The heat and humidity built throughout the day. As evening approached the sun and blue skies gave way to towering white thunderhead clouds to the south. Quickly the darker clouds moved in, the sky took on an eerie gun-metal gray and gold, and the wind grew still. I wandered through the cornfields watching and listening. In a short period of time there was lightning in the area. I erred on the side of caution and decided a woman with a tripod in the middle of a cornfield with lightning around was not a good idea. Within minutes of that decision, the winds picked up and the rain came down.
landscapes
A brief moment
We were wandering the back roads of central Minnesota recently in the early evening. The day had given us rain, cooler temperatures, some sun and wind. As the sun was getting lower in the sky, the clouds reflected the colors, and the moisture in the air gave us a beautiful rainbow. The lake still stirred with the wind, creating ripples that rolled across the waters, but the evening provided a magical display of light and reflection for a brief moment.
Lupines on display
The first weekend of “official summer” brought a cold front with temps in the 60’s – hardly feeling like the summer we’ve been hoping for. We were in Duluth to celebrate a friends’ return to Minnesota – a new home and wonderful people to welcome her back. The roads and highways were lined with lupine, standing upright and in full bloom. Colors ranging from deep purple, to lilac, to pink, to white – they were a welcome sight from the clouds and cooler temperatures. But I was most enthralled by the lupines along the shoreline of Lake Superior. With the huge lake in the background and the billowing clouds, the lupines stood tall against the wind and the weather blowing in from the lake.
Peony fields
On a brilliant summer’s day we took a drive west of the Twin Cities to Swenson Gardens in Howard Lake, Minnesota. Their gardens were open for their annual Peony Field Days, and the timing was perfect. With warmer temperatures and bright sunshine many of the peonies had come into full bloom. It was a chance to wander and dream and plan for places in our own garden for more of these lovely plants. I especially liked these America peonies – their bright red was a wonderful contract to the green foliage and the blue sky with its puffy clouds.
Blue sky, Blue lake day
The Minnesota fishing opener was this past Saturday, and unlike some previous years the weather was lovely. We headed north to our favorite fishing lake and found an abundance of blue – the sky, and its reflection in the water surrounded us with this beautiful color of spring. Uncharacteristically calm and warm, the boat created the only ripples in the water. It was wonderful to soak in the warmth and the beauty of the day, while we caught our limit of large Northern pike. Saturday became even more perfect as we also headed out on the lake Sunday morning, but this was a much different day. The sky was filled with high clouds, and there was a serious wind from the east. There was no still and calm, no quiet reflection in the water, but rather a heavy chop and even some whitecaps. Sunday merely helped us appreciate even more that blue sky, blue lake day from 24 hours earlier.
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