joe knows by now that perfect feathers are great, but perfectly imperfect feathers are even better. they are not only harder to judge, and therefore carry more prestige, but they get a bigger response from his mom when he picks a good one. as he manifestly did here. thanks, joe. you’re the best.

unidentified black feather

saint paul, minnnesota

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summer was already just past its peak as we left minnesota. here the cicadas are defeaning, the sunlight is yellow, vertical, and hot, and summer seems just to have gotten started.

spent roadside daisies

saint paul, minnesota

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it had been two years since we’d laid eyes on the mediterranean. but as we approached the spanish/french border on our way out of barcelona, there it suddenly was, off to our right, as if it would always be there to offer its mallard wing blue as a pleasing contrast to the green of the pyrenees looming over the coast.

mallard feathers

turtle lake, saint paul, minnesota

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steve was recently asked to write a piece about wine pairing, and one of the rules of that minor art is “if it grows together, it goes together.” in other words, food and wine from the same region usually pair well with each other. i’ve decided that rule can be expanded to include color palettes. have you ever looked out on a summer prairie, or a late autumn woodland, or a winter wilderness lake, and thought, “those colors. ewww. they don’t go together at ALL?” i rest my case.

bits and pieces of russet and brown

saint paul, minnesota

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making arrangements to keep a complicated life from collapsing on itself while you’re out of town has gotten to be more work each time we’ve tried it over the last six years. this time almost undid me. i thought we had already done much to reduce the complications of our late middle age. but we have not done enough, clearly. still the only thing that made me think twice about leaving was the face of jack the puggle in the window as we pulled away from the house. i almost stopped the cab and told the rest of the family i’d see them when they got back from france.

heart shaped (catalpa?) leaf

saint paul, minnesota

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