I tried to keep this week’s illo all about nature and flowers and stuff, as befitting the standard definition of perennial, but the events of this week in Norway prompted a more serious response. In fact I’ve been a little depressed all week because of it. So forgive the “loose” interpretation, but sometimes it seems human beings are bound and determined to self destruct—violent extremism rearing its ugly head as reliably as the weeds returning to my backyard every spring.