this is actual rose quartz, which is the mineral behind the pantone color of the year, but which also happens to have spent the last 5 years or so in my “rock box” in the dark of my basement, next to a lot of feathers and bones and dried leaves. in other words, i was so on top of this trend 5 years ago. do you think pantone stole it from me? should i get a lawyer? (i also thought once, back in the 1980s, how cool it would be to be able to see the person you were talking to on the phone. which was way before poor steve jobs, bless his heart.)

rose quartz

origins unknown

four years of daily photographs on a white background have taught me how nearly impossible it is to photograph white on white. but our recent recurring morning hoarfrost has given me a perfect set of subjects, with branches and grass stems giving structure and an edge of color to offset the spiky gray-white of the frost. if you’ve noticed a lot of frosty STILL blog entries recently, that’s because i’m hurrying to take advantage of a (so far) once in a career opportunity to feature a little white on white. hope you don’t mind indulging me.

buckthorn with frost

saint paul, minnesota

it wasn’t until after i finished editing this photo that i realized it perfectly resembled the “pause” symbol—the opposite of the little rightward pointing triangle that means “play,” when you’re listening to itunes or spotify. if there were ever an image to sum up the spirit of STILL blog, this must be it. a collection of gathered bones and feathers asking everyone who looks at them to stop what they’re doing, and take a pause.

found bone and feather collections

minnesota

a post-solstice sun, wanting to rise higher in the sky, but still ensnared in a cold spiderweb of winter twigs. He’ll try a little harder tomorrow.

unidentified winter twigs

saint paul, minnesota

charles darwin observed the phenomenon now known as tendril perversion, in which tendrils adopt the shape of two sections of counter-twisted helices with a transition in the middle. huge darwin fangirl here. if he were still around giving lectures, i’d for sure be in the front row, throwing my bra onstage.

wild grapevine tendril

saint paul, minnesota