these little pieces of translucent obsidian rock pepper the trails in tent rocks national monument near santa fe, new mexico.  symbolically, they are the tears of apache widows, mourning the losses in a massacre of their warrior husbands.  as their tears hit the ground, they turned into these stones. well, if that’s the symbolism, i’m not sure i need to know the precise geological reality.

obsidian (volcanic black glass)

santa fe, new mexico

last night, after i photographed this, and then made dinner, and then lost the last of my natural light, i accidentally kicked the corner of the paper this had been sitting on. the kicked version would have been more compelling than this more intentional original, but such is the nature of a one-a-day challenge. here, for better or worse, is today’s photo.

today i am being interviewed by a gallery in minneapolis that will host a STILL blog show opening April 19, 2013.

sea glass from lake superior and the mediterranean

i cannot wear polka dots. but i love seeing them in nature.

birch bark with sapsucker holes, and a pintade feather

of all my collections, found eggs accumulate the most slowly, which makes each egg just a little bit precious. they can also be quite hard to identify–the above collection includes song birds, game birds, duck and turtle eggs.

i have been digging into my collections for inspiration because, let’s face it, this time of year in minnesota can be very…well…brown and twiggy. the snow is not quite gone, and what remains is dirty. everything the melting snow exposes is bedraggled and drab.  spring arrives late here. On the other hand, when it arrives, it will arrive quickly.  i can already see the buds starting to swell.

assorted eggs from minnesota and southwest france

seedpods are one of the STILL blog subjects i keep returning to.  i wish i had taken better care of some of  my specimens.  now several of them have lost their seeds, and that is a little bit of lost magic.

seedpods are technically different from seed-heads, seed clusters, and seeds.  seedpods are several-seeded vessels that split when ripe. they are milkweed pods. they are poppy pods. they are plane tree pods. they are water lotus pods.  they are my current favorite.

assorted specimens from minnesota, california, and southwest france