Tag Archives: Flowers

On the Road Again …

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Trail Mix hit the sidewalks again today, finally.

Our schedules didn’t really mesh while Bethany was on maternity leave, so the occasional walking we’d hoped for fell by the wayside. Bethany returned to work Monday, but even then it took a few days. I was out of town until late Monday afternoon, Bethany had an appointment Tuesday, I was gone Wednesday and Bethany did not have time Thursday.

So Friday it was.

We weren’t sure if it was OK to walk across the road work, but it was easily passable, especially for a pair of hikers who normally walk along a dirt trail. :)

We do hope to get back on the trail for a while before the snow falls.

Today, I discovered Bethany’s love of old things. I think maybe she did, too. …

She pointed out the fence above, then later said she didn’t really like old things. But not long after that, she pointed out another fence:

Then she caught sight of this garage, remarking that she liked the contrast of the blue with the red of the window propped against it:

“I guess I like old things,” she said, laughing, “as long as they’re not mine.”

Fences in particular.

I like the blue-and-red mix, too, although my favorite combination would involve a darker, richer blue, perhaps like this house that I also liked:

As for old things, I think I agree to some extent, especially when talking about old dilapidated things that have a certain character.  These are fun things to discover while out and about, and sometimes familiar things you’d miss if you no longer walked past it, but the owners might think, “Huh? This old thing? I can’t wait to replace it.”

Remember this dog? The dog that always barks ferociously at us (but who I’m guessing is actually quite friendly — I just don’t want to test it because he has big teeth)?

Well, this is what he looks like when I make kissy noises and wake him up for a nap. He had no interest at all in barking, or even getting up!

I meant to take some flower pictures today, but there aren’t a lot of flowers left, and I forgot to keep looking. But I did find this lovely planter, with a nice crop of rhubarb in the back corner.

When I lived in Crookston, I had an apartment where rhubarb grew right outside my door. It was really cool to be able to pick a couple of stalks and make rhubarb whatever. (I wonder if there’s an actual recipe for that.)

We capped off our walk with lunch at Cantabria, where we split a Barcelona sandwich, which was grilled ham and cheese with red peppers, lettuce and tomatoes and mayo. We also each had a smoothie; I had mango and she had the Red Monkey (strawberry banana).

It was a nice way to cap off the noon hour, and it’s a really pretty place to be as well.

I suppose it would have been too easy to pick out the sun in the above picture as a puzzler …

I’ll close with another old thing we both liked. :)

Have a great weekend!

Laurie

 

 

 

 

Spring: Nature’s amazing style show

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We’ve had beautiful weather for walking lately, and today was no exception, as the green keeps filling in and standing out more and more against an awesome blue sky.

Vibrant blues and greens are pretty much my favorite color combination, especially involving water, and I love both blue-green and green-blue and assorted similar hues. Last year, I wrote a vague Christmas list that went something like this: “I collect giraffes. Socks. Always socks. I like green, blue, green-blue and blue-green.”

So as these colors take over the season more and more, I keep finding these breathtaking, indescribable moments of passion for my surroundings — not unlike the thrill of biting into a delicious fudgy brownie or sinking into a nice warm bath. It’s just so beautiful outside, everywhere I look. It’s amazing. I wish I could feel like this all year round.

Of course, there are other beautiful colors that make me feel like that besides blue and green. Another joy of spring is watching the flowers come out at different rates in different yards. I think the pink flowers above are alyssum. I’m sure someone will correct me if I am wrong, which is very possible. But I think I’m safe in referring to the flowers below as tulips.

And, of course, the lovely dandelion sticks around for both spring and summer!

No idea what the little blue thing is.

I love how the gazing ball in the photo below acts as a mirror. I didn’t notice that until I saw the photo at full size on my computer.

Random photo  caught Bethany and a group of children out for a walk or field trip:

These Topsy Turvy (or whatever brand they are) planters made me feel guilty. I have one of the upside-down strawberry planters and two of the tomato planters but have not planted them yet or even bought any plants for them. But look how these are already growing! I’m wondering if the red ones are strawberry planters, because I know the green ones are tomato planters.

I think a clothesline is a great place to hang these things. I am planning to hang a tomato plant and a strawberry plant from either side of the bottom of the fire escape outside my apartment building. By the looks of this, I should really get going!

I got a kick out of this stair rail. I don’t think the two sides could be much different. I kind of like them both. I like to think of them as his and hers, with hers the slim, pretty-patterned metal railing and his the burly. handsome wooden one. :)

I hope you all have fun plans for the Memorial Day weekend and that the blue skies and comfortable temps continue.

A beautiful day for a walk around Bemidji …

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We had a beautiful day for walking today. In fact, we were all over the place. We started out downtown and wandered over to 15th Street and then in the Bemidji State University area, finally coming back around the waterfront.

When we were in the BSU area, we both saw what looked like a cat in the back window of a sealed car, which would have been animal abuse on a warm day like today, but it turned out to be a cat of the fake-fur variety.

The sky was blue, the temperature was wonderful and the view was gorgeous. We saw lots of other people walking around town as well.

Even though some trees are still nearly bar, there’s still lots of green out now, and the spring flowers are coming up beautifully. I wish it was like this all year round.

It was just, overall, a nice spring day for a walk.

What more could we ask for? :)

Oh yeah, maybe … instructions on how to make these cute things:

They look like cement and pretty rocks formed in maybe a meat pie tin?

In any case, they’re very cute and it was fun to run across them!

What the melting snow reveals …

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Not only did the dire predictions for a winter storm not amount to much in Bemidji beyond some wind and a little snow, we spent the noon hour Wednesday taking note of things that had been unearthed lately by the melting snow.

Such as the sandal above, which still had some ice adhered to it. Then we found a remnant of Halloween:

We have no guess as to story behind these pants:

And I have a feeling that this bunny is around for Easter and was merely forgotten outside. But doesn’t he look lonely???

Speaking of bunnies, I don’t suppose these tracks belong to *that* bunny:

We saw the rabbit tracks just after these really cute ones of a big and little kitty (yes, we know, they’re not supposed to be running loose, but maybe the big kitty had the little kitty on a leash ;) :

Can you guess whose tracks these are? :

While it was a very sunny day, it was also cold walking north, but once we turned around it felt pretty decent. In fact we were hot by the end of our walk.

We’re pretty excited for the rest of the snow to melt and the temps to keep rising. When we walked past the library and saw the grass exposed by the melting snow near the bushes, Bethany said her nearly 3-year-old daughter, Lola, had been thrilled to see grass for the first time. She even wanted to play in it!

Here’s the library bushes, and below is a view of the lovely mush that marks the beginning of spring:

Not a very long post today — heavy on the photos, though — as I had to go out of town and was busy until just now.

Happy spring! :)

We did see a little color today, but although Bethany’s tulips are already coming up, we were dubious of these flowers, which turned out to be of the faux variety:

Greenery! And flowers!

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So we are on another mini-break until at least tomorrow. And that is assuming that we get tough again and want to walk in -20 degree temperatures. But because I am getting pretty sick of the cold and the snow (I know, I know, it’s only December…) my family and I made a little pit stop in the Cities to visit the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory at Como Zoo.

And while none of these photos is at all spectacular at all (I just had my little point-and-shoot), it was nice to see some life.

Of course, eventually, we had to leave and head back into real weather.

The above photo was taken Saturday afternoon/evening while we were, optimistically, waiting for traffic to allow us (and many, many others) to merge from 694 onto 94.

We waited a very long time.

Want proof?  Look carefully at this photo:

Can you see the guy actually standing outside his vehicle on the entrance ramp? (Again, another crummy photo, but you try taking a shot while hanging outside the passenger window in a snowstorm.)

The problem traveling in the Cities that afternoon/evening wasn’t necessarily accidents – it was a bunch of vehicles that got stuck in the roadways and especially on exit ramps. Even by the time we were wiling to consider turning back, we couldn’t get off at an exit because they were all blocked by cars and semis that were stuck.

Fun times.  :)

Check on us later this week. We should be around, out walking, hopefully.

Sweats? Already???

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This squirrel was kind enough to stop and pose for a picture before scampering away.

A few weeks ago, we could only dream of weather this cool. And a few months from now, weather this *warm* will feel like a dream.

I normally dress for our walks the night before, so in warm weather I go to bed in comfy shorts and a tank top, and in cold weather, it’s sweats. Last night, I donned my Pioneer sweats and a BSU hockey T-shirt. When Bethany called just before noon today, my bedroom felt  warm, so I happily changed into shorts. Then I went outside and changed my mind, but opted for worn-thin cotton drawstring pants, thinking it wasn’t cold enough for sweats quite yet. Then Bethany showed up.

“Sweats? And  a hoodie?”

I went back inside and threw on my Pioneer sweatshirt (I try not to wear both the sweats and sweatshirt together as I look like a walking advertisement).

Brrrr!

At the Bemidji Fire Hall, we ran into firefighter Kelly Skime, who took a couple of minutes away from whatever he was doing in those work clothes to chat with us a bit. Kelly is not into the blog thing, so we tried to explain it.

I like the landscaping in this corner of garden nestled against a house.

When I first heard of blogs in 2002 (back when some still called them weblogs), most of what was out there were like personal diaries, but now I would say they tend to be closer to essays (maybe similar to short newspaper columns?), that focus on myriad subjects, like health, the economy, politics, human rights, the outdoors, family, humor (as well as personal journals).  Bloggers even come from government offices.

And, of course, your friendly neighborhood walkers. :)

I’ve been writing this blog on and off for the past two hours. In between, I’ve been fielding IMs (instant messages on Windows Live Messenger) and formatting/editing stories from Bethany as she covers a complicated set of meetings at City Hall. She was able to just sneak in a final vote under the deadline as the Bemidji City Council voted to proceed with negotiations for sale of land on which a Holiday Inn Resort would be built that would be  connected to the Bemidji Regional Event Center. We’d never have been able to do any of that without laptops.

Creative planting of hostas!

As today’s walk progressed, we did warm up a little. Not so much that we noticed warmth, but more that we stopped noticing cold.

And as always, we saw beauty around Bemidji. It’s so impressive to see the interesting things people do with their surroundings.

Even nature finds a way to grow things creatively, like this mushroom growing in a hole in a tree:

Speaking of nature, we both found this really sweet:

This tree was planted in honor of little Keaton Rhys, who was born Aug. 29. He weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces and was 22 inches long. Congratulations to the happy parents!

We’re very familiar with this house, having walked by it over and over last year when they were working on it. The windows are fabulous.

Other assorted sightings:

Our favorite cat along our route

An interesting way to play basketball. At 5 feet 4 inches, I might even be able to dunk with this setup!

A view of my old apartment at 1225 Irvine Ave. N.W.

Leaves are already more red than green in this tree at the Bemidji Public Library.


If you look at the bottom corner of the tree above, you will see a bit of Bethany!

Even on the most innocuous of days, we always end up with more photos than we need. And since I have no will power to speak of, I end up using more photos than I should. I’d like to set us up with an online photo account, and I’m hoping to update our albums on the Facebook page. (www.facebook.com/bemidjitrailmix)

Here’s a toothbrush on the ground to go with the tube of toothpaste we saw not too long ago. It looks like it still has lots of life left, too!

I didn’t think to take a mystery photo, but we stocked up a couple of weeks ago, so we have extras.

Our last puzzler was bricks along the First National Bank building downtown:

The puzzler before that, I forgot to take a full version of, so here is a wider view of the scene of the butterfly cutout, which is part of the fence outside the playground at the Beltrami County

Such pretty decorations!

Following the white (OK, brown) rabbit …

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"Shhhh."

When Bethany shushes me and grabs me to stop me from walking, it’s usually because there’s a bird, a chipmunk or a squirrel nearby. This time it was a rabbit — and one that definitely didn’t want to run too far away.

Above, the rabbit is bounding from its spot in the shade to run across the street from one corner house to another (I think this is Minnesota Avenue).

Then bunny plays Where’s Waldo at the second house, apparently trying to blend in with some dirt.

Finally, we have a mad dash across the lawn …

… and back across the street to the first house.

I left the rabbit alone after this.

"I could keep him running back and forth," I told Bethany.

But that wouldn’t get us much exercise …

Since Bethany showed off my new shade of red this week, here’s a shot of her a bit blonder after a touchup.

Another day of beautiful flowers awaited us. I love unstructured garden areas, like these flowers and grasses above.

The photos above and below were taken in the same yard. The mini-gardens, surrounded by rocks, feel natural to me, but also well planned. These gardeners knew what they wanted.

Now on to some more color …

Again, two from the same house (above and below). Very pretty!

Yes, this is pretty much another photo blog. I wonder if we would lose more weight without the camera … although we rarely stop very long when we’re shooting.

Here’s one that caught my eye because it’s cute!

We noticed this teepee today behind People’s Church and wondered how long it’s been there. Nice job!

Stuff on the Ground today is a fingernail clipper. And again, I forgot to do a mystery photo. Getting lazy!

Looks like they’re doing new brickwork in the sidewalk along Minnesota Avenue downtown. I love these brick sidewalks. It’s one of my favorite things about downtown Bemidij — that and the Sculpture Walk.

There are a lot of things to love that are within walking distance of my house, including the Paul Bunyan Playhouse, where I’ll walk to see "Dracula" Friday or Saturday night, and Library Park, where I will take in Art in the Park Saturday. I wish summer would last all year, but it’s already half over!

– Laurie

What a treat it is to be out and about in Bemidji

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We can’t resist a friendly cat or dog when we walk, but today we found a feline friend as excited to see  us.

This pretty kitty, who was having a grand old time chasing things and running around, made a beeline for us as soon as we came into view.

After just a bit of hesitation, the cat accepted Bethany’s petting and soon flopped on its back on the sidewalk and awaited petting:

Near the end of our walk, we also ran across one of our co-workers, Jerry Madson:

Jerry is the page design guru at the Pioneer, where he has worked for many years. Also an accomplished artist and avid bicyclist, Jerry is the friendly voice you hear when you call the paper after hours. He also knows so much about Bemidji’s physical history in the past few decades, having lived all over the city. It’s fascinating to me to hear how different the streets and neighborhoods used to be, and the many businesses and other facilities that have come and gone.

If Bethany and I live here for as many decades (well, she’s two decades younger, so she has more chances!), I suppose we could do the same, considering how much more we see walking than we ever do driving.

Today started out a little chilly, but warmed up within a few blocks. We’ve had some gorgeous weather lately, and it’s nice to have a specific reason to spend an hour outside in it (nearly) every workday.

Just look at what we get to see:

These vines are, to me, amazingly beautiful. Bethany apparently likes them, too, as it looks like she felt compelled to put our her hand and touch a stray vine that had reached out toward her

We decided that if we were to put together a big flower garden, we could guarantee blooms throughout the summer simply by referring to our own blog and seeing which flowers came up when.

 Daffodils, for example, started coming up a few weeks ago, I think, and are getting fuller and fuller, with lots of blooms still waiting to pop open.

The garden outside the Bemidji Public Library is looking super nice right now. I sure wish we could see beauty like this all year long.

Above is the poppy-lined walkway to the house that hosts my favorite garden, located along America Avenue Northwest, that we highlighted a while back. My mom loves poppies (and paintings of poppies), and she’s planning to visit for Art in the Park and/or the Beltrami County Fair and/or the Lake Bemidji Dragon Boat Festival over the next three weekends, so I’d like to show her this garden.

Whatever the flower above is (some variation of daisy?), its vibrant color stood out amid some rather cluttered but quite natural surroundings.

 

I used my new little Kodak HD video camera today for photos. It does a nice job with stills. I love the brightness of today’s photos, like the red of the berries against the green of the leaves.

Oops — I forgot to take a mystery photo today. Yesterday’s picture of the moccasins was from Morrell’s Chippewa Trading Post on Beltrami Avenue across from the waterfront park.

Take care!

– Laurie

Shrouded sculptures and other encounters

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Today’s walk was spent, in part, looking for cloaked sculptures in support of Deborah Davis’ "Gaea" beaver sculpture. We found two (although we might have missed something), including Darin Hansen’s "Agony," the sculpture of a man receiving oxygen through tubes in his nose, and "Crinkle," one of the other beavers, which was shrouded almost as much as "Agony."

Some of the sculptures had apparently been cloaked specifically for Independence Day festivities. Today (Monday), while not technically part of the holiday, is a day off for most. Not me, as I work on Monday holidays. I can’t complain, though, since I just got done with two weeks of vacation.

Bethany has worked really hard on the "Gaea" stories, starting with Friday, which was her day off. Last week, she envisioned a simple, interesting story about all the new pieces on the Bemidji Sculpture Walk, including the beavers. Little did she know that by the time her Sunday story came out, she would have to revise it.

This is what we saw when we came across Linda Brown’s "Crinkle" at City Hall. I didn’t realize the cloaking had been altered until Bethany noted that the plastic bag had been torn away from the face. She put it back as best she could:

As reporters, we’re always more observers than participants, and this issue has been interesting. Rough figures on the poll on the Pioneer’s website show about 80 percent in favor of putting "Gaea" back and about 20 percent opposed. That’s been pretty consistent over the past couple of days.

These petunias (yes, another of the flowers I can identify!) are very pretty and very colorful. This is one of the downtown planters. As much as I love the vibrant colors of annual flowers, I also wonder if it would be feasible to do a planting of perennials in one of the planters. I interviewed Erika Bailey-Johnson, sustainability coordinator at Bemidji State University, last year on perennial beds at BSU, and she did say that it takes a while for the perennials to get going.

We also walked to Lake Irvine today. Walking along this road (which I think is just off Park Avenue Northwest) felt a little like a rainforest with all the birds singing and flying and little creatures scurrying about in the woods.

And the bugs. We agreed that if we’d taken the trail today, we would have been eaten alive.

I would quote us saying that, but I’m writing the blog about 12 hours after walking. Normally I’m lucky if I can remember our quotes an hour later. Last week, I actually bought a little spiral notebook to carry around, but of course I haven’t actually carried it yet.

Also in that area was this striping that we didn’t understand. We wondered if it had anything to do with the building in the background being marked as a winter truck testing site, but this is far from winter. Heck, it was warmer in Bemidji today than Los Angeles.

Also adorning concrete was this colorful Independence Day message. Apparently, the sidewalk chalk was all pastels, so Addy, Taylor and Hailey (who wrote their names on the sidewalk) had to settle for pink, white and blue!

Some of their fireworks are below:

Stuff on the Ground: Not sure what this is, but we wondered if it could be a firework. Although I swear I’ve seen almost that exact same thing sitting around at my parents’ house. Maybe my mom doesn’t know what it is either.

We didn’t even think of taking a mystery photo today, but I can tell you that our last one — days ago — was from the window of an Erbert’s and Gerbert’s vehicle. It was parked at the actual restaurant, but obviously you could see them anywhere in town.

Have a great week!

– Laurie

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Today’s walk was spent looking for cloaked sculptures in support of Deborah Davis’ "Gaea" Beaver sculpture. We found two (although we might have missed something), including "Agony," the sculpture of a man receiving oxygen through tubes in his nose, and "Crinkle," one of the other beavers, which was shrouded almost as much as "Agony."

Some of the sculptures had apparently been cloaked specifically for Independence Day festivities. Today (Monday), while not technically part of the holiday, is a day off for most. Not me, as I work on Monday holidays. I can’t complain, though, since I just got done with two weeks of vacation.

Bethany has worked really hard on the "Gaea" stories, starting with Friday, which was her day off. Last week, she envisioned a simple, interesting story about all the new pieces on the Bemidji Sculpture Walk, including the beavers. Little did she know that by the time her Sunday story came out, she would have to revise it.

This is what we saw when we came across Linda Brown’s "Crinkle" at City Hall. I didn’t realize the cloaking had been altered until Bethany noted that the plastic bag had been torn away from the face. She put it back as best she could: