from flower to fruit

I may be stretching the concept of Today's Flowers a bit, but you get it, don't you? Nature's beauty is complete from start to finish.

 See more flowers and such @ Today's Flowers.

Stuffing my happy morning face. . .no wait, what?!

I can say that it usually doesn't take much to make me happy but the blooming last week of my 'Heavenly Blue' Morning Glory plant has knocked my socks off! Mark the calendar: September 18, with more and more blooms opening each day. To add to the beauty some of the vines have intertwined with a dark red ivy geranium. The large blue blossoms only bloom in the early day and live just a few hours. I read that Morning Glory is also called asagao by the Japanese : a combining words for 'morning' and 'face.' One of the reasons I love Minnesota is the defined seasons, each with something colorful and delicious to offer. Not always edible but a feast for the eyes.

Four seasons fill the measure of the year;
There are four seasons in the mind of man ...
—John Keats

Now that September is nearly gone it is becoming clear how busy she's been burnishing and re-arranging the landscape. This is the area I love to walk behind the lake where I've occasionally seen deer. This week in this very spot below stood one of the twin fawns, bigger, sans spots and sporting a new 'fawn' colored coat. She stopped eating apples and listened to me talk to her for a minute before jumping into the trees. When I walked by I saw three sets of eyes peering out at me: the doe and her twins.

This spot takes me back to the lake--but first to the little pond that is visible at the very middle of this photo. That is where I've watched a family of wood ducks mature this summer. I have not seen them for several days now and am guessing they've flocked and flown off toward the south. I've wished them well and pleaded that they be watchful of hunters.

Not everything has a name. Some things lead us into a realm beyond words.
—Alexander Solzhenitsyn

In homage to autumn and the blackening bananas on my counter that just won't go away, I made this yesterday and can say it made me happy:

Spiced Banana Bread

1-1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour (I used spelt instead)
1/3 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon + 1 tsp ground allspice (which I didn't have)
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg beaten
1 bananas, mashed
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
1/2 c. canola oil
1/3 c. fat free milk

Preheat oven to 350. Coat loaf pan w/ nonstick spray and dusting of flour. Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt in large bowl. Set aside. Combine egg, bananas, applesauce, oil and milk. Gradually add to flour mixture, until just mixed. Don't overbeat.

Bake 42-45 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting into 12 one-inch slices.

Friday's Flowers. . .in a way

My photo collection of the various mushrooms growing around the apartment complex with all the rain we've been having the past week or two. . .the rain we really could have used this summer, I might add. They aren't flowers, I know, but they did come poking out of the ground, they are beautiful in their randomness, probably deadly and very mysterious looking.

Don't lay any certain plans for the future; it is like planting toads and expecting to raise toadstools. John Billings

Audrey comes for a visit tomorrow, staying through the weekend. I've been busily trying to make the place look like I keep it dusted and picked up all.the.time. Some chicken simmers away for homemade chicken soup, sourdough bread, fresh Honeycrisp apples (developed right here at the U of Minnesota), and Dave's famous root beer floats.

Also on Sunday is the 2007 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon that my friend Caroline will be running, all 26.2 miles. This event is billed as 'the most beautiful urban marathon in America.'

Good luck, Caroline!