HAPPY 4th JULY to all Americans, wherever you happen to be living at the moment! A special thought to all those men and women who serve their country, either at home or overseas, and those who make sacrifices every day so that the rest of Americans can live in freedom. We, in Canada, celebrated Canada Day on 1 July.

The day before yesterday, 2 July 2013, our temperatures reached 100F. No air-conditioning at home, so I drove my car out to Maclean Pond, which was as far as the Elbow Falls Trail is open now, due to all the damage caused by the Flood of the Century that started about two weeks ago. I believe that Calgary's State of Emergency is being lifted today. Photographed this tiny Round-leaved Orchid in the forest near the pond. After Maclean Pond, I drove around the backroads SW of Calgary, further avoiding going back to my home that was like an oven.

"This is the only Alberta orchid that has white or mauve flowers with the lip heavily spotted with purple. The flower stem, which is more properly called a scape because it bears no leaves along its length, grows 10-25 cm high from fibrous roots and a slender rhizome. At its base is a solitary rounded leaf, 3-10 cm long. At the top it carries a raceme (stalked spike) of 2-several showy flowers, each about 1 cm long."

www.anpc.ab.ca/assets/Orchid.pdf