eye see you

i have been driving by this dead balsam tree for over a year. it is between my house and my mom’s, whom i visit three or four times a week. the rusty copper needles look resplendent in the low-level winter sun.  today, i finally stopped and nipped a branch for STILL.  the needles at the far tips of the branch were faded and bleached, and the ones near the base of the branch were still a deep rusty red–like beautiful sun-bleached beach hair on a brunette.  gradients always satisfy. there is actually science that affirms our pleasure in gradients. today’s dead pine branch was no exception.

dead balsam pine needles

this too is wild iris

i have said it before, and i will say it again…this too is wild iris. i do not have a manifesto for STILL (perhaps i should) but one of my objectives with STILL is to share, with anyone willing to listen, the beauty inherent in all the cycles of life, not just the peak expression of a life. the wild iris is in peak expression in june. but i have come to love it, truly love it, in every month. this may seem so obvious, but i fear we sometimes forget this simple truth: all of life, in every stage, is worthy of our deepest attention.

wild iris seed-heads in winter

guys, help me out here

anybody recognize these flower stems? i sure would like to know what they are. they have been in a vase staring at me from my bookshelf since late autumn. i would have picked them on one of my daily walks. i have been mentally retracing my walks (i typically have about 3 different walks i cycle through each season to keep both the dog and me satiated:-) but i can’t visualize where or when i would have picked these. the hanging fringe looks to me like petals, perhaps, and that would indicate chrysanthemums…but the stems seems too smooth for mums. anyway, i have been sleuthing all day, to no avail. i’d love some suggesting.

(unidentified) winter garden stem (chrysanthemum maybe?)

bad hair day

in autumn these foxtail spikes look more like silken hair. this fall, i hung a handful of stems to dry on a rack in a back room. when i checked in on them today, i found them all puffed up and bristly looking very much like their namesake. i have never seen them quite so bushy en plein air. perhaps i created an anomaly by hanging them to dry as i did. but i’m glad i did. it’s quite striking. or rather, transfixing. i truly can’t stop looking at it.

foxtail grass in winter (probably Hordeum jubatum)

preserved sunshine

i got tired of winter stems and frost, i needed a dose of color. so i reached for the stash of dried bits that has been on top of my piano since this summer. i am surprised by how well the color has lasted. i was expecting to find a pile of faded and muted earth-tones. but, this feels like summer to me. look at all that color–what a delight!

dried flowers from summer