as i sit here to type this, wondering why in the world we had yet another bird casualty this year, it suddenly occurred to me…i had my windows professionally washed this spring! my first time ever. and we have had more dead birds this year than all the previous seven we have been in the house. well, i guess it means it will be at least another seven before i do that again.

yellow-shafted northern flicker

my deck, saint paul, minnesota

each fallen feather found on the trail strikes me as such a valuable treasure, that this collection, all in one place, feels like some kind of fort knox of feathers.

collected feathers of eastern north american birds (including at least the following: great horned owl, barred owl, wild turkey, pheasant, ruffed grouse, blue jay, cardinal, yellow-shafted flicker, canada goose, herring gull)

mostly from my back yard, turtle lake, mn

it’s a little late in the season to be seeing buds. we haven’t seen many lately, and will see much fewer from here. but for now, it’s refreshing to see a little youth among the brittling bones of the oak leaves that will start turning russet and brown in a matter of weeks.

wild sunflower bud

saint paul, minnesota

arrowhead plants have always been a favorite, but i didn’t know that this water’s edge find brought to me by my son was my old friend arrowhead in a new disguise. but google told me so this evening and if it’s on the internet it must be true.

broadleaf arrohead, sagittaria latifolia

turtle lake, minnesota

my kids made the sweetest gesture the other day with out even realizing it. they spent a morning floating around the shallows of turtle lake, on eva’s paddleboard, to gather a sample of each kind of lake weed they could find. what I found at lunchtime was a bucket by my desk, filled to overflowing with weeds, and a note: “for STILL Blog, Mom”.  here are the results.

common minnesota lake weeds (wild celery, curly-leaf pondweed, cabbage leaf pondweed and others)

turtle lake, saint paul, minnesota