it is may, and the gray tree frogs trill all evening and into the night, like troubadours singing for their lady loves. we sit on the deck and listen as darkness falls, and remember what it was like to sing all night for no good reason but love.

we found this courtly gentleman hiding between two weathered gray cedar planks of our dock this afternoon. he leaped down into the marsh grass and disappeared, and is probably one of the singers we can hear right now out our open patio door. he is most likely fern green, blending beautifully into his new marshy surroundings, and he is trying to sound, with all his might, like the gray tree frog equivalent of Cary Grant.

gray tree frog

turtle lake, saint paul, minnesota

we are adopting a colony of honey bees from the bee-squad at the university of minnesota.  the hive was dropped off today.  our entomologist becky explained that dandelions and willow blossoms are an important source of early pollen for northern bees.  we have plenty of both.  so we should have some pretty happy bees.

dandelion blossoms

saint paul, minnesota

we have been repairing our dock all week. it’s very long.  thus a whole week.  but it also means we have spent lots of time ankle deep at the water’s edge. we’ve gotten to witness some memorable sights: a bald eagle plucking a live northern pike from the water, and a whole flock of arctic terns recklessly dive bombing minnows in the shallows. the most spectacular sight however came today in a shallow pool hidden in the reeds where hundreds of american toads were singing and mating. the males sang with their throats inflated like balloons, the ladies responded, some chasing ensued, and soon enough they were locked in an underwater embrace. the male appears to squeeze a ribbon of eggs out of the female, and i assume fertilizes them on the way out. eventually the pool is filled with these polka-dotted ribbons floating in the water.  some of them several feet long.

american toad egg skein

turtle lake, minnesota

usually my eye wanders to STILL blog subjects that make a graphic statement. sometimes it is color that catches my eye.  on occasion texture.  and every once in a while pattern.  but today it was none of those.  it was simply beauty.

may (crabapple?) blossoms

saint paul, minnesota

it’s the weeping willows who are stealing the show right now.

saint paul, minnesota