my back yard

The flowers at Horton Park and the Friends School of Minnesota peace garden across the street have burst into glorious bloom. Flowers are a subject that seems more suited to the camera than to the pen. Framing, focusing, attentive to the play of light on their vibrant petals, the practice is akin to composing a written moment. But in these instances, photographs capture the full detail of texture and color in a way that words cannot. 

Hamline Hi-Rise lawn

Friends School of Minnesota

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Biking through a sweet scentscape of lilac, apple, and cherry blossoms arrayed along the street. (May 10, 6:30 a.m.)
Pale green fir cones.   (May 12, 7:30 p.m.)
Dandelion seedheads, glowing globes in the morning light. (May 13, 7:10 a.m.)
Fuzzy fresh new tamarack needles. (May 13, 7:15 a.m.)
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Creeping jenny flourescent yellow-green against dark mulch after a rain. (May 16, 6:15 a.m.)
Among the gray underbellies of a dispersing storm, a cloud top catches the light, a white echo of the nearby moon. (May 16, 6:20 a.m.)
A crow croaking good morning from the utmost tip of a Douglas fir. (May 16, 6:30 a.m.)

Pierce Butler Route

Horton Park / Hamline Hi-Rise

On my ride in to work this morning my legs were tired. Yesterday was my first ride after an almost two week hiatus due to vacation and bad weather, and it was a blustery ride into the wind. Feeling that today, I had been riding with my head down, just pushing the pedals. But halfway down the transitway between the U of M St. Paul and Minneapolis campuses, I looked up. In the sky a thousand feet or so ahead of me, a bald eagle was swooping and diving, twisting its giant outspread wings, trying to shake a pair of crows. The three continued their maneuvers, dipping down toward the ground, then flapping up again, as I continued riding. I soon spotted the object of contention - a plump rabbit, apparently recently struck by a bus and lying on the pavement. As I neared to within a couple hundred feet, the eagle managed to land briefly, its impressive bulk covering the rabbit and perhaps snatching a morsel, before lifting off and away as I approached. 
I wonder if they thought I was some large and fearsome beast come to dash their hopes of breakfast. I hope they returned and fed well after I was gone.

Dinkytown Greenway