Walking his dog Jacquie to the Agassiz-Harrison Observer newsroom office, Walt Hardinge found a four-leaf clover. Looking at the collection of foliage in his hand, itB次元官网网址檚 clear he found more than one.

B次元官网网址淪even actually,B次元官网网址� Hardinge said, sorting through the clovers on a bench in Pioneer Park. B次元官网网址淚 just counted them before I got to the door.B次元官网网址�

Most of them were the famed four-leaf clovers, a harbinger of luck and preternatural sight. But a few were five-leaf clovers, which Hardinge likes to call B次元官网网址淩ose Clovers.B次元官网网址� And others were what the 58-year-old Agassiz resident has nicknamed B次元官网网址淧apillon Clovers,B次元官网网址� or butterfly clovers.

B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檙e usually the ones that have four leaves that are almost the same size and then a tiny one, like this one here,B次元官网网址� he said, holding up the clover. B次元官网网址淏y the time you press them and they dry, they look like a butterfly. I canB次元官网网址檛 say thatB次元官网网址檚 an official name or anything, but it sounded good at the time.B次元官网网址�

In the last month or so, Hardinge has found more than 219 clovers with four leaves or more.

B次元官网网址淚 find the darn things everywhere,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚 went to the mailbox the other day B次元官网网址� and I found one. Not even looking.B次元官网网址�

QUIZ:

Although HardingeB次元官网网址檚 clover boom has only been recent, his history with four-leaf clovers started long ago, when he was an 11-year-old boy growing up in Scarborough, Ont.

One day, he was sitting on the grass in front of a neighbourB次元官网网址檚 house, brushing his hands through a patch of clover.

B次元官网网址淚 thought to myself, I wonder if four-leaf clovers actually exist,B次元官网网址� he recalled. B次元官网网址淎nd just for the heck of it, I started brushing my hands through the clovers and seeing if I could find one. Sure enough, I actually did.B次元官网网址�

Hardinge ran inside to press his lucky find, and over the course of the next few weeks found 10 more. He pressed all his clovers in a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records, and then forgot about finding clovers for a while.

Over the course of the next 47 years, in rough points during HardingeB次元官网网址檚 life, he would think back to the 11 four-leaf clovers he had once found B次元官网网址� they became lost at some point during childhood B次元官网网址� but didnB次元官网网址檛 expect to find anymore.

Then, in the spring of this year, Hardinge and his fianc茅 took Jacquie for a walk to the recreation centre. Just like he did 47 years ago, Hardinge brushed his hands through the clovers in the grass. And just like that, Hardinge found another four-leaf clover.

Since then, Hardinge has been finding groups of four-, five- and even six-leaf clovers. (On May 11, Hardinge found his first eight-leaf clover.) But with all that luck, Hardinge decided it was time to give some of it away. He has been handing out groups of three clovers to strangers and friends in an effort to share the good fortune.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 amazing the joy I see in peopleB次元官网网址檚 faces when I give them one,B次元官网网址� he said.

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Hardinge plans to keep 11 four-leaf clovers for himself, to replace the ones he lost, and 11 B次元官网网址渆xotics,B次元官网网址� but the rest he is giving away.

His father had a saying B次元官网网址渢hat life was a little bit like a big pond. And if youB次元官网网址檙e brave, you will cast a pebble into that pond and see where the ripples go,B次元官网网址� he explained.

B次元官网网址淚 think this is my own way of throwing a pebble into a pond, only now IB次元官网网址檝e got about 200 of them that IB次元官网网址檓 giving way.

B次元官网网址淭wo hundred pebbles IB次元官网网址檓 throwing into that gigantic pond. And weB次元官网网址檒l see what happens.B次元官网网址�

grace.kennedy@ahobserver.com
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