i once heard virtue described as our ability to contain the most ideas, the widest spectrum of conflicting thoughts, inside ourselves. that it was a form of growth to accept that one thing was true, and then accept that its opposite was also true. that this was a working toward wholeness. i have a long way to go. but i like the idea of gradually becoming my largest and most accepting self.

bur oak leaves

saint paul, minnesota

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from an arm’s length away, these false solomon seal berries looked bronze colored. i stopped trailside and thought to myself–how often do you see bronze berries? it wasn’t until i pulled this photo up on a 27 inch imac screen that i saw what was really going on. and if anything this mottled red and gold was even more spectacular. another argument in favor of stopping, and looking closely. without still blog i would have thought to myself, “bronze berries. hmmm. haven’t seen that before.” and then continued with my walk, perhaps wondering what steve was cooking for dinner, and whether jack was truly happy and content on his walk, or whether he needed another palmful of water from my water bottle to make his life complete.

false solomon’s seal fruit

sucker lake regional trail, saint paul, minnesota

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according to the internet, these gorgeous mushrooms are either: a) tasty sauteed in butter, or b) the most common source of mushroom poisoning in north america, sporting the nickname “the vomiter” mushroom. i chose not to roll the dice.

probably false parasol mushrooms (chlorophyllum molybdites)

grass lake regional trail, saint paul, minnesota

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blog followers are supposed to be like your children. you love them all the same. but as my grandma eva used to say about my sister dee-dee, “i love all my grandchildren just exactly the same, except i love ‘deetsie’ just a little bit more.” well i have to confess that i love all of you just exactly the same except that i love margie just a little bit more. margie (aka resurrection fern) began commenting on this blog almost from day 1. she commented every day, finding something sweet, or supportive, or insightful, or informative to say, every day, as the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months. in the nearly 5 years since i started this blog, we have communicated, through comments or through instagram, at least weekly, and often more than that. she is a fellow nature geek. a lover of her children and grandchildren. a wanderer out of doors. a devoted and attentive reader of posts. an attention payer. and a crafter of no little talent. one of her crafts is to crochet covers for stones, and i have been the grateful recipient of several of them over the years. today, in honor of a friend i have never met, whom i love as if we had grown up together, i offer my still blog take on a resurrection fern covered stone. thank you margie. i can’t wait until we find our way into one another’s presence some day.

grass wrapped beach stone

lake superior, minnesota

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my daughter found this garter snake on the path of her run yesterday evening. she texted me a photo of it with three question marks, and of course, i begged her to bring it home to me. in the midst of all of her complaining about having to cut her run short, and haul home a dead garter snake on a large hosta leaf, there was the undeniable fact that she had taken the time to text me the photo in the first place. which meant that, despite herself, she had taken her job as still blog scout very seriously. which in turn meant i could reply to her demand, “u better love me forever,” with an unhesitating, “i will!!”

common garter snake

saint paul, minnesota

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