Hi all, Cameron McMaster presented a fascinating talk about the summer rainfall areas of South Africa on Sunday night to a small, but enthusiastic audience in Gualala. Marlene and Bob Werra journeyed from Ukiah and we had a nice reunion with them. He talked about the various habitats and then took us on a virtual tour. We all liked the way he arranged his pictures, often with a large image of the habitat surrounded by smaller images as inserts with some of the delightful plants you might find in that area if you were lucky and there at the right time. There were lots and lots of pictures of bulbs and geophytic orchids. And we also got to see some members of this forum like Ellen Hornig, Tony Avent, Rod and Rachel Saunders, and his wife Rhoda who have gone on trips with Cameron. His talk is highly recommended and there are two more possibilities to hear it in the United States. The next one is tomorrow when he will be speaking at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical garden, in Berkeley, California. If you are not a member of that garden or a reciprocal garden, you can tell them at the kiosk that you are coming to Cameron's talk and they will let you in for free. You will still have to pay for parking. Cameron is also going to talk at Chanticleer Garden in Pennsylvania he thinks on July 10th but doesn't have the details. 786 Church Road Wayne, PA 19087 610-687-4163 Our area had a freak lightning storm several days ago with a lot of lightening and no rain. Everything is tinder dry here since we have had very little rain since February. There are 131 fires burning in our county alone, many of them without anyone fighting them in remote areas so we have tried to take Cameron places here where there is less smoke. It is always such a pleasure to spend time with bulb friends we have met over the Internet who share some of the same interests. Cameron lives about as far away from us as you can go, but we have much in common in our delight in seeing plants and our desire to preserve those in nature where they grow. Cameron has also been busy looking at our local birds and seeing how in spite of not having the same pollinators a lot of African plants grow well in California. Mary Sue