yesterday was hemingway’s birthday. i’ve never encountered a writer i think i would have liked less in person, whose writing has held me so spellbound. i mention this as an acknowledgement that he might well have seen in these graceful wildflower stems the arcing paths of antiaircraft flak shells somewhere over spain. and he would have had me interested. the bastard.

unidentified wildflower stems

rice creek trail, saint paul, minnesota

i just discovered that the latin name for blue jay is cyanocitta cristata. well doesn’t that word “cyan”  just jump out all of a sudden? it’s greek for “blue,”  and familiar to everyone who ever owned a color printer. so the blue jay, according to taxonomists, is a “crested, chatty blue bird.” pretty much dead on.

northern blue jay tail feathers

saint pual, minnesota

ok, it’s a very minnesotan thing to talk about the weather. weather is what we have here instead of mountains, ocean, or rainforest. so you’re just going to have to listen to me marvel at the amount of rain we’ve gotten around here lately, how much our lake level has risen, and how much this dead pine branch reminds me of the lightning during last night’s interminable storm. you betcha.

pine branch (probably scots pine)

saint paul, minnesota

i am in the middle of a new project with the help of my daughter that involves organizing our photos from the languedoc into themed color blocks. i’ll share the project with all of you when it’s ready. but meanwhile, i find myself dividing the entire world into color gradations. do these hosta flowers go with the lavender collection, or the lilac collection,  or the mauve collection? eva? help me out here!

hosta flowers

saint paul, minnesota

this feels a little like my life right now. endless projects spilling off the page–none of them so embryonic that i can ignore them, none of them quite in full bloom enough that i can celebrate.

burdock blossoms

saint paul, minnesota