as i hopped from foot to foot shrieking helpful advice like “ohmygodohmygodohmygod”, my husband steve calmly scooted this 18 inch slab of prehistoric muscle and carapace onto a snow shovel and placed it gently on white paper for me to photograph. then he equally gently carried it, by shovel, down to the water’s edge to release it, while i gave quavering and unhelpful advice. i love my husband. every bit of him. and i had visions of severed parts of him ending up as snapping turtle. i’m not sure i could enjoy being married to a snapping turtle. even partly.
common snapping turtle
turtle lake, saint paul, minnesota
it has been a wet summer so far. one of the perks has been an unusual abundance of mushrooms. i lifted these from my yard just as they were and placed them on a white sheet of tag board to photograph. then promptly came into the house and washed my hands.
unidentified wild mushrooms
saint paul, minnesota
several weeks ago i shared a close-up photo of a water lily rhizome. the sort of grotesque beauty and otherwordliness of it surprised me. how such a flower as the one above grows from such bulbous and ungainly roots is beyond me.
water lily flower
lake valentine, saint paul, minnesota
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Beautiful, white on white.
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whew, there is a lot of hard work going on around here. it reminds me of a poster i saw on pinterest a while ago. it was a photo of a woman looking utterly exhausted, and the caption read, “i just spent the entire day converting oxygen into carbon dioxide.” our back yard is impenetrably green right now, and it looks peaceful and bucolic. but it’s really a photosynthesizing chain gang.
unidentified new growth
saint paul, minnesota
school is out, and our ten year old son is spending the majority of his time (at least those hours not spent watching the world cup) wandering about our yard euthanizing bugs in tupperware, spying on his older sister and her boyfriend, corralling entitled escapee chickens, and putting in some hard time on the daydreaming circuit. in my heart, i know this is what he’s supposed to be doing right now. but he could practice a little piano, couldn’t he? and dry a dish? and drop the underwear in the laundry basket instead of the middle of the floor one yardstick away? oh but then i wouldn’t have this meticulously curated collection of local fauna to share with you, would i?
this week’s gifts from joseph
saint paul, minnesota
Awww. I love turtles! We always rescue wandering turtles who think crossing roads is a good idea!! I have a turtle tattoo and my screen name is Purpleturtle without the vowels… And, THANK YOU for this awesome post!! Such a cute face!! 8*)