Don’t fritter away opportunity.

I never pass up the prospect of a perfect picking or forgo a chance for a floral feast. This week, black locust trees are in bloom, and with the appearance of their flowers comes more than just a snazzy scent.

It is everywhere. Clouds of pollen have coated the entire Island. We are in danger of sinking under the weight of the zillions of grains of male tree dust.

Well, not really, but it is driving us all a bit crazy and putting many into a sneezing frenzy.

There’s been a lot of talk about breaches on the Island: in the great ponds, at Norton Point, and at the Cape Pogue gut, for example. But this column is about a different kind: Dutchman’s breeches.

Ben Franklin was chockful of advice; in one famous saying, he encouraged behavior that would make us healthy, wealthy and wise.

Early to bed and early to rise is not the only way to get there. One could alternately seek out the water-loving plant, horsetail, which fills the bill on all three counts.

Life is full of contradictions. So are plants.

Vinca, that evergreen vining groundcover that is currently blooming with blue-purple flowers, is a case in point.

This plant has been described as “moderately” invasive, is recommended as a sexual stimulant and also is known to be a portent of death; it is offered up as a healer and yet is known to kill. One must weave through the tangle of incongruities to discern the truth of this twining creeper.

I want to be stalked.

It might sound like a strange request, but after I tell you about the gifts that I received last week, you will better understand this desire.

There was a time when the tooth fairy was a favorite sprite that magically provided welcome presents. Last week, I was surprised by not only one, but two fairies — asparagus fairies — that came bearing stringy, dirt-covered offerings.