Marsh Marigolds

There was Sunday tennis at Fort Snelling. It was the fourth day in a row for me and I managed to play pretty well anyhow, but, by the end of the session, I was starting to feel fried and was asking about the availability of oxygen. It was the last Sunday indoors for the season and next week begins a somewhat more sane schedule for my tennis ball smacking.

When I got home, the Prairie Princess was arriving from Mother's Day festivities with her mom, and wanted to show me the work that she and the other members of MCC had done last week at the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary just west of Mound's Park Boulevard. They planted a bunch of oak and red maple trees and generally improved the area. I have been there four times this year and each time the environment gets greener and I recognize a few more of the native plants. With PP leading the way, I now know about marsh marigolds, the yellow flowers that surround her below. They seem to be the most prolific of the flowers currently blooming at Vento.



Next is a photo of PP at Carver's Cave, a sacred Indian cave which at one time was known as Wakan Teepee. There is a fine reflecting pool in front of the cave, and in the background you can see the very many white stakes supporting trees that PP and her Americorps troop planted last week. The whole area is being transformed into an oak savanna. The trees will be a forest in a few decades.



On the way out of the park, as the sun was beginning to go away, I took a photo of the St Paul skyline and the cloud infested sky. The state capitol is off to the far right. It was a beautiful, albeit coolish day on the Minnesota tundra.



We got home in time to order a bunch of takeout food from Pad Thai - including egg rolls and dessert sticky rice. Unky Herb made it home in time to join us in the repast.