the meaning of life

On our last trip to the cabin, we listened to this fascinating podcast about native Australian bees. Spoiler alert…. the bees’ sole purpose in life is to reproduce, and, more specifically, to pass on genetic traits to future generations.

A walk around the lake at this time of the spring makes it abundantly clear that this too motivates other creatures great and small….

The hardiest of little wildflowers are out – hugging close to the ground for protection from night time temperatures still in the single digits.

They are brilliantly coloured and stand out amid the still short tufts of grass and the still brown patches of earth in the meadows so as to attract the attention of the many insects looking for nectar.

The tops of the conifers are heavy with cones; the trees are leafing out, many with fuzzy flower parts laden with seed.

We were literally almost tripping over birds’ nests – the bluebird and duck boxes are all occupied, a robin made a nest in a pelvic bone adorning the front door of a neighbour’s cabin, and an unfortunate duck made a lovely ground nest beneath a tree on our property -- "unfortunate" because Dog-Barley is still learning his manners when it comes to leaving things like that alone, so she found him quite annoying.

The Canada geese have gathered to collectively watch over their golden babies as they graze.

Even just outside our front door, five baby marmots peaked out from under the deck. Sadly, we found Momma marmot dead under there, so the viability of these little guys was questionable, but they were still there and coping together on the day we left. 

As we roll into summer, this sense of urgency will relax a bit; it becomes a time to grow, thrive, prepare for the coming winter and of course, the need to reproduce again next spring.