Flower Friday. : : Calycanthus

I confess that I'm showing off just a little with the title of today's flower Friday offering. We decided that two days in a row through the dry grasses and the meadow might be tempting fate, so we decided to see how Spike did at Spring Lake this morning. We haven't been in months since he gets so excited by all the activity there that he is impossible difficult to control. 
'What is that plant?' asked John as we were walking along a shady trail. I had never seen it before, so I whipped out my trusty phone, took a picture of it and pressed the little 'look it up' leaf icon. Like magic the following Wikipedia description appeared: Calycanthus occidentails, commonly called spice bush, or western sweetshrub, if a species of flowering shrub...that is native to California and, according to some sources, Washington state. It grows along streams and moist canyons in the foothills of the mountains  Exactly where we were. How is it that neither of us had ever seen it before?

'How is the spice used?', asked John. I'm afraid neither in nor my phone could answer that ....

John has been controlling Spike's lead since I hurt my back. He (John) doesn't really have the patience for the training routine, but he doesn't like being jerked around by a small black and white dog either. I walked along behind coaching him, but he doesn't like that either, so in the end I took the lead. I commented that it was a good idea to talk to him (Spike) and give him some feedback. 'In fact', I said to this man of few words, 'everybody can use a little bit of feedback.'...

We had an interesting coffee this morning with Tobi who brought us some honey from Dan's bees. They are getting ready for their son's wedding. The bride is Jewish and they are not, but as is their wont, they are throwing themselves into various preparations. The bride-to-be has requested a whole roast pig for the rehearsal dinner, an odd choice for a Jewish wedding, but the pig has been sourced and the pit for roasting it has been dug. The rehearsal dinner will be at their house.

Today's discussion was about the chuppah, the wedding canopy that symbolizes the home that will be built by the new couple..The primary requirement for a chuppah in Jewish law is that it be supported by four poles, open on four sides and covered above. The bride has ordered white birch poles, and Dan is in charge of building the chuppah. It will have to be transported to the wedding venue and set up and decorated there, so Dan is labeling everything, IKEA style so that it will go together easily on the day of the wedding. It will need to be disassembled after the ceremony, but nobody seems to know what will happen to it or the elaborate (and heavy) backdrop made by the bride-to-be. .

Weddings do seem to take on a a life of their own....

I finished the grout in the other bathroom. It doesn't look that different. I guess it wasn't as dirty as I thought it was....