Black Dog Nature Preserve

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So it's spring, and I'm out walking again, today in the middle of the big city, trains rattling west, airplanes overhead, highway noise rumbling on two sides, glimpses of 35W through the ten-foot high still-standing grasses, but: the still-standing grasses swaying ten feet high, the robins with their scraggly nests and cautiousness, the deer paths, the boggy soil, dirt black as night, a new word (fen), the Mississippi past the sedge line, the (I think) common sootywing butterfly that looks neither sooty nor common to these color-starved eyes, which is to say nothing for the green the green the green the green the green.
Location: Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Burnsville, MN 55337, USA

Comments

  1. Minnesota Prairie RootsMarch 30, 2012 at 11:02 AM

    Oh, how I love green. Happy to join you on your walk via your words and images. As always, truly enjoyable.

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  2. Emily BrisseMarch 30, 2012 at 11:41 AM

    It was glorious to be out in it. Have you been? Anytime I've traveled over that part of 35W, I've wondered at all that great space to the east, so I was thankful I had the time to get out and explore. One of Burnsville's best sanctuaries, I'd say.

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  3. WildBillMarch 30, 2012 at 4:18 PM

    It's really hard these photos are of Minnesota in late March, looks like May. We have nothing approaching a leaf yet, but maybe in a few weeks which would still be several weeks too early!

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  4. Emily BrisseMarch 30, 2012 at 4:56 PM

    I know, Bill: so hard to believe! I read in the paper just yesterday that the budding/blooming is happening THIRTY-EIGHT DAYS ahead of last year's marks. Strange and lovely, both.

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  5. e.m.b.March 31, 2012 at 9:52 AM

    The 2nd photo down...one of my favorite views. Thanks for reminding of that this morning.

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  6. Lisa GoyneMarch 31, 2012 at 1:04 PM

    Ahh, the green. I don't know about Minnesota, but I remember when I lived in Vermont that it was the green, not the ice breaking or the return of the robins, that finally signaled winter's end. Enjoy the color and happy spring!

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  7. Emily BrisseMarch 31, 2012 at 5:32 PM

    Glad to share the green (and those long leading lines) with you both. 80' tomorrow! Minnesota would not be itself without these perplexing, unpredictable wafflings between one season and the next (or the one that came before).

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  8. AnonymousApril 2, 2012 at 4:55 PM

    I wouldn't mind walking there! Thanks for visiting my blog.

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  9. Emily BrisseApril 6, 2012 at 4:15 PM

    Of course, Sandy. Thanks for checking out LOCW.

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  10. Bente HaarstadMay 9, 2012 at 5:54 PM

    Nice blog, Emily, and I especially like this post. Beautiful photos..

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  11. Emily BrisseMay 9, 2012 at 6:02 PM

    Thanks, Bente. I feel especially pulled to these images, too. I think it has something to do with all the little leaves, that hope.

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