this winter i am noticing more color than usual. i think STILL blog has changed the way i see my winter surroundings. i pay more attention–well, at least to the natural palette around me. but this seems to have come at the expense of my safety behind the wheel, where i have recently endured some embarrassingly close calls. yes, i know, but it’s soooo pretty out there…

merry christmas to all who celebrate it. love and laughter to all who don’t. santa appears to have delivered some identically wrapped, minimal white boxes to our house. time to go see what’s inside!

a collection of colorful winter branches: buckthorn, pin oak, and snow covered spruce

saint paul, minnesota

I posted an image this summer of queen anne’s lace in all its expansive summer glory.  then i laid the stems on a table in my basement and forgot all about them until this week, when, rummaging for holiday decorations, i discovered a little bit of july preserved on stalks that were still green. green enough, anyway, to remind me that tonight’s -10° F temperatures are only temporary.

dried queen anne’s lace (wild carrot)

saint paul, minnesota

there’s nothing like colorful stones when you’re a ten year old boy. there is a story behind each one of these, and i know because i’ve heard them all several times. some are longer than others. some are more likely to be true than others. if one ever wanted to understand the origins of the tall-tale tradition in american storytelling, one would need only listen to a 10 year old boy with a story to tell, who knows he has the floor.

collection of rocks and semi-precious stones

from beaches and museum gift shops across north america and europe

planted a year ago in a terrarium that has since mostly been neglected, this agave (i think that’s what it is) appears to have spent the year offering a green, placid face to the world, while secretly rooting around with an exploratory finger, trying to find a way to escape.

agave (?)

from a terrarium in my living room, via a greenhouse in saint paul on a winter day when my kids were so bored we needed to find something for them to do, including, if necessary, planting a succulent garden in a terrarium.

we don’t grow holly here in lake wobegon, but if we did, it would look something like this. pretty but not too pretty. no aggressively thorny leaves. no showy red berries. above average, pretty much. ya know?

oak leaves and buckthorn berries from beside my son’s school

saint paul, minnesota