Crystal

@ccolby

User experience advocate, transit fan, and native plant gardener in the Twin Cities. I judge you when you don't use alt text. Everyone watches women's sports.

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Crystal@ccolby· 15d

Today I attended the funeral of a former coworker, Pam Videen. She retired 7 years ago and was able to take many adventures after she moved to Arizona. I smiled many times seeing her happy photos. 21 people were given an amazing gift when she donated her organs 💙 www.legacy.com/us/obituarie...

A person smiling while posing with a tall rock formation in the background. I think they said this was taken at Sedona, though I may have gotten the photo mixed up with another scenic trip.

Crystal@ccolby· 22d

Watched a monarch test some butterfly weed, deem it acceptable, and then lay an egg right outside my window! Then a "natural landscaping" company arrived at my neighbor's yard. When I stepped outside to observe the spraying, I found another rusty patched bumblebee. Lawn obsession makes me so mad.

A plant that has been gently bent to see the underside of the leaves. One leaf has a tiny white dot, a monarch egg.

The backside of a bumblebee on a pink flower. Its wings are raised enough to show a brown (rusty) spot above a narrow yellow band, with the rest all black.

Crystal@ccolby· 23d

Katie Smith, Jia Perkins, and of course current Lynx assistants Rebekkah Brunson, Lindsay Whalen, and Janel McCarville were there too. And look how many fans stayed after the game to celebrate Syl!

Sylvia Fowles speaking on the court, facing Minnesota and Portland coaches and players.

Crystal@ccolby· 23d

The Lynx have had a lot to celebrate over the last 15 years. It's so cool to see former teammates come back to cheer for each other. 💙💚 Seimone Augustus, Taj McWilliams-Franklin, and newly former Lynx Bridget Carleton laughed with hall of fame honoree Sylvia Fowles before the ceremony last night.

Four people standing in front of a group of people in chairs.

Crystal@ccolby· 26d

My first time seeing two rusty patched bumblebees at once, and it happened in my own front yard!

Crystal@ccolby· 27d

The Lynx are now 15-8 all-time on Camp Day at home. #SwannyStat See how the 16,410 fans are all standing up and waving towels and screaming? And the ribbon board is inviting fans to be LOUDER still, in full caps? That's Camp Day (complimentary).

Inside Target Center at the start of the 4th quarter with the lower level and upper level full of fans standing. The short video ribbon board between the two levels says Louder in full caps over and over. Olivia Miles at the far left is the only player visible.

Crystal@ccolby· 28d

Olivia Miles is trending again after scoring 33 points with 8 assists. Kayla McBride should be trending too — 37 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals. Kayla had six 3-pointers and Olivia had five.

Bluesky trends at 11:55 p.m. after the Lynx won the late game on Monday night. Olivia Miles is #2.

Crystal@ccolby· Jul 13

Cool bug! I've seen the kind of robber flies that look like bumblebees in my garden before, but this species is a first for me. It appears to be a northeastern plumetop (Ommatius tibialis) and I didn't notice that it had caught a meal until now.

A fly with a long, thin abdomen that's mostly covered by its wings at rest. Its two back legs are long with some orange areas and look like they have a knee joint that's bent backwards. Its beak-like mouth has speared an unidentified insect.

Crystal@ccolby· Jul 12

First rusty patched bumble bee of the year!! When the bee balm starts blooming, all the bumblebees show up. But I usually don't see these until later in the summer! #NativePlants

A bumblebee with its brown spot clearly visible above a curved yellow segment. It's on a flower with only 7 purplish-pink tube petals. The photo is blurry because the bee was moving fast. Bee balm is also called wild bergamot, and its scientific name is Monarda fistulosa.

Crystal@ccolby· Jul 10

Much better. Just kidding, monarch friend. There are lots of choices! Have anything you like!

The same monarch butterfly, this time on butterfly weed. Both are orange.

Crystal@ccolby· Jul 10

Those funny little frogs. Every year I find them on cup plant leaves. Or here:

Gray tree frog backed into the handle of a blue watering can, viewed through the opening at the top of the can.

Crystal@ccolby· Jul 10

It's called bee balm, not butterfly balm. 🙄😁

A monarch butterfly with its proboscis inside a flower with purplish-pink tube petals. Bee balm is also called wild bergamot. Its scientific name is Monarda fistulosa.

Crystal@ccolby· Jul 9

She's still trending almost 2 hours later.

Bluesky trending topics. Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve is third.

Crystal@ccolby· Jul 6

Back at Target Center for the first time in forever (two weeks).

Photo of the video board that says Lynx versus Sun with logos of both teams. Score shows 0-0.

Crystal@ccolby· Jul 6

Cool bug! If you leave stems standing on your #NativePlants like this monarda, next year you'll have a lot of free perches for dragonflies. This one is a halloween pennant dragonfly, and I see many other species in my gardens every year too.

Orange dragonfly with thick brown stripes and spots holding onto an old stem with all of its legs.

Crystal@ccolby· Jul 2

My A Line score is never great (usually in the hundreds) so I was pleasantly surprised about this result. It's just far enough away to only be a backup route for me — which it was today after the Green Line was so late that I missed my preferred connection. #MSPTransitExperience

Screengrab from the Transit app. A slider shows a volleyball in 40th place. Words say Look at you go! You've helped 12 riders on the A this month. View leaderboard. A pink button says Sweet. The route listed is A instead of A Line.

Crystal@ccolby· Jul 1

Whoa! Maybe my highest ranking on the Green Line ever? (Morning and evening trips on the first day of the month.)

Screengrab from the Transit app. A slider shows a volleyball in 6th place. Words say Look at you go! You've helped 154 riders on the Green this month. View leaderboard. A pink button says Sweet. The route listed is Green instead of Green Line.

Crystal@ccolby· Jul 1

I'm usually only #1 on a route on the first day of a new month (if then) because I split my rides among several routes. So I'll enjoy this accomplishment while I can 🏆 #MSPTransitExperience

Screengrab from the Transit app. A slider shows a volleyball in first place. Words say Look at you go! You've helped 18 riders on the 65 this month. View leaderboard. A pink button says Sweet.

Crystal@ccolby· Jul 1

I've been seeing plenty of fireflies in the daytime, like this one from Sunday. Tonight I'm finally seeing them blinking! At least 4 are flying around the backyard native plants.

A black beetle with orange spots on both sides of its head. It's sitting on a large toothed honewort leaf next to a cluster of its tiny white flowers.

Crystal@ccolby· Jun 27

Also this week: Japanese beetles and creeping bellflower appeared on back-to-back days 🫤

Invasive Japanese beetle on a cup plant leaf, hanging onto a jagged edge that was damaged by hail a week ago.

5 purple bell-shaped flowers hanging down from a stem of invasive creeping bellflower.

Crystal@ccolby· Jun 27

Black-eyed susan started blooming in my yard yesterday. Its relative brown-eyed susan did earlier this month. Both are ahead of last year — brown, by a lot. Brown-eyed susan (Rudbeckia triloba) on the left 7/23/2025 6/12/2026 Black-eyed susan (R. hirta) at right 7/7/2025 6/25/2026 #NativePlants

2 flowers with 8 and 7 long, thin petals and small brown centers.

Closeup of a larger flower with 20 overlapping petals like the other flowers. It has a larger, smoother brown center.

Crystal@ccolby· Jun 20

My first Aurora game! And they're the division champs!

Minnesota on offense on the other end of the field.

Crystal@ccolby· Jun 18

Olivia Miles trends a lot. First post above: 19 points, 10 assists on June 1 Second post: 8 3-pointers, 28 points, 7 assists on June 4 Tonight: 31 points (24 in the first half)

Bluesky trends. #1 is WNBA, #2 is Olivia Miles.

Crystal@ccolby· Jun 17

Also last night, the Lynx recognized representatives of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. The JFK library called out "peacefully defending the human rights and values that serve as the foundation of our Constitutional democracy." Timely to re-read those words, given what happened today.

Crystal@ccolby· Jun 16

It's so fun when the Lynx welcome back former players the first time they come to Target Center. Last week it was Jessica Shepard and Alanna Smith with Dallas. Tonight, with Portland in town, it's Bridget Carleton and Karlie Samuelson. And Sylvia Fowles, who's now an assistant coach!

Jessica Shepard clapping on the bench during introductions before the game.

Alanna Smith waving to the crowd before the game.

Bridget Carleton hugging Kayla McBride before tipoff.

Crystal@ccolby· Jun 13

On this date in 1999, the Lynx played their first regular-season game. Who else remembers the red seats? Boxscore: www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/boxscor... Photo source for the first-ever tipoff: lynx.wnba.com/news/20th-se...

Crystal@ccolby· Jun 10

Unbranded B Line.

Regular articulated Metro Transit bus with the words B Line Downtown Saint Paul on the front. The bus is driving in the center lane going downhill with tall buildings in the background.

Crystal@ccolby· Jun 10

This sign is alarming and unhelpful. Are people supposed to stop and figure out how to interact with it to get the emergency message?

Digital screen that has the words Civil Emergency Message with a red exclamation point icon. The sign is on the sidewalk at First Avenue and Fifth Street in downtown Minneapolis.

Crystal@ccolby· Jun 10

Prowl wore Olivia Miles goggles during one of the timeouts tonight.

Lynx mascot with black wraparound goggles while holding a t-shirt cannon.

Crystal@ccolby· Jun 9

Less than 5 minutes after I posted this, @wnba.com deleted their post.