leaves within a leaf

i spent an afternoon at our local conservatory in como park, which is easy to underestimate when you live in the twin cities, but which is really quite spectacular and beautiful and just the kind of humid tropical escape that someone with dry skin can benefit from on a bone dry winter day. at the conservatory i came across this leaf, which looked like a stalk of leaves growing inside another leaf. i was just so jazzed and inspired at having spent an afternoon rediscovering the como park conservatory, and then newly discovering this rare and exotic leaf. in fact i was so inspired that i (may or may not have) pinched off a leaf or two in order to photograph them later. when i got home i looked the leaf up and found to my dismay that it was the leaf of a rattlesnake plant, a quite common indoor tropical plant from brazil, to which wikipedia devoted exactly three grudging paragraphs. then, adding salt to my wound, the wiki page called those elegant dark leaves within leaves . . . i hesitate even to employ the word . . . wiki called them . . . blotches. welp. thanks for ruining a great day, wiki. remember how i donated to you last year? yeah . . .

rattlesnake plant leaves (calathea lancifolia)

not all urchins are created equal

there are times, as a scientist, that my confidence in pure evolution as the answer to life’s complexity finds itself challenged. a client of my husband’s once said that he knew god existed and didn’t need any proof. why? raspberries, that’s why. he only needed to eat a perfect raspberry to be reassured that only god could have made such a thing. i am not quite willing to follow him there. but on the other hand, let your gaze wander over these sea urchin carapaces. and wonder…

assorted sea urchin exoskeletons

a moment in time

this image looks slightly out of focus and maybe even a bit pixelated. but it is not. it’s is a very slender winter tall grass stem exquisitely sheathed in ice. if you enlarge your screen you’ll see delicate ice scales shingling each brittle branch. imagine trying to do that by hand. more than that: imagine creating the conditions that could make such a thing happen on its own.

ice covered winter tall grass stem

rapid prototyping

this was the result of half a dozen quick and dirty rearrangements of the black feathers that make up the neck ruff of a ruffed grouse. i didn’t spend much time on any one of the arrangements. i favor doing over thinking. or rather, i think of doing as a form of thinking.

ruffed grouse neck (ruff) feathers

happy valentine’s day, still blog style

no red hearts from STILL blog today. these red snow capped viburnum berries are the best i could do. we don’t do velentine’s day in our house. it is partly the rebel in me pushing back against the commercialism of it all. but also, it feels like a holiday for those who are still in the early blush of a new relationship and need an excuse, or perhaps permission, to make a show of their affections. this fall steve and i will celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. we still make things work in deliberate ways, if less showy than champagne dinners on valentine’s day. i make him fish for dinner even though i prefer beef. i pour him a glass of wine at the end of the day after the fire is lit. he gets up before me, and sets out my tea mug with a cube of sugar perfectly centered on top of a tea bag. i still pat his butt. he pats mine. it’s love.

red viburnum berries in february