Yin and Yang

I spent another weekend back home in Wisconsin with the family. Remember when I said we were considering moving back there? Well, although a small wrinkle means that we can't move at the moment, we spend a lot of time visiting there. Although it's a little irritating to have to drive 5+ hours to get there (okay, a LOT irritating), once we're there, all is well and we enjoy ourselves quite a bit. Well, except for the 8-person, hour-long screaming matches. But that's a story for another blog.




We spent Saturday morning at Prairie Nursery taking a little tour of their demonstration gardens. At the end of the tour, there was a short garden photography tour that I got to join. I am really pretty clueless about photography, so it was extremely helpful. For demonstration, the instructor held up a simple styrofoam bucket (think minnows or bait or whatever) and showed us how the placement of the bucket relative to the sun changed the shading and perceived volume of the object. Being not so arty, it was nice having someone explain how to look at flowers in a different light (ha! different light! get it?).


I can't say I'm much of a gardner. That's probably why the idea of a prairie garden full of naturally resiliant and adaptable plants was really appealing. The garden was in full bloom, and it was full of butterflies. That's more than I can say for my garden at the moment. Although a few things are still blooming, it's mostly starting to look like fall is setting in.


We rounded out the day at a greasy spoon called Pioneer. Things sort of went downhill from there. Imagine eight family members in one vehicle and the zaniness that ensues. Luckily I had about 2 hours of sleep the night before (you know, sleeping in an unfamiliar place...) so I zoned out through most of it!


Anyhoo, it's over and I'm back to my normal workaday life. But I'm still daydreaming about my prairie garden. Any places I should check out in Minnesota?