Spring has been fickle here in Minnesota. From cold to snow to rain to warm – we’ve had a bit of everything this week. I’ve already heard the welcome return of the red-winged blackbirds singing, and the lake ice has started to diminish. I was at Lake Johanna yesterday before sunrise. The winter air was crisp and cold at 19 degrees when it hit my face and hands as I got out of the car, but my ears could hear the geese and the ducks that were splashing in the open water near the shoreline, and in the distance a woodpecker’s repetitive hammering was contributing to the song. With all this cacophony the sun was illuminating the eastern sky in pinks and orange. It seems that everything is in anxious anticipation of the season of spring.
spring
Wishing for spring
The calendar turns to March, and our wishes turn to spring. The cold and hardness of winter is still around us, but this is when we yearn for the softness of spring – for color, thawing, and green. In Minnesota, the only place to find that now is at the McNeely Conservatory in Como Park – our very own oasis of spring. These daffodils represent the hope and promise of spring to me. The yellow of sunshine, the green of new beginnings, and the softness that starts the season of spring. Soon……
A hint of spring with magnolias
Our weather has been gloomy with days of gray. Our landscape has been transitional; warmer temperatures this past week caused some snow to melt, leaving patches of brown grass and piles of dirty snow. But one place is an oasis of spring – the McNeely Conservatory at Como Park. With a walk into the Sunken Garden, one is surrounded visually by spring. Colors of pink and yellow, purple and blue – a wonderful sight to the eyes. With encouragement like this, winter can’t last too much longer and we’ll savor the sights of spring when they arrive.
A new year with a look back to 2014
I was reading another photographer’s blog and she had posted her 12 favorite photos of the past year. With a nod to Kim Manley Ort, I culled through 4,142 images to pick 12 photos that were my favorites. Some have personal meanings, like the family photo after my mother’s death or the Royal typewriter that has been passed down through my father’s family. Others transport me to a cold winter morning (much like today!) or an unusually emerald-green lake with a sandy beach in north central Minnesota. The year took twists and turns that weren’t expected, yet I’m learning to embrace the changes, meet the challenges, and appreciate each day that is given – with joy and wonder. May the coming year be filled with 365 such days!
Green of spring
As quickly as winter left, spring has arrived. Minnesota spring-time is short and condensed. It’s almost as if you can watch the flowers come up through the thawed and warming ground. Our lilacs are bursting forth, the peonies grow inches overnight, and the greenest of ferns have started to unfurl. From a tight bud to the gentle arches, they are a study of delicateness and beauty. Soon the fronds will be straight and upright, but I love the soft curves that they now show.
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