And now for a break from politics (though I expect some people will find a way to work it in even here):

I noticed a while ago that one of the two big cedars in front of Vancouver city hall on the south side had turned completely brown. When I happened to ask about it earlier this week, I found out it was going to be taken down Wednesday.

Here’s my little story on the interesting history behind this cedar (a Port Orford cedar originally from the south Oregon/north California region) and many others like in Vancouver, thanks to Douglas Justice at the UBC Botanical Garden.

For a view of it when it was young, here’s a picture from 1937 and another taken once the cedars had grown quite a bit.