fifteen years ago in what now feels like a previous life, i worked for honeywell inc. on the avionics for the boeing 777. as a result, i spent a lot of time in phoenix arizona, and when i wasn’t at work, i would spend my time driving around the sonoran desert photographing saguaro cacti. i never got used to the very non-organic grid of streets in downtown phoenix, nor the lack of water there, but i still miss those cacti. this mullein is the closest thing we have to those strange, gravity defying spires.
common mullein
minneapolis alley, minnesota
i am having fun with these assemblages of the bits and pieces of nature that find their way onto my specimen table. for several years i have also fallen under the spell of the (swiss) cross as a design element. i have used it in journal doodles, i have sewn it into pillows, and i have even painted it on canvas. so it is really about time that i did a STILL blog assemblage in the shape of my current favorite graphic.
cross assemblage of october nature bits
saint paul, minnesota
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looks like first aid for nature deficit disorder
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this fern began as a tightly wound little fiddlehead seemingly only days ago, although it was actually last april, almost half a year ago, that i first saw it emerge. today my husband celebrates his 49th birthday. when i met him half a life ago, he was a tightly wound young creature full of self-involvement and promise. he has since unwound into a looser autumn version of himself, without quite losing the shape of his burstingly passionate spring. i’ll take the latest version in all its earned imperfection.
fern leaf
grass lake regional trail, saint paul, minnesota
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There are tears of joy in my eyes. What a lovely sentiment.
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in the same way that a bare winter linden tree can sometimes look like the map of a major watershed, i decided that the work of this burdock borer larva resembled the crazy oxbows of the okavango delta. of course, it also looks like the scribbling of a two year old on an etch-a-sketch, which makes it more difficult to philosophize on the recurring patterns of nature and their deeper purposes.
burdock borer moth larva trails on a burdock leaf
grass lake regional trail, saint paul, minnesota
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i love contemplating these patterns.
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