We seem to go from near-drought to near-drowning. Somehow nature doesn't seem fond of moderation. When we awoke this morning to the welcome sight of sun, everything in the garden looked fairly intact. This, despite an all-day, all-night rain. So much that somehow it seems reasonable to suspect that everything might just drown and float away. Such was happily not the case.

There is, of course, the too-much-irrigation syndrome, when thirsty soil that gulped down hours of heavy rain, rebels and refuses to absorb any more. Usually that's not much of a problem when a wet day is followed by a dry day. But in container gardening it can be a problem. That's when garden urns and garden pots become too infused with liquid and plant roots can suffer from rot.

When the roots are disturbed the rest of the plant follows suit. Everything looks bedraggled and spent. New buds are loathe to emerge. And so you and the plants wait for a drying-out period and hope for the best. In actual fact, matters looked fairly normal in the gardens today. Other than that given the rain and ample sun exposure vegetation has gone on a rampage overgrowing itself everywhere.

That means, of course, the never-ending task of tidying up and exerting an element of control is expanded. That's the thing about gardening, it calls for a certain amount of dedication; time, energy and enthusiasm. I'm still in possession of more than a modest quantity of all of that. I've got a way to go yet, I believe, before I begin to consider it a burden. Say, as the season moves on to its conclusion.

For a Saturday there weren't many out on the forest trails in the ravine today. Surprisingly as well, the forest floor while damp in some areas, certainly didn't appear as though it had undergone 24 hours of non-stop rain. Mind, the creek water was at a notably higher level than how it appeared a few days previously. And the forest trees look again as though they've put on a new spurt of growth. In some areas of the trails a bower-look has resulted when the trees on either side of the trail are so heavily leafed and putting out new branches they form an arch.

The forest floor, which looked so pathetically bare a month ago is now teeming with bracken of all kinds. We noted that the hazelnut shrubs are well on their way to maturing their nut casings. This forest has dogwood, sumac, hazelnut and honeysuckle shrubs in abundance in its lower story

The big news in Canada right nos is the success story in administering anti-COVID vaccines. From a shortage at the turn of 2021 to an embarrassment of riches by July. The concern by health authorities over the entrance of the Delta variance has seen vaccination opportunities increase. The latest figures available: 75% of people deemed eligible for the vaccines have had one dose, and 20% have now had a full two doses. At age 84 we're not included in that 20 percent group.

That is due to be amended tomorrow.