Beacon Hill

Around this time of year I like to check on Beacon Hill because its slopes are usually covered with daffodils. We had a beautiful sunny afternoon today and the daffodils didn't disappoint.

Beacon HIll

I often post photos of Beacon Hill Park and photos taken from Beacon Hill but I don't think I have ever taken a photo of Beacon Hill itself, so here's one. It overlooks the strait and in days gone by it used to have a beacon on top to guide mariners. The purple flowers are Camas Lilies and these camas meadows on the slopes of Beacon Hill were harvested by native peoples long before Europeans ever came to these shores.

The Hands of Time 12 - Digging Camas Bulbs

Here's another in the "Hands of Time" sculpture series. This one is mounted on a large boulder in a garden on the summit of Beacon Hill. The location is very appropriate since it overlooks a large meadow that sweeps down the hillside to the ocean. In the spring this meadow is a sea of Camas flowers and it is known that the First Nations people used to harvest the bulbs here. Some were eaten fresh (boiled) and others were dried and ground into a kind of flour that would keep. The sculpture installation consists of the hand holding a few bulbs, a woven basket and a digging stick used in harvesting the bulbs. All twelve of the small bronze sculptures in the Hands of Time series are by local sculptor Crystal Przybille.