Gumbo, with feet

Walking in William Hawrelak Park in Edmonton with my adult daughter in August, I was excited to spy the kind of mud that as children we called gumbo. Yasemin is wearing a pair of light canvas shoes -- a kind unsuitable for stepping on gumbo, though her buying them got a needy person a free pair.

My mother used to be bothered by gumbo when it stuck to our shoes and clothes, but we kids loved it. The dry cracked layer on top formed fine "cookies" for our "bakery."

Picking up the slabs of mud to put on leaf plates was just as easy as taking real cookies from the oven. This year, during the protracted dry spell, the soil cracked in our garden here in Surrey. This was abnormal for our climate zone, where the ground usually stays moist and spongy year round.