and suddenly it is tax season again. our household operates mostly seasonally. still blog operates by definition with the seasons, but we also have soccer season and piano competition season and speech season and deck season and fireplace season and tax season and writing season. it has been a year since the beginning of last tax season, and it’s hard to believe how much has happened in the interim. meanwhile, it’s time for steve to disappear into his cave for the winter, and emerge each evening, blinking, into candlelight and a glass of wine. i’m going to miss him. and i’m going to enjoy my time alone.

lily of the valley leaves

saint paul, minnesota

i had quite a day. i am as heavy tired as a stone. i am as full to bursting as a quail egg. details to follow in due time, but i am sworn to silence for now.

speckled rocks and speckled eggs

quail eggs from minneapolis urban farmer friends, rocks from lake superior

this beaver had already dropped a good sized aspen onto the pedestrian bridge over the channel between sucker lake and vadnais lake. now he was working on an even bigger poplar, determined to dam the channel, and unaware that pretty much the entire Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Saint Paul Water Authority, and Ramsey County stood poised to undo his work the minute he succeeded. even if he knew ahead of time that his work was in vain, i don’t think he could have resisted the addictive feeling of scooping out that last couple of poplar shavings, right before the tree starts to waver, and then crackle, and fall.

beaver chipped poplar tree

sucker lake regional trail, saint paul, minnesota

let’s face it. this beautifully blemished cockle shell would be quite boring without those barnacles. they look like well used molars, and anything with the air of having gnawed on a bit of life over the years earns the word “beautiful” in my dictionary.

cockle shell with barnacles

north captiva island, gulf of mexico, florida

so here’s what i’m confessing to you, my still blog community, enamored of minimalism and the bare essentials. steve and i have a dream. some day, after the kids are in college and money is just slightly less of an issue. we are going to set off somewhere, probably a major american city, and we are going to bring nothing with us. for a year or so, we will live in a white space somewhere, with a bed, a kitchen table, and two comfortable chairs, and almost nothing else, and we will let the abundance of the city provide what we need. and we’ll just see how it goes. that will be a fun thing to share with you, when it happens.

four small bird nests

saint paul, minnesota