bursting

i can’t decide how i feel about this plant. on one hand it has generated the dramatic biblical name of burning bush, and its fruit is sometimes referred to with the romantic name of “hearts bursting with love.” it has to have something going for it, right? sure, it is undeniably striking in the fall, consumed in its crimson flames. but drive through any second ring midwest suburb and look somewhere near the front stoop, where the foundation plantings have been anchored by this burning bush, and see if you hear god talking to moses, or if you hear today’s specials being announced over the loudspeaker in the Home Depot Lawn and Landscape department.

burning bush seed

saint paul, minnesota

  • Lisa says:

    I don’t think the plant has lost its mystery…but we may need to rediscover our ability to see it (the mysteries around us). I like that about your blog–sometimes you help us see what is right in front of us, which can be the hardest thing of all to notice.

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this years color theme: red and orange

bittersweet vine, sumac leaves, and now burning bush seeds.  I have never noticed before this fall how often magenta and orange are paired in nature.

burning bush seeds

saint paul, minnesota

  • margie says:

    i always think of it as the flames of autumn

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exuberant and exhausted

i feel exactly like these sumac leaves: exuberant and exhausted. spent all day on a photo shoot for a STILL related project that i am simply over the moon about, and now at 11:00 pm, i feel very much like a 51 year old who just spent 11 hours on her feet in dansko clogs. it’s time to get these feet up level with my heart–which, as i write this, is full to bursting. i can’t wait to tell you more about this project. please stay tuned.

staghorn sumac in october

lake johanna, saint paul, minnesota

  • margie says:

    can’t wait to hear

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domestic virtue

in the middle ages sage symbolized domestic virtue. if all was well in the home, your sage plant would thrive. if there was trouble, the sage would wilt. i have a huge photo shoot tomorrow for a project i can’t wait to tell you about, but for now, it is both under wraps and all i have the capacity to think about. so i’m very glad that the potted sage on my front stoop looks healthy, and that, for one more day at least, i don’t have to worry about the health and wellness of my domestic situation. after tomorrow, i’ll be back at the hearth, and back in nature, and a more interactive mother, wife, and blogger. love to you all.

sage

from my front stoop, saint paul, minnesota

  • margie says:

    all the best for your new endeavour

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  • I often try to guess what you are going to say about your photo each day before I click on “details”. I’m always surprised and inspired!

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  • Dede says:

    Love to you too in your new adventures! Thank you for the inspirational words and musings from nature.

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cabbage

these are not cabbage leaves. but they look as if they could be an exotic form of cabbage. when i asked my husband if he agreed, he went off on a non sequitur tangent about the two kinds of cabbage he thinks about when he thinks about cabbage in the fall. there is culinary cabbage, which an early-october chill always starts him thinking about braised cabbage with bacon and onion and apple cider vinegar. then there is broadleaf cabbage, the lake weed where bass and panfish and big october pike hang out, which he loves to cast for, standing on the bench of a lund fishing boat, in three layers of sweaters and a wool kromer cap. when he had finished, i said, “so these leaves. do they look like cabbage leaves? yes or no.”

rosette of unidentified fall leaves from a singe branch

lake johanna, saint paul, minnesota

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