it has taken me over two weeks to transition from france to minnesota this time.  i have no idea why. but i have only just recently felt settled. i have been trying to unravel why i have felt so off kilter for the past several weeks: age, hormones, busyness, household illnesses. but in the end, i think it has a lot to do with…believe it or not…humidity. we left a hot dry region where the wind always blows, and came home to 90 degrees, 90% humidity, and perfectly still air.  it was as if the earth had stopped spinning on its axis. i felt a lot like a little kid who has just stepped off the still spinning merry-go-round.

well, i got my footing just in time to begin another transition. summer into fall.  from a STILL blog perspective, these transition months are my favorite. so much material to choose from. so although i am personally craving ordinary routine, this is one transition i can look forward to. bring it on.

lily of the valley leaves in late august

saint paul, minnesota

since returning from france, i have been forced to hide from the late summer sun and humidity by walking primarily shaded woodland trails. today, the temperatures were sufficiently cool and the skies overcast, so i got my first chance to enjoy one of my favorite prairie walks. although i have walked this particular trail hundreds of times, today for some reason, i was quietly overwhelmed at the number and variety of grasses. all of which, appeared to be flowering.

among my favorite, were the winking eyelashes of these blue grama grass seed heads. although they look like falsies, there is nothing false or suspicious about them. i am so used to finding out that common plants i find are also invasive that it was a gratifying relief to discover that this one is a native shortgrass of the american great plains. the real deal.

blue grama grass with seed heads

rice creek regional trail

…if i tell you that most of these were found in my home? it’s funny but i have a feeling that some of you might object in a “yech” way to the idea of this many bugs living on the wrong side of my four walls. but i have a feeling that even more of you would object to the idea of so many lovely insects who didn’t make it back out into nature to finish out their short and important lives naturally. can you guess which side i’m on?

collection of august insects: moth, cicada, bee, grasshopper, dragonfly

saint paul, minnesota

if it wouldn’t have broken one of the cardinal rules of still blog, i would have set my open hand in this picture to give a sense of scale to this two foot long burdock leaf and its foot and a half long stem. instead, you’ll just have to imagine me standing at the bottom of this picture, and the top of the leaf reaching between my belly button and my sternum.

beetle eaten burdock leaf

sucker lake regional park, saint paul, minnesota

this sorted assemblage of beach rocks reminds me of the dabs of color on a paint-by-number set. a couple of years ago while vacationing on the north shore of lake superior, my husband bought a paint by number set “for the kids.” the kids lost interest after 30 minutes, and steve and i spent the next several hours of a rainy afternoon concentrating somewhat intensely on filling each #4 blob with blue, #3 with green, #6 with ocher, etc. By the time we were done, the woodland scene was, let’s be clear, absolutely PERFECT.

color sorted beach rocks

assorted global beaches–but mostly lake superior and the mediterranean