move over irving penn

dear mr. penn. with this zucchini composition, i hereby submit my application for a place at your table. you will of course remain at the head.

zucchini

p.s. happy autumnal equinox all! here on the 45th parallel, it means exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness–7 AM to 7 PM.

a final goodbye

my mom gave this orchid to my husband after his mother’s death, and said, “think of your mom when you look at this.” a message from one aging mother about another who was not always kind to her. the older we get, i feel, the less time we have for pettiness. i hope to remind my son- or daughter-in-law someday to hold a place in their hearts for their own parents, because all parents, with so few exceptions, do their best.

orchid

uncommonly common

while poking around on the surpisingly informative  ‘wildflowers of minnesota” website today trying to identify these stems, i came to learn that there no less than 18 varieties of goldenrod in minnesota. i had no idea there was so much variation. these well-behaved and inviting leaves belong to the varietal called stiff goldenrod. other varietals include: grass-leaved, canada, hairy, velvety, ridell’s, showy, great plains, zigzag, early, gray, bog, tall, giant, missouri, upland white, cliff, and elm-leaved. geesh. i learn something new every day with STILL.

stiff goldenrod

standards

a friend of ours came to visit us in france last year during fig season. at one point we visited our neighbor’s orchard and picked a handful of figs for dinner. we have since offered our friend figs back here at home, and he has declared that he really only eats figs picked fresh from trees in southern France now, and thanked us for the offer.

figs

gears

when this little machine starts up, i wonder what those rotating gears spit out? clouds maybe.

acorn squash (Cucurbita pepo var. turbinata)