How do you like to go up in a swing, up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing ever a child can do!
(from “The Swing” by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Category: photography
Rejoice in the Roses
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” – Abraham Lincoln
And God Made a Tulip
That husband of mine. He was headed home from a week-long trip to Russia. He had a layover in Amsterdam. And knowing how much I love tulips, he bought a box of tulip bulbs in the airport.
It wasn’t easy getting the bulbs through customs, as you might imagine. And I was delighted to receive them when he came home. In January. In Minnesota.
The box of bulbs said in big bold letters: “Plant immediately.”
In January? In Minnesota?
The box of bulbs went into the refrigerator until the week we moved. I packed up in a laundry basket full of food from the pantry. We moved. And the snow fell. And I unpacked the food and re-read the box. “Plant immediately.”
In March? In Minnesota?
The snow kept coming and piling up high. It kept coming and piling up high right through March. It kept coming and piling up high right through April, to the very end of April. And then finally I pulled out the box again.
“Plant immediately.”
In May? In Minnesota?
So we did.
And God made a tulip!
The Smell of Spring
A goldfinch rests on a branch of golden-green leaves.
A red ray petunia blooms brightly on the deck.
My frog-colored rainboots sink in the soggy bog.
It looks like spring, yes, with the bright yellows and reds and golden greens. But spring doesn’t truly smell like spring until the lilacs bloom.
For three of the past four years, my daughters and I have made an annual romp through the blooming lilac collection at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.
This bud is for you, Aunt Lilac!
We adore their heavenly scent, which is why we heartily believe L is for Lilac!
We Heart Wood Ducks
We’ve been a bird-watching family for years. But two months ago we moved into a house with trees and water in the backyard. Actually it was still ice back there until April 28.
Anyway, in these new surroundings we have quickly become certified naturalists. Besides being completely captivated by wildlife and bird-watching in general, we’ve become downright overwhelmed by all things wood duck.
Our first wood duck sighting was April 17. The lake was still completely frozen, but snow was beginning to melt and pool up in between the edge of our yard and the marshy cattail area along the lakeshore.
Then it snowed some more.
And thawed. And snowed.
Again and again. And still more wood duck sightings.
One snowy afternoon a pair of wood ducks came as close as the rocks below our bird feeders. That’s just a few feet from the edge of the patio!
A few days later the snow melted again, the sun came out, and the wood ducks flocked high up into the next-door neighbors’ trees, hunting for the perfect nesting trees and basking in the late morning sunshine.
The very next day — a Saturday morning — my husband and 7-year-old woke me up with the thrilling news that the wood ducks were in the hollow oak tree just outside my bedroom window.
The early morning sunlight captured the handsome and colorful details of male wood duck as the female wood duck searched inside the tree for a good nesting spot.
Ultimately, the wood ducks opted for this newly constructed home, rather than the traditional old oak tree. I think Mrs. Wood Duck was planning ahead and preferred her ducklings have a shorter fall to the ground and a much shorter route to the lake. Makes sense.
Along with the next-door neighbors, we have been putting out corn for the ducks regularly. The price of corn adds up fast. And as the neighbor says, we might not be able to afford to send the kids college because of all the money we’ve spent feeding the ducks, but at least our kids can say they had wood ducks!
This stump is one of the ducks’ favorite eating spots. It quickly becomes an island restaurant when spring rains cause the water to rise. Nearly every evening we watch three or four wood duck couples swim up, waddle through the cattails, and make their way over to this stump or the neighbors’ corn tray for dinner. After dinner they take a little romantic stroll through the yard in pairs and then make their way back to the water to dabble at dessert.
Once the trees leafed out, we spotted another couple up high in the tree next to our hollow oak. I doubt we’ll ever get accustomed to seeing ducks so high on a tree branch.
Then again, I don’t think we’ll ever grow tired of watching them glide through the water either.
If you’d like to learn more about these and other fascinating ducks, be sure to visit PBS.org and watch An Original DUCKumentary.
Magnolias for Mother’s Day
It’s spring, nearly Mother’s Day, and my grandma — my mother’s mother — her hair is blooming all glorious white, right along with the magnolia trees.
Dear Heaven, I give thanks to thee
For things I did not know before,
For the wisdom of maturity,
For bread, and a roof, and for one thing more,
Thanks because I still can see
The bloom on the white magnolia tree!
-from a poem by Helen Deutsch
You Might Be a Minnesotan
If you’ve ever been excited that it is finally warm enough to make a snowman, you might be a Minnesotan.
If you’ve ever been envious of Siberia’s forecast in January, you might be a Minnesotan. (Our “high” a few weeks ago was -5 degrees while it was 33 above in Chelyabinsk, Siberia.)
If your 4-year-old has ever lamented that it is too “deep” to play outside, you might be a Minnesotan.
If you’ve ever stepped outside in 6-degree weather and said somewhat casually, “Why yes, I think it does feel warmer,” you might be a Minnesotan.
If you’ve ever considered 28 degrees something akin to room temperature, you might be a Minnesotan.
If you’ve ever had a conversation about the nuances of thermal underwear in an elevator, you might be a Minnesotan.
If you’ve ever devoted an entire blog post to quips about snowy winter weather, you might be a Minnesotan.
Happy February!
Through the Deep Snow
Come along, walk a few steps in my favorite boots.
The snow is deep.
And the lilacs sleep.
The evergreen, burdened with white, whispers “All is calm; all is bright.”
Yet this happy bundle in pink, she stirs.
And she stirs…
And when the snow won’t snowball, she just throws snow.
Whoosh!
Never trust anyone in a ski mask, especially if it’s pink.
A Plug for the Arb
Note: This is a special guest post by my dear sweet 7-year-old.
I think fishing is a lot of fun (especially when you are fishing for leaves).
Leaves are very easy to catch.
It’s also especially fun when your mom is a photographer.
In these pictures I am at the Arboretum. The Arboretum has lots of places that are fun to go to and lots of things to see.
- Waterfalls
- Ponds
- Flowers
- Trees and plants
- Bridges
- Forts
- Little houses
- Hiking trails
- Secret paths
- Snakes!
- Gift shop
- Maze
- Pumpkin gazebo (only in the fall)
So go do some fun stuff at the Arboretum today!
Glory in the Interruptions
This week our homeschool had an unplanned, last-minute field trip that turned out to be a very memorable one. We had planned to do our usual school work at home, but then mid-morning a realtor scheduled a showing, and so we needed to leave the premises for at least an hour. I was grumpy about the interruption, but I quickly threw a picnic lunch together and headed to a nearby nature center for an attitude adjustment.
As we meandered into the woods, the sunshine glowing through the brilliantly colored leaves created a magical canopy overhead that helped dissolve my frustrations.
We ate our lunch — during which my youngest lost tooth #6. Oddly, she has lost three of her six lost teeth away from home. After our picnic, the girls and I played for about an hour in the nature exploration area, building a house out of sticks and logs.
The girls would have stayed there the rest of the afternoon, but I was hoping to get in a nice hike through the woods, so we set off on the trail. I lagged behind just a bit so I could capture a picture of them hiking down the path.
I paused to put away my camera, and I looked up when I heard sudden screams. The girls came running madly back toward me in a complete panic. When they ran right past me and nearly all the way back to the visitor center, I knew they must have seen something more frightening than a bee. Through the tears and sobs they finally explained that a garter snake in the path had spooked them. My oldest daughter was first to see it and, thinking it was a colorful stick, had bent down to pick it up just as it slithered off the path.
So much for my hike. Nothing — and I mean nothing — would convince them to head down that trail again anytime soon. I never even saw the snake, but I must admit I felt a little creeped-out, too. We headed toward the nearby dock to re-group for a few minutes at the lake, where snakes weren’t likely to find us. En route back to the visitor center, we came across a “wooly bear” caterpillar, which was much more warmly received than the garter snake.
Shortly after that, we loaded up into the truck and started for home. But just outside of the parking area we noticed a pair of Trumpeter swans on the pond.
Oh joy! And they were close enough to photograph. I turned around, parked the truck, hopped out and captured a few shots of the swans. The girls weren’t eager to hike much closer to the pond, but I didn’t mind. This distance was close enough to photograph the beautiful pair.
If you’ve been reading this blog long, you know I am slightly obsessed with Trumpeter swans, as I have mentioned in this post about a spring swan sighting and this post about how God orchestrates our homeschool plans.
It’s amazing how God truly reveals His glory in the interruptions some days.
Starlight Writer 