun again. When we went out for our afternoon hike today the sun was out, the atmosphere was cool and windy. The forest, unlike yesterday, didn't appear particularly inundated.

I clambered over the rocks dumped years ago along the slopes of the banks of the forest creek to stop erosion of the Leda clay base. At my age of 86 I don't do that too often; too chancy for a slip and fall but I couldn't resist wanting to take close-up photos of the multitude of wildflowers growing along the creek bank; the Himalayan orchids, the tiny orange orchids of the Jewelweed plants, the feathery-pink flower wands of the purple loosestrife. I was careful and came to no harm. Jackie following me, had no problems maintaining his balance but it was I who wielded a camera.

Irving was busy almost the entire circuit we took, picking blackberries and ripe thimbleberries to dole out to Jackie and Jillie. For the occasional dog that came along, not knowing what to do with the plenitude of berries, Irving offered cookies and they were delighted to accept the offerings. When we reached the pollinating meadow, there were bees everywhere, busy on the ragweed, the pilotweed, the purple loosestrife and goldenrod.

Later, in the garden, I felt a little guilty about not having this week spent some time weeding and trimming. Because I'm normally so busy during the week, I usually leave that for Saturdays, but tomorrow we've been warned, will be an unusually rainy day and perhaps there'll be too few respites to allow garden work. Right now, an afternoon rain has stopped and the dark clouds that caused it are moving on, as the sun is returning. Unsettled is the least that can be said of this summer's weather conditions.