nature walks – Page 2 – Starlight Writer

Swans on a Lonely Lake

May 17, 2016 Diana B.Leave a comment

A quartet of swans stopped by our little lake this morning. They came with no pointe shoes and no concert suite composed by Tchaikovsky. But they did move across the watery stage nearly as graceful as ballerinas.

At first sight of them, I dashed down to the dock with my camera in hopes of capturing a few pictures of my favorite water fowl. When I made it down to the water’s edge, I could not see them and feared I had somehow frightened them away. Feeling confused, I headed back up the hill towards the house. But then part of the way back, I turned and caught of glimpse of them gliding away from the reeds and cattails and toward the middle of the lake.

By the time I reached the lake, the swans were in clear view and coming toward me. I snapped a few pictures and then sat down at the end of the dock. The swans kept coming closer, trumpeting to each other.

I kept clicking the shutter release button, and each bird kept posing as if to say, “Why yes, of course you should photograph me. Don’t I look stunning on this beautiful May morning?”

“The sky,” he wrote on his slate, “is my living room. The woods are my parlor. The lonely lake is my bath. I can’t remain behind a fence all my life…”

― Louis the swan writing to the Head Man in charge of the birds at the Philadelphia Zoo in E.B. White’s The Trumpet of the Swan

Beauty to Behold

May 1, 2016 Diana B.1 Comment

“I do believe that deeply rooted in every human heart is a longing for beauty. Why do we go to the Grand Canyon, the Boundary Waters, art exhibits, gardens? Why do we plant trees and flower beds? …Is it not because we long to behold and be a part of beauty? We crave to be moved by some rare glimpse of greatness. We yearn for a vision of glory.” -John Piper

Looking for beauty to behold, we made another trip to the arboretum last week. The big sister came along this time and had a turn capturing the gardens with the camera.

It was the tulips’ turn to shine.

This orange one was simply radiant in the spring sunshine.

Tulips long have been a favorite of mine because my mom grew a few of them along the front porch of the house where I grew up.

Also in bloom were the delicate bleeding hearts. These are another one of my favorites because they remind me of a garden my aunt once had.

And, speaking of memories, the delightful redbud trees reminded me of the tree my brother and I climbed frequently with the neighbor boys. When playing cops and robbers on our bikes, we pretended the redbud tree was the bank and every leaf was a dollar bill!

The captivating crabapples are almost blooming, and I’m looking forward to smelling the lilacs soon, too. Isn’t spring like a little glimpse of heaven?

“We should live every day of our life promoting the glory of God.” -John Calvin

Rhodies

April 25, 2016 Diana B.Leave a comment

Behold the purple rhododendron!

Sorry, we have no flower poems today. And yes, I really want to call these azaleas because azalea just sounds so much more lovely and floral-like. But according to the botany folks on Wikipedia, azaleas have only five anthers per flower, and these clearly have too many.

On this trip, my 10-year-old daughter discovered the joy of seeing the Arboretum close up through the lens of a digital SLR camera. Magical! She didn’t even have to share the camera because her sister was busy elsewhere. It was so fun to hear her say, “Oh, Mommy! I have to get a picture of these!”

Unfortunately, the pictures she took are still on that camera, waiting to be downloaded. Such is the problem with juggling two cameras. Someday, I’ll try to share them with you. But for now, here’s one more of my rhodie shots.

Daffodowndilly

April 24, 2016 Diana B.2 Comments

“Daffodowndilly” by A.A. Milne

She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;

She turned to the south wind
And curtsied up and down.

She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,

And whispered to her neighbor:
“Winter is dead.”

Let Heaven and Nature Sing!

December 23, 2015 Diana B.1 Comment

Joy to the world! The Lord has come

Let earth receive her King!

Let every heart prepare Him room

And heaven and nature sing!

Joy to you this Christmas!

Nature sang in 2015 as God blessed us with many memorable outdoor adventures like snowshoeing,

snow skiing,

ice skating,

boating,

swimming,

and hiking.

We delighted in God’s amazing creation while watching Trumpeter swans on the Mississippi River,

spotting dolphins in the wild in the Gulf of Mexico near Galveston,

feeding wood ducks in the backyard,

gazing at the gorgeous lilacs

and the dazzling dahlias at the Arboretum,

being wowed by a pair of red foxes up on the Gunflint Trail near the Boundary Waters,

and admiring some of the 18 baby snapping turtles that hatched in our front yard flower bed.

We tried to subdue some of God’s creatures during our too-close-for-comfort encounters with a snoozing nighthawk,

bandit raccoons,

a sleepy bat, an angry squirrel, a peeping goldfinch,

a topsy-turvey mama snapping turtle, a strong-minded chipmunk and a brave back-to-school mouse that trapped itself inside our basement wall! Eeeek!

We also marveled at God’s wondrous creativity while gazing at the brilliant autumn colors,

picking juicy apples,

and plump pumpkins,

and most recently, while picking a lovely-smelling balsam fir tree to decorate for Christmas.

Romans 1:20 says,“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–His eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

Nature clearly points to its wise and powerful Creator. And that lighted Christmas tree in my living room, it points heavenward, toward the Light of the World.

It points to Jesus, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

May we all join heaven and nature in singing our praises to Him this Christmas and throughout 2016!

Merry Christmas!

Fly, Butterfly, Fly!

June 25, 2015 Diana B.Leave a comment

When the little package arrived in the mailbox that sunny afternoon in May, I was not sure what to expect inside. My two daughters were busy playing in the backyard, so I was alone when I cut open the cardboard box and found the five tiny caterpillars inside a little cup. It was just what I had ordered. The cup had a thick layer of gooey brown food on the bottom and a nice tight lid on top. This project was to be the highlight of our homeschool unit on butterflies, but I secretly feared these caterpillars were dead upon arrival. I could not detect any movement whatsoever.

Continue reading over here at The End in Mind.

Embracing the Lilacs

May 25, 2015 Diana B.1 Comment

It’s a family tradition to visit the arboretum’s lilac exhibit every spring, just to embrace the beautiful blooms and their lovely fragrance.

This year, great-grandma comes along, too.

She and my oldest daughter compare the various lilac blooms.

My youngest loves the white lilac blooms best.

Of course, the lilacs aren’t the only blooms at the arb. The tulips look incredible.

And the magical crabapples are dripping with blossoms.

The cheerful daffodils dance on the breezy hillside.

And a few magnolia blossoms still linger for our delight.

I’ll close with a throwback of me embracing my mama’s lovely lilacs a long time ago.

Now please close your computer or set down your device and go outside! Find something alive and blooming and beautiful to smell!

The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway

February 1, 2015 Diana B.Leave a comment

Minnesota – we love it here! Or least we have a mug with that motto and try to have that attitude. Sometimes attitude is what fuels our fortitude to make it through January.

So yesterday we embraced the frozen tundra and wrapped up January with a fun trip to the local ice castle. Yes, Elsa, Anna and Olaf were all there. And yes, all the ice was real.

It was 27 degrees outside, and I joined Olaf in daydreaming about summer.

Despite the warnings I’ve read in The Snow Queen and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I let my darling children ride off in a sleigh with a complete stranger. This ended much better than it sounds, probably because no one offered them Turkish Delight.

The ice slide was a little slow, but fun.

Next, we took a quick break to go ice skating nearby and grab some hot chocolate and snowflake sugar cookies.

At dark we returned to the ice castle to see the lights.

With lots of twirling torches and fiery stunts, the fire show was captivating, too.

Happy February from Minnesota!

A Warm Winter Day

January 19, 2015 Diana B.Leave a comment

Partly sunny and 42 degrees — January doesn’t get much better than this in Minnesota.

We soaked up the warmth at the Arboretum this afternoon — rebelling against winter by taking off our gloves now and then. One of us left her heavy winter coat at home, and another left her coat unbuttoned.

The girls took turns practicing with the camera.

The greenhouse felt warm and lush. What a joy to be surrounded by real-live, green, growing plants with leaves! My youngest was determined to do some sketching, and she liked what she saw from this little bench. My oldest, who is studying botany this semester, liked that this is a “please touch” greenhouse, and she especially appreciated the orange trees and herbs.

I especially appreciated these blooms.

Thank You, God, for the gift of this unseasonably warm January day!

Something Glorious

January 18, 2015January 18, 2015 Diana B.1 Comment

A mostly out-of-tune orchestra of trumpets and horns. That’s the strange music you hear long before you see anything at Swan Park.

Squeezing patiently through the crowd of spectators, many heavily armed with digital SLR cameras and zoom lenses, you eventually get a glimpse of glory.

Trumpeter swans! Hundreds, sometimes even a thousand, wintering trumpeter swans gather on this rare spot of open water on the Mississippi River when the marshes and ponds in Minnesota are frozen. While the river does freeze over, this particular spot in Monticello rarely freezes because of the power plant upstream.

Joining the swans are hundreds of mallard ducks and Canadian geese, too.

A riverside resident and swan-lover, Jim Lawrence broadcasts corn to feed the swans at 10:30 every morning between mid-November and March, and so the swans know him well. No one else gets this close to the wild birds.

Jim’s late wife, Sheila Lawrence, was known as the Swan Lady. She fed and studied the swans for 25 years, helping document the restoration of these birds. The swans now number close to 5,000 in Minnesota, but these natives were absent from the state between the 1880s and 1960s. The Three Rivers Park District and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources were instrumental in reintroducing them to the state in the mid 1980s when 150 trumpeter swan eggs were brought in from Alaska.

Knowing that history, it’s a miraculous, glorious sight to see so many swans. And yes, it’s cold just standing and watching.

But these majestic birds fascinate and entertain you as they interact with each other and the sometimes bully the other waterfowl.

The most amazing sight is seeing them come in for a water landing.

Their approach seems slow as they glide in on wings spanning 7 feet. Their big webbed feet seem like a strange hybrid of landing gear, water-skis and black rubber boots.

For details about visiting the swans on the Mississippi this winter, click here. And for more about the Swan Lady, check out this video from the Minnesota DNR.

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