Week Eight: flow states

50/365: here be monsteras

The split-leaf philodendron (monstera delicious) is having a moment. Suddenly, I’m seeing their unmistakable foliage everywhere I look. I had to seek one out so I could create my very own monstera picture and was lucky enough to find one tickling the ceiling of the MN Landscape Arboretum’s sunny conservatory.

51/365: send me dead flowers

I get that Rolling Stones song in my head every time I see a dried-up blossom. Truly, though, I think these roses got more lovely as they dried and shriveled. The colors deepened and the texture took on more character. I enjoyed them fully as they faded.

52/365: on the edge of see and through

There is this moment I love when the ice begins to thaw and the snow cover is gone. The lake begins to reflect the colors of the sky again. These colors makes me feel like I’m somewhere else, in some other subarctic landscape with a different view of the tundra sun.

53/365: old black water

As much as I’ve been entranced by the ice, the sight of open water inspires a giddy feeling. This once static, frozen creek is now gushing and gurgling with life and movement. It’s the way we all feel when we cast off our layers after a long winter and feel the breeze and sunlight on our skin once more. It has an exuberance and charm that is always refreshing.

54/365: it’s all too beautiful

Open water of an entirely different nature. This one actually took my breath away! In a burst of brilliant sunlight, the wind gusts blew across growing patches of open water on Lake Nokomis creating a wave patterns I don’t recall ever seeing before. Truly stunning.

55/365: fish out of water

Sometimes I can’t resist being really cheesy. Kind of like a goldfish cracker. All I could think when I spotted this one on the sidewalk was that it looked really out of place 🙂

56/365: metamorfluxus

We’re in the period of constant flux. 60 one day. 25 the next. The water performs a trembling dance between flow and refreeze, changing forms moment to moment.

and now

One of the things I love to capture in my garden photos is the juxtaposition of the plants and flowers that are fading away and those that are just emerging. It’s a more honest way of seeing the garden and I find there is beauty in every part of the cycle.

147/365: azalea petal and lily pad

lakeside seating

Give us 84 degrees in the City of Lakes and we will hit the beach. It was a beautiful May day for playing hooky, lunching at Sandcastle, and watching the waves with my favorite beach bum, even if we didn’t get our toes wet.

146/365: nokomis beach, may

after the rain

Few things are more delicate, fresh, and lovely than raindrops on petals (roses or otherwise). There’s also a depth to the light that emerges after a storm – a softness and subtlety that brings out the richness of colors more than sunshine ever could.

144/365: iris

show stopper

I’m catching up after a few days at the lake over Memorial Day.

Last Friday I had the opportunity to hang out with some native orchids – part of a year long garden photography project I’m working on.

This particular bloom was meandering away from her own clump to congregate with a lush spray of ferns. I couldn’t blame her.

140/365: yellow lady’s slipper with ferns

bravo

Luminous & cheerful in the sunlight, the white woodland blooms of the anemone become a graceful cascade of undulating stems and delicate petals at dusk. It’s as if they are giving their final curtsy after the radiant performance of the day.

138/365: anemones at dusk

spring harvest

Our favorite local farmers market opened last weekend. The 1st CSA box delivery is only 22 days away. Edible things are coming out of the ground.

These long-awaited gustatory delights complete the full sensory abundance of the season.  I like spring best when I can taste it.

136/365: onion tops

art here

One of our favorite things to do each May is visit Art-a-Whirl in our old Northeast Minneapolis neighborhood. This open studio tour is now the largest of its kind in the country and grows every year. The addition of food trucks, new breweries, and live music in recent years make it all the more festive.

There is literally art EVERYWHERE from warehouses full of artist studios to galleries to people laying paintings out on the lawn or selling out of the back of a minivan. Quality and experience levels vary. Considerably. This was one that made us laugh. I wonder how many people accepted the invitation to ‘come upstairs’…

135/365: art here

seeing double

Reflections are my favorite thing to play with for the way they distort, confuse, and combine the real world into collage. And I don’t know why, but the flag often has a melancholy feeling for me. Especially in connection with people’s homes. It makes me think they’ve lost someone to war.

134/365: flag

in the spotlight

The light is so crazy good, it almost steals the show. Lucky for the fern, it’s a stunner in its own right.

132/365: ferns