Do you only see the Purple Lupines in Life?

Here in northern Minnesota, wildflowers are now blooming. One favorite roadside flower are Purple Lupines. However, if you always take life at 70 mph (or faster), would you ever know (or see) the other color variations?

On yesterday's bike ride in the Lake Superior Highlands, I took photos of all these lupine color variations:

Purple
White
Pink
Purple and White
Rose and White

As a bonus I spotted purple irises down in a roadside ditch swampy area. One would never have seem any of these variations in a car, let alone the irises. Remember to occasionally slow down i life and view the world at 12 mph (or slower). Another favorite of mine is to hike the Nordic ski trails on which I train all Winter. You will be amazed at how different everything looks all decked out in green. It is even possible to get slightly lost on the trails in their mid Summer glory as they will look nothing like their Winter version.

I've followed my own advice. Two months ago I decided to retire at the relatively young age of 57 years old. Thankfully my finances made this possible, but one of the hardest parts of the retirement decision was exiting the corporate world and one's ego. For over 28 years I had worked at the same Fortune 100 company as a senior technologist. Given one's life and identity can be so integrated to one's work, it was a challenge to get comfortable with the idea that I would now introduce myself to the never ending question "what do you do" with the answer ... "I'm retired and a bum!" I love this new answer. There is no looking back. I still do research, but for sheer intellectual pleasure. The NorthStar Nerd lives on!

Here are yesterday's lupine photos! Click upon any image to maximize and view at full resolution.

Purple Lupine