June 2016

​Wow. June 2016 was the BEST month for walks. I got into a pattern of getting up very early (usually between 5:30 and 6:00) and getting out into my new neighborhood in St. Paul for long, leisurely walks. When I'm up that early, it's a little easier to justify taking pictures of people's yards and such—so be prepared, there are lots of photos from this green and golden month! 

​Let's start with the flowers.

​Here are some beauties that brought me back to my childhood. I believe they are prairie roses. My mom had a stately old prairie rose in her garden for as long as I can remember. And when I was very young, there were prairie roses growing along the fenceline between two fields. The fence was removed and those wild prairie roses are no more, but I will never forget their sweet smell. In fact, as I'm writing this I'm remembering something else—a doomed attempt on my part to make perfume by soaking the pretty pink petals in water for days on end. What I ended up with was not so pretty and did not smell sweet at all, but at least I learned a little something about decomposition!
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​I think these are a kind of echinacea. I love the swirl of lines made
​ by petals, leaves, and long blades of grass. 

​I had some of these flowering vines at a rental house—but they were nothing like this. Mine were thin and scraggly, barely hanging on. These are exultant. 

​I love these petunias that seem to be spattered with white paint. Reminds me of some shoes I once had. My daughter, in her early teens, had taken my clogs without permission and had then gotten busy with a spray painting project. My black clogs ended up with gold spatters. But they looked so cool that I continued to wear them. They'd been customized!
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Is this not the very essence of red?

​Some flowers look like they're made to be together. 

Love these colors.

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​​
​Now let's move on to lawn ornaments. 

​This exuberant fellow is pretty close to where I live, so I see him often.
​He puts a lilt in my step. 

​I can't even see this girl's face, but the bounce
of her pigtails ​tells me she's having fun. 
​

​Grumpy Guards of the Gutter.
​

​So sweet!

​Silver ducks swimming on concrete. 
​

​The pig and the goose know more than they are letting on. 
​

​I love these two. They belong in a lush garden but have fallen on hard times.
Someday they'll be in a better place, though—just you wait and see. 
​

​Doesn't this look like the entrance into a storybook?

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​

​Last month I posted pictures of the sidewalk poetry I'd discovered. Here are some more.
​

I can't remember
all the flowers she taught me
​Her pansies worry
​

​There's no place I'd rather be
than here
in this quiet common place
​where late morning sun
meets the scent of concrete and cut grass
​stirring
​

​the robins

we notice them in the yard
our first spring
a couple searching to build
mud and snarls of straw
over the back door
sacred blue eggs inside

next year they came back
and choose the front door
then, the garage
​flattered
we never dismantle
​the safe places of ten springs
​

​Cut the trees
out of the sky
with your silver
​scissors.

Tear the rain
from the faint
shapes of bruised clouds with your open
​hands.

Weave the thin
​strands of rain
through the branches
like pearls
melting against dark
​silhouettes.

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When I walk, I wander—I pick a general direction and go. So when I just happen to come across a spectacular view, or a walkway over a highway, or an unexpected path in the woods, I feel exhilarated. 

​Harriet Island touched by the sun's first rays.

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​And now for some funny moments...
​

​From a distance I saw a green lump in the grass and I couldn't figure
out what it was. My best guess was an old rug. But no, it was a toy
alligator—clearly a master of camouflage!

​Just an ordinary house, right?
​

​But look who's lurking on the porch!
​

​And finally, the coolest paint job I've ever seen on a car. I love that 
the ​caterpillar is represented too. Metamorphosis on wheels!