too many hats

i am in the process of overpreparing for a photo shoot, which includes a semi-comprehensive home makeover, while i simultaneously investigate a couple of simmering potential creative outlets. meanwhile my husband is preparing for the october 15 tax extension deadline and trying to maximize the writing he can do between now and the end of the year. a friend of mine is acting as the creative director for the photo shoot and general creative partner this fall. i just sent her a near-horizon list of items that we should all be keeping in mind. it was thirty-one items long. the painters arrive tomorrow at 7:00. i say all this not because i want anyone’s sympathy. these are all decisions i have made voluntarily. i’m just saying that even someone who craves balance and makes a lot of decisions to make room for balance, sometimes has to come to terms with periods of imbalance. pure balance all the time is static, and a little boring, even though right now, what i want most in the world is to be bored for a day.

aster

shoreview, minnesota

the itch

i wonder if there is something hardwired into our species that leads us to treat fall days as opportunities to get something done. as if our instincts tell us that harvest season is upon us, and if, for most of us, there is no longer a winter’s worth of grain and gourds to harvest, then at least it may be time to take a peek into the corners of the garage and see what kind of clutter needs clearing. it was almost dinner time this evening, near the end of a day spent just this way, that i recalled i had this little blog in my life, and it needed daily tending, and i had not yet taken today’s photo. fortunately there was a swamp white oak down near the water producing perfectly photogenic acorns just now, and preparing, in its own way, for the coming season.

swamp white oak acorn, Quercus bicolor

arden hills, saint paul, minnesota

differing points of view

sometimes i need to turn to my son to help me out with a caption. i’ve seen a lot of water lilies, and tonight i felt out of ideas, as i tried to find something interesting to say about the lavender undersides of these leaves, or maybe their leathery texture. i turned to my son and asked him what his first thought was when he saw this photo. he answered right away. what he saw was a frog lure jittering slowly across the pads, and then falling off the far edge with a soft plop, directly into the jaws of a five pound bass. see. now i never would have had that thought.

dried lily pads

lake valentine, arden hills, minnesota

don’t let me go

i still don’t know what botanical process causes this breathtaking stained-glass effect. if any of my plant geeks have any insight, i’ll take it. for some reason, this particular patch of ferns in my back yard seems to create this effect most years. it’s almost as if the fern is saying, please, don’t make me go back to winter. look how pretty i can be. take me with you.

fern leaflet

turtle lake, shoreview, minnesota

throwback thursday

we just got word that the grape harvest in the faugères appelation has already been completed. which means that we have missed a year of wine grape clusters transformed into table grapes after a day of picking in the fields. wine grapes are some of the sweetest fruit we’ve ever eaten. in fact some of the sweetest dessert of any kind we’ve ever eaten.

selection of wine varietal grapes

autignac, france