engineering perfection

when you can’t stop looking at something, does that make it art? or just good engineering? i don’t know, but i can’t stop running my eyes over this damselfly. whatever committee of the flying insect task force is responsible for this design, let me say that they knew their shit.

damselfly

turtle lake, saint paul, minnesota

  • margie says:

    yes they did

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color before fall color

fall color is a hallowed time in minnesota. people drive hours to remote locations where slopes of sugar maples ignite and then burn orange-red for days, as gawkers stream past in their subarus outbacks.. we’re about a month away from that right now, but in the meantime, i just drove about 2 1/2 miles tonight to a lakeside trail in shoreview, where little sparks flared in the greenery, and i did not have to wonder just where in the world i was going to find a decent meal.

assorted berries from one walk in late august

vadnais lake, saint paul, minnesota

  • margie says:

    i was noticing all the berries yesterday too and picked some elderberries to add to my supper.

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not a family circle, a family helix

i don’t know why family occurred to me when i saw this image, but i like the idea. everybody on a different path, but moving forward in mostly the same direction. everybody in limited, free-form orbit around everybody else. i’ll take that.

unidentified vine

vandais lake, saint paul, minnesota

  • Erica says:

    Love this so much. The comment even more than the image.

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profile shot

yes, you’re very pretty. ok turn to the side. now lean back slightly. good. good. hold your arms out. perrrfect. now hold that pose. hold it. chin up. yes. a little higher. hold it. hold it. yes. beautiful. all right. i think we’ve got some really great stuff. thank you, darling.

green foxtail grass

north oak, saint paul, minnesota

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translation

my ability to identify this plant has an unusual history. it’s one of the very few local minnesota plants i’ve ever known whose name i learned first in french and then had to translate back into english. when our friend, jean-luc, pointed out a pretty, delicate purple-flowered plant growing low in some languedocian scrubland alongside a vineyard, he called it “la vaisse.” it looked vaguely familiar, and then one day, back home, alongside a minnesota prairie, i saw a lovely little purple flowered plant with tiny fern-like fronds, and recognized it as “la vaisse,” which translates naturally and exactly to “vetch.” if you had forced me to place a bet, i would have said there was some latin mixed up in there, and sure enough, according to google, the latin name for vetch/vaisse is “vicia.” there is, as always, nothing new under the sun.

common crown vetch leaves

saint paul, minnesota

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