we’re just begun to see magnolias around here. it’s as close as we get to looking tropical.

magnolia blossoms

saint paul, minnesota

i can’t decide if this is the face of some ungroomed ginger haired terrier, or a nebula breeding stars in the interstellar distance. give me a minute.

over-wintered cattail going to seed

turtle lake, saint paul, minnesota

for a tree associated with death and sadness, the weeping willow makes me inordinately inclined to celebrate.

weeping willow switch with catkins

on the south shore of turtle lake, saint paul, minnesota

our beekeeper becky showed up to inspect our honeybee colony yesterday.  i am glad to announce that they are thriving despite this harsh winter and spring.  in the process of inspecting the hive, she scraped off several samples of comb and shared them with us. in the spirit of “each one, teach one” (thank you, marcus samuelsson), here is what she shared with me (left to right):

1. older wax
2. queen cups (but they are upside down in this photo)
3. capped drone cells
4. larvae

all from the bee colony in our backyard. ours is part of university of minnesota bee-squad program called hive-to-bottle.

saint paul, minnesota