today i wondered how much color i could find growing along the one-mile stretch between the coffee shop and home. the answer was very nearly ROY.G.BIV (i don’t really see any blue in there). what i love about this photo is that if you asked anyone what the colors were along that stretch of private road, county road, city road, and private driveway, the answer would have been “green.” all it took was a little time and a little attention to call forth this much color from a familiar and overwhelmingly green mid-summer landscape.

late july flowers: a mix of wild flowers, weeds, and garden flowers

shoreview, minnesota

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don’t these eucalyptus seed pod patterns look like jacks? remember playing jacks when you were a kid? all we need is a rubber ball and a kitchen table. i’m not competitive at all. truly. but i’ll kick your ass at jacks. not in a competitive way. just in a completely humiliating-to-you way that has nothing to do with my being competitive. at all.

eucalyptus seed pods

big sur, california

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today the sun felt like a heat lamp. it felt like putting your face over the burner of an oven. it felt like sitting too close to a campfire. it felt like too much time in a hot shower. it felt like being locked in a car on an asphalt parking lot. it felt like these feathers, turned toward the heat, with no means of locomotion.

mallard duck feathers

turtle lake, saint paul, minnesota

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i don’t know, honey. should we get the mini starfish or the mini sand dollar? you’re right. ok, now does this sea glass work in this room, or do we need to go with a shade greener? and that eucalyptus seed pod. too much? too graphic? too exotic? should it be an acorn instead? something a little more local and authentic? i know, but it’s just so GOR-geous. i just think i want it. how much? what? oh dear…

bird nest with travel treasures

minnesota, france, and florida

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this creature is called a great black wasp. i have had occasion in the past to celebrate the aptness with which my fellow scientists tend to name things, and this is no exception. he (i believe it is a male) sailed into my living room through an open patio door yesterday, sounding like part hummingbird, part p51 mustang. my 12 year old son, a lover of all animals including insects, saw the great black wasp buzzing his slow path up the living room window, and let loose a spontaneous, “holy jesus.” it turns out the wasp could not have stung us if he’d wanted to, having no stinger, and may simply have wanted to return to his wife and family. i found this out after i had asked joseph to capture him and freeze him so we could all get a better look. now i feel bad. he was just an immigrant looking for a home. and i categorized him as a threat, because of how he looked. shame on me, in more spheres than the entomological.

great black wasp (sphex pensylvanicus )

shoreview, minnesota

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