with blissful abandon

Today it is gray and rainy but yesterday--that's another story! The sky over Snail Lake was bright blue and the lazy spring clouds had no particular place to go. They stepped all over each other on their way to Wisconsin.

Visit Skywatch Friday for more blue views.

The clouds,--the only birds that never sleep. Victor Hugo

Flowers by Fibonacci

Apple blossoms that would make Fibonacci proud~~found on a very old apple tree in Bald Eagle-Otter Lakes Regional Park

This spring's fashion statement: white with red stripes [enlarge for a better view]. Some things never go out of style~~visit Mary's meme Ruby Tuesday for more red beauty.

a mouse or a man?

a rock or a rabbit? You can't scare me!

This cottontail was reluctant to leave the yard she was visiting due to all the snacky variety under the bird feeders. So, I got this look, oddly reminiscent of my teenage daughters a long time ago. Visit Camera Critters for more furry/feathered faces.

Happy Earth Day!

Trees are my favorite subject beneath the canopy of the sky in any season. And they have become a metaphor for my life in different situations. So its fitting for Earth Day and SkyWatch Friday to honor them with these photos.

[no word needed] Wednesday

oh, the irony!

A year ago on April 1st, with tongue in cheek and an article from the St. Paul newspaper about how parts of the city are zoned for chickens in one's back yard, I approached the management of our apartment complex with a request for a chicken. It seemed fair minded since we had lost our beloved dog and a pet would be nice. They said they'd get back to me.

Last week I thought I heard a rooster crowing in the area but dismissed it because its like an airport around here with the Canada Geese, a couple of Loons, ducks, blackbirds, etc. calling, fretting and warbling. Sure enough, there's a lone rooster roaming this residential area, kicking up dirt and crowing throughout the day. I caught him as he was making a hasty retreat from my camera yesterday down the driveway. He's a beauty!

And since he has a bright red comb he belongs in the annals of Ruby Tuesday.

three's a crowd

or a reason to party! Spring unfolding is such a wonderful experience for the observer--I'm guessing it is much more work for the unfoldee.

See more beauty at Today's Flowers.

Authenticity

Advice to Myself

by Louise Erdrich

Leave the dishes.
Let the celery rot in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator
and an earthen scum harden on the kitchen floor.
Leave the black crumbs in the bottom of the toaster.
Throw the cracked bowl out and don't patch the cup.
Don't patch anything. Don't mend. Buy safety pins.
Don't even sew on a button.
Let the wind have its way, then the earth
that invades as dust and then the dead
foaming up in gray rolls underneath the couch.
Talk to them. Tell them they are welcome.
Don't keep all the pieces of the puzzles
or the doll's tiny shoes in pairs, don't worry
who uses whose toothbrush or if anything
matches, at all.
Except one word to another. Or a thought.
Pursue the authentic-decide first
what is authentic,
then go after it with all your heart.
Your heart, that place
you don't even think of cleaning out.
That closet stuffed with savage mementos.
Don't sort the paper clips from screws from saved baby teeth
or worry if we're all eating cereal for dinner
again. Don't answer the telephone, ever,
or weep over anything at all that breaks.
Pink molds will grow within those sealed cartons
in the refrigerator. Accept new forms of life
and talk to the dead
who drift in though the screened windows, who collect
patiently on the tops of food jars and books.
Recycle the mail, don't read it, don't read anything
except what destroys
the insulation between yourself and your experience
or what pulls down or what strikes at or what shatters
this ruse you call necessity.

poem from Original Fire: Selected and New Poems. © Harper Collins Publishers, 2003

that was the week that was

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.

Henry Van Dyke

In my short stint here in Minnesota I have come to believe these are words to live by. But, gracias El Niño, our spring is about two weeks early. Some rainy days have come and gone but sunny, cool spring days prevail. Walking yesterday in a nearby neighborhood I found many colors to savor. Actually, I could be seen at any given spot, sighing deeply.



AND a preview of summer for Camera Critters' fans: a bucolic Amish farm scene in Indiana a couple of summers ago featuring my favorite draft horses.

its a small world after all

See the section of sky reflected in this building, even a bit of cloud, for my SkyWatch Friday?

Ancient mirrors shine
On today's perfect ceiling
Birds are weaving nests

See more skyviews here.

Groovy Tuesday!

A red blast from the past that spells 'wanderlust' to me. Perfectly red-y for the road. See more rubies at Mary's meme Ruby Tuesday.

Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe. ~Anatole France

party on!

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!"

Robin Williams

Nothing gladdens my heart in spring like the first blush of forsythia. And throw in a bit of shy blue and I'm ready to hang up the windchimes and dig in the dirt.

I raise my coffee cup to s-p-r-i-n-g. For more beauty visit Today's Flowers here.