what i love about this is the feeling the lighter colored leaves give of there being a light source in the center of the image. it’s really just a different color, but it looks like light, and the illusion has a magical quality.

smoke bush leaves

saint paul, minnesota

the green and flowering version of this rue anemone always accompanies steve’s and my spring trail walks, when we are casting our eyes about for morels and wild asparagus. yes, this is one of those “where did the time go” posts. 2015 has been a year of thrilling projects for each of us, but they have required a dailiness and a single mindedness that has been, on one hand, a way of staying present and engaged, but on the other hand hand, has meant that we barely noticed summer flit past. the curled yellow leaves of  this friendly spring companion just made that clearer, somehow, than all the red maples and russet oaks of fall.

rue anemone in november

sucker lake regional trail, saint paul, minnesota

in france, today is the le jour de la toussaint, all saint’s day. throughout the country, kids are celebrating a day without school, and adults are mourning their departed, placing chrysanthemums by the graves of loved ones. these mums, not actually mourning, merely cold and thirsty, managed to capture the spirit of the day about perfectly. so, goodbye papa. goodbye grandma and grandpa. goodbye uncle steve and aunt judy. goodbye cousin joey. goodbye kerri. and goodbye to you animals who were family while you were here. murphy. idgy. milo.

bush mums

saint paul, minnesota

i don’t know how trends start. i do know that two potential clients in the last two months have asked me for insect photos. in my very limited world, that constitutes a trend. there is also a current of thought in the sustainability movement that has begun pushing the idea of insects as the most humane and sustainable form of protein, such that this previously unthinkable notion has made it into what i might call the outer edge of the outward fringe of the mainstream. if bugs are about to find their place in the sun, metaphorically speaking, then i have spent a lot of years as an unknowing trendsetter, sweeping up and preserving the remains of exhausted insects from my kitchen floor, after they have failed to fly through our skylights into the summer air. or, as e.o. wilson much more eloquently put it, when asked for his thoughts on the nature of god, “well, he must have been inordinately fond of beetles.”

collection of moth and butterfly wings

saint paul, minnesota

i know i’ve posted a lot of sumac this fall. but, this little ordinary stem got singled out today for showing its state spirit–maroon and gold, the team colors of our local minnesota golden gophers. you will have noticed that sports play an almost nonexistent role in the still blog aesthetic, but the university of minnesota football coach just retired abruptly, after spending years fighting the opposing forces of epilepsy and the mind-clouding medicines that keep it under control on one side, and coaching  a division one team with a clear head on the other side. his name was jerry kill, and he had spent years minimizing the intake of the medicines he needed to control his epilepsy, in order to keep his mind sharp to do the one and only thing he ever loved–coaching college football. i don’t love football as a sport, but it is just a very moving human moment to watch someone walk away from one thing he loves, because he can’t stand the thought of his wife, the thing he loves more, staying up all night, monitoring him for signs of seizure. i wish it were different, jerry. but you did the right thing.

dried sumac leaves

saint paul, minnesota