Alongside the highways as we drove to Byward Market yesterday afternoon there was a gorgeous display of luxuriant wildflowers. This will turn out to be a bumper year for wildflowers responding to the ongoing rain events this spring and summer. They've grown taller, larger, more luxuriant and colourful than I can ever recall.

And nature has taught them to grow quite tidily. There are companions among them, the hawkweed growing alongside chicory, the bright yellow contrasting wonderfully with the true blue, as though echoing the summertime sky of blue, with the sun sailing through. Except that yesterday, though there were some blue episodes and fierce sun on a hot day, the sky was mostly crowded with stormy clouds which occasionally opened up to drench all below.

But colourfully present and accounted for were buglos, chicory, hawkweed, Queen Anne's lace, and trailing lotus, with groups of sumacs sporting their red candles backgrounding them, alongside great specimens of willow, spruce, oak and maple.

It's an unfailingly interesting drive along the Eastern Parkway, following the curve of the great Ottawa River. People are always out cycling, skate-boarding, walking their dogs, picnicking and sun-bathing, a great community recreational resource, alongside the Parkway.

And then there's the presence of the National Aeronautical Museum which always acts as a draw for tourists. Next to it, the small landing strip where recreational fliers park their small planes. Yesterday there was a biplane with pontoons that circled the skies. Perfect weather for plane-loving pilots to get out and strut their stuff in the air.

We had thought about going to the market on Saturday, then dismissed the thought in the afterthought of how busy it would be on the weekend, a summer weekend no less. Once arrived downtown and at the market, we were reminded that it hardly matters if we go during the week, the crush of people at the various market bars, cafes and restaurants, along with tourists making their way through the historical, colourful area, ensures it is crowded any day of the week.

People stop to browse at the many tent-topped stalls selling handicrafts sourced from around the world and locally. Stalls selling clothing, jewellery, decorative items, hand-woven cloth and baskets, everything imaginable. A frenetic beehive of activity, a fascinating place to be for people who observe other people.

And people go to the market specifically to be observed, in many instances. It's the hip place to be, whether sitting outdoors on any of the proliferating patios at ground level or second-story height, the place is a magnetic draw for the young who like to demonstrate just how progressively with-it they are in their social lives.

Nature, as though to spurn these conceits, didn't hesitate to unloose several showers on the crowds, sending them scurrying for shelter briefly, before re-emerging to continue their browsing.

Returning home, we passed the Governor-General's official residence, with the usual pair of red-uniformed Governor General Footguards on ceremonial duty at the front gates of Rideau Hall, their heads covered with the ridiculous, hot and heavy bearskins that is their insignia as much as the red uniform. In yesterday's heat, it's no wonder that from time to time one or another collapses from heat prostration. Yet another British ceremonial legacy of the Empire.