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The Skunk Cabbage is named for its distinctive smell - what a name for such a pretty flower!  It is also  known as Swamp Lantern, that I am not sure is much better.  "What's in a name?  That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet" - Shakespeare They are a member of the arum family and grow in swampy, damp places.  Such a colourful and prolific flower on the dark forest floor as we hiked the Wild Pacific Trail.  The Wild Pacific Trail is stunning, with surf pounding the black volcanic rocks, the temperate rain forest with a towering canopy, dark understory and scattered ancient cedars.  The trail includes viewing areas for an artist to set up an easel and paint the spectacular scene or a walker to linger and watch the whales and seals and otters.  There are many beautiful places on this Earth and this is certainly one of them.

 Nomads. Homeless is a misleading term as we still own our half of the duplex in Canmore.  There is another family living there now.  Five days ago, we packed the last few of our possessions (that we hadn't sold, gifted, donated or trashed) into the van and left the driveway.  Now what? An opportunity to see a high-calibre indoor rock climbing competition (courtesy Megan P.'s efforts at qualifying for Western Canada Regionals) was handily located in Surrey, so that meant we could attend the competition and then visit Sean's mom on Vancouver Island. The Hive, set up for competition Megan is Number 265 - waiting for her chance to flash this! Doing their thing, being impressive Watching an indoor climbing competition is always entertaining.  The strength-to-weight ratio of these kids is astounding, never mind their flexibility, endurance, practical application of physics, etc.  Despite an overly hard final round of puzzles (yes, that's what they call the ind...