the city lined the boulevards of some recently reconstructed roadsides near us with a a species of tree i was not familiar with. the leaves were at once recognizable as oaks, but not like any of the oaks i new to be native to minnesota.  just a few minutes on google , and a couple of dead ends down bur oak and chinquapin oak rabbit holes, and i found out it is a swamp oak. native after all, and, even better, 400 of these beauties are being planted in the newly constructed september 11 memorial plaza in manhattan. this comical fellow looked so forlorn in his effort to hold on to summer, that i figured i had to share him on such a wintery day.

swamp oak tree branch in winter with single leaf attached

boulevard planting, saint paul, minnesota

we have hit 18 year record cold temps here in minneosta. the weather reports warn of frostbite after only 3-7 minutes of exposure.  the governor cancelled school statewide.  so we are all staying indoors, including the chickens who are tucked in the garage with space heaters.  i fashioned a little summer sun today out of winter twigs, in hopes it might add a degree or two of warmth to the day, if only in the imaginations of a few still blog visitors.

assorted winter prairie stems: goldenrod, queen anne’s lace, river willow, canada rye

rice creek regional trail, saint paul, minnesota

if you look at the last dozen STILL blog photos you will recognize where all these bits and pieces came from.  they gather on my desk in little piles.  sometimes i wonder if they breed, because i never remember making quite that many piles.  sometimes i sort them by color. sometimes by shape. sometimes by kind. one would think, after two years of doing STILL blog, that it would get easier to take my photo, and then let go. much to my surprise, and my family’s i suppose, the opposite has happened. i see so much beauty and potential in each stem, each seed pod, each leaf…that i have become as obsessed with these bits of nature as my son is with legos.  i guess you could say that STILL blog has reminded me how to be 1o years old again.

a winter collections of twigs, stems, galls, seeds, leaves, cones, and rocks.

all from minnesota, except the stripey rocks which came from finistère, france

twenty years ago, my husband and i spent three months in french polynesia. our experiences as two young, naive, northerners encountering intense tropical heat and humidity for the first time are probably worthy of a book some day.

back then, i didn’t keep a journal or an artists sketchbook, but i love to doodle patterns, and sure wish i had spent some time copying some of what we saw around us in the place where they invented tattoos. one of our favorite symbols, seen everywhere, was the sea turtle, always drawn with interesting shapes and patterns on the shell. with 50 below windchill forecast in saint paul next monday, we are feeling nostalgic about lagoons and barrier reefs and searing sunshine and wearing pareos and nothing else for days on end.

sea turtle graphic made with timothy grass, goldenrod leaves, ginko leaves, seed heads, oak leaves, bog rosemary leaves, and artichoke petals

all specimens from minnesota

i went to pinch off the tip of this cattail, so i could get a close up of the inside, and the whole head erupted on me.  cattail fluff everywhere. i mean everywhere. even the dog was sneezing. it was like bumping a pan of water that is just about to boil, and it bursts into a sputtering volcano. i shot this photo before i dared go any further, and while my vacuum cleaner still had a fighting chance at containment.

exploded cattail head in winter

from my yard, saint paul, minnesota