Tag Archives: Garden

Spring: Nature’s amazing style show

Posted on by
Reply

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.

Cross your fingers …

Posted on by
Reply

After getting shut out of our camera yesterday, we had it back today to catch this late-season pile of crabapples on the ground, although we’re not holding our breath. Monte tinkered with the camera, a Nikon D70, at the office, but he doesn’t think it’s a permanent fix.

The Tuesday quote of the day doesn’t even come from our walk. Bonnie and Mollie from the Pioneer Composing Department also walk together, taking walks near the Pioneer.  They told Bethany that today, someone approached them with a question.

“Are you the Trail Mix girls?”

“No, but we work with them.”

Funny! … And they even have the same color hair as we do — one blonde, one red.

We walked on sidewalks today and ended up on Beltrami Avenue instead of Minnesota or America, or sometimes Irvine, which is where we tend to gravitate toward when we’re not on the trail. This garden caught my eye as we turned onto Beltrami. Interesting usage of wood posts.

We had a little wind today, as you can see from the taller vegetation in this planter:

And we saw a cat that for a moment made me wonder if mine had gotten outside somehow (it wasn’t too far away from my house). It looks just like Max.

I love today’s mystery butterfly photo, but Bethany gets credit for the idea, which she tried to pull off yesterday with the malfunctioning camera:

Our last puzzler was the word “HOP” from the Economy Shop sign downtown.

Take care and we may or may not see you Wednesday! Stay tuned. :)

Working walk …

Posted on by
3

"Casual Tuesday?"

Chris, the Bemidji firefighter manning the desk today, looked at our scruffy clothes, and then the big camera around my neck. We told him that we walk and blog about our walks, so as a newcomer to Trail Mix, he gets the top spot.

We had a bit of a working walk today, as Bethany was getting the fire and law enforcement reports, but not just that … we kept running into things that sparked work-related conversations.

Like this cat, who is collared and in a fenced yard:

That sparked a conversation about the new local law that prohibits cats running loose.

I still feel funny about that one. I understand that cats can be a nuisance, and that there are problems with feral cats, but it just feels weird to me to think of cats as indoor pets per se. Mine are, but they always want to be outside, so we have to go "psssst" when we walk inside. I worry about them getting outside and being considered cats running loose. Have you ever tried to catch a cat that just got out?

Actually, one of mine sometimes will just lay in the driveway and I can pick him up. But the other one is craftier. She knows her fun is over if I catch her.

 

We also saw a pair of little dogs. This pooch actually appears to be friendly in this shot, but he and his smaller companion were snarling as if they would like to have torn apart our ankes.

We finally got to see the 10th beaver from the Bemidji Sculpture Walk.

This is "Pagossenima" (Hope) by Gordon Van Wert. The sculpture was delayed because of deaths in the artist’s family.

The heart and tears were added after the protest over Deborah Davis’ "Gaea" beaver sculpture was removed from its spot downtown over concerns that the design on the front appeared to be symbolic of female genitalia. The City Council voted to put "Gaea" back  before Van Wert’s sculpture was installed.

The sculpture originally was planned to be black with beadwork going down the back.

"Where’s the beadwork?" Bethany wondered.

There is a painted design on the back, though, which perhaps is in place of the planned beadwork?

Isn’t this a cool garden? I’m not sure if they have room to sit out there!

In the side yard, there’s another very pretty garden:

And that’s just the view from the alley. I don’t know what the front of the house looks like!

Above and below are plantings along the sides of a sidewalk. I’m not sure what the purpose of the framework is, but I’m curious to see what continues to develop.

Bethany pointed out this pretty porch. We both like open front porches like this. I like the fence, too, which I didn’t really notice before but which matches the porch.

Oops, no mystery photo but we do have Stuff on the Ground:

I don’t think an injured person lost a crutch; it was garbage day today and it was sitting by some bins, so it must have fallen out.

This one was broken anyway, but I actually have a working pair of crutches that I saw propped against a Dumpster near my house. I can’t bear to throw away perfectly good things, or see them get thrown away, so I grabbed them, intending to bring them to Goodwill.

Well, instead they are still in my entry, stashed behind the big Lowry chord organ I also got free but realistically have no room for. So if anyone wants the crutches or the organ, let me know. They both work fine! :)

– Laurie

Following the white (OK, brown) rabbit …

Posted on by
Reply

"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

Smiles and kitty cats

Posted on by
Reply

 

Bethany was off today, so we took to the sidewalks with Lola, who was – - surprisingly — pretty happy with everything. That has not always been the result when Bethany has pulled Lola from the car seatand strapped her into the stoller.

She’s never been very interested in my cats, but today she petted Max (aka Big Kitty, above) briefly and remained in the general vicinity of Zelda (aka Little Kitty)

And I had her smiling before she even got out of the car. It’s a far cry from the day I peeked in at her, only to see her face screw up in that way that you know is going to be followed by baby screams.

Below, she’s eating some of her "num-nums" in my little patch of yard. Bethany got her to smile really big.

Note: The num-nums (I have no idea what they’re called; Bethany only calls them num-nums; she might call them something else if she were to offer them to me!) really are pretty good. They taste like bananas and they melt in your mouth. Lola has let me eat a few. :)

Today’s Quote, from Bethany: "I think you’re wrong."

Me: "About what?"

Bethany: "You said we weren’t going to sweat today."

Yes, I was wrong. It was a deceptively cool day with intermittent peeks of sunshine that heated things up intermittently.

I also think I should remember to bring my digital voice recorder more often, because I have a feeling we said much more interesting stuff when we were sitting in the grass with Lola and the cats.

 

Today, we decided to walk to the site of the Front Yard Garden of the Month. That will be published in the Sunday B section of the Bemidji Pioneer, so we’re not going to scoop ourselves by telling you where it is or showing you the photo. But I will give you a close-up photo I took today. The garden was pretty amazing.

And I guess that’s all I should really say!

Here’s another flower photo from a different garden. I guess it’s a snapdragon (correct me if I’m wrong), but we found it interesting how the flowers curled up:

 For today’s How Well Do You Know Bemidji? game, we have a pretty well-known item in the city. I bet our friend Julie will know this one…

Yesterday’s mystery photo is from the mural in the area of Third Street and America Avenue Northwest.

We came up with the idea today that we would show a full version of the mystery photo. I don’t have the mural in total, but here’s a fuller version:

 I think that’s enough photos for one day! It’s more like an album. We should shift some to areavoices.com. :)

– Laurie