As far as what I do love, I love birds; I love lavender.
- Michael Moore
I find a couple of house finches in the lavender bushes last night after dinner. I follow suit, picking some to put on my bedside table.
right now, in the garden
“Sunday is a good day to save the world in one’s pajamas.”
— Adrienne Posey
hollyhock
clematis
wild sweet pea
summer dance
There are times when the characteristics of the teacher inside of me causes me to put up roadblocks, even though I have been out of the classroom for 12 years. I want things to have an order, a flow, a plan. It is hard for me to start something mid week, mid month or mid year, after all the year has seasons, months, and days of the week for a purpose. So when I decided to start a somewhat loose 365/daily photo project mid-June, on a Tuesday, it was uncomfortable.
I had no “lesson plan” in place, no rules, no firm idea where it would lead, all I knew for sure was that I wanted (and needed) to change things up a bit. It was sort of a last ditch effort, for in the back of my mind there was this possibility that if something didn’t change I was going to just slip my cameras into the storage bench, where I keep my photo gear, close the lid, and walk away and not look back. But so far, it feels right.
The flow of how, where, and why of this “project” seems unnecessary to me now and I wake with no agenda other than to take a photo of some kind during the day. Slowly over these beautiful summer days, things have worked themselves out and there is an ease once again, to this creative passion I need to nurture.
summer dance
after dinner wine
wild sweet pea
unfolding
“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald
the best season
"Summer was our best season: it was sleeping on the back screened porch in cots, or trying to sleep in the tree house; summer was everything good to eat; it was a thousand colors in a parched landscape..."
― Harper Lee
I take my camera out after dinner hoping to get some photos of the birds, who are usually flocking to the feeder this time most nights. I sit patiently, enjoying the cool breeze coming up off the lake, but grow board and start moving my camera around a bit, happy when I landed on this light on the maple.
Every season is the best season, and right now summer is at her peak.
full circle
“Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.”
― Anne Tyler
sunbathing
It seems I have come full circle, arriving back (but truly forward) to a place where I feel like myself once more. I won’t bore you with the details, but I will say it is a relief to stop fighting with the doubt and uncertainty and get on with living.
moring mood
a field of daisies
raspberry cream pie
breakfast from the garden
midweek
“Let me keep my distance, always, from those who think they have the answers. Let me keep company always with those who say “Look!” and laugh in astonishment, and bow their heads.”
— Mary Oliver, Mysteries, Yes
playing in the clover
the first dahlia
rose as night falls
ready for the grill
raspberry season
Each evening I set on the steps of the patio and watch the dogs play. The warmth of the day radiates up from the stone pavers and I reflect on the simple things that brought me joy, learning to bow my head in gratitude.
flowers and puffy balls
People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.
Iris Murdoch
the purple flamingo
filling the vases
curly
early morning light
this week’s flower moments,
and one sweet boy . . .
early morning deadheading
on the table
summer colored puffy balls