This is what Manitoba’s  cactus looks like before the blooms emerge. For a while I thought this is all that I would see.  Manitoba does not have a desert, but Spruce Woods Provincial Park with the Spirit Sands found in them are about as close as we get to that.

Today was my first break from manservant duties since Chris’ hip surgery. The store bought hip was working so well she kindly shooed me away. She promised not to take any radical maneuvers that might lead to her falling. That is her worst fear. Therefore it is also my worst fear. I was very eager to return to the Spirit Sands in Spruce Woods Provincial Park near Brandon. This is one of the most interesting places in Manitoba.

I want to blog about the Spirit Sands but will do so another time. I need to get some photographs of them. On this day I was too tired to go farther by the time I finished photographing Manitoba’s cactuses and a few other wild flowers. I drove for 3 hours last year to get here only to discover the cactuses were not blooming as I had hoped. I had an excellent spy looking out for them, namely Jennifer, the Park Interpreter, but I think I got there too late in the afternoon. The blossoms had already closed for the night. That was my operating theory. I saw the plants but no flowers. At first I was very disappointed.

After a while I found some flowers in bud. Then miraculously, I found some in bloom. I was a happy guy. This was more like it. I realized that as I was there flowers were emerging. I just had to be  patient. It was marvelous.

I also spent a little time photographing some other wild flowers before I left this fantastic place.

I think this is one of the most beautiful wild flowers of Manitoba.

Some people call this Indian blanket, though for obvious reasons that name is not used much any more. It is time for a better name.

Wild rose though by any other name would still be just a sweet.