Baker

“Be prepared. A dog is adorable and noble.
A dog is a true and loving friend. A dog
is also a hedonist.” 

― Mary Oliver, Dog Songs: Poems

He is just a dog, I tell myself as we walk out the door.
Don’t look at his eyes, and whatever you do
don’t reach out to stroke his ears.
Leave a treat for him on the floor, something for him to find,
as he sits by the slider and watches for the two of you to come home.
And later, don’t feel guilty when one of you looks at your watch and says . . .
we better get home to the dog.

rainbows and bubbles

"Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection. The lovers, the dreamers, and me."

- Kermit the Frog

When he spies himself in the big mirror at the end of our hallway, he yells, “Gramma look at me in my new rainbow shirt, it is so beautiful.”
Later we go outside to blow bubbles, where he requests that I do the blowing and he will do the slaying.

My rainbow loving knight! I love this age.

waking up

“If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it’s as though I’ve neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up.”

— Robert Mapplethorpe

My Squarespace subscription expires this month. If I do nothing it will auto renew and I will commit myself to another year of blogging. If I don’t renew, this space will go away. I couldn’t help but wonder how that might feel, so I practiced a bit.

Instead of heading into my office, as I do most mornings to work on photos or a blog post, I walked past it, experimenting with how I might better spend those first couple hours upon waking. I got laundry going early and got to some kitchen drawers I had been wanting to rearrange. Some days I even got a head start on dinner, putting beans to soak, or making a sauce for pasta from scratch. I left my camera inside when I headed out to the garden to work, only to have to come back inside to get it because something beautiful had caught my eye. But I purposely didn’t take as many photos as I usually did, and I ruthlessly deleted many of those I did take. I also questioned the why of all of this.

I spent time in the past, rereading old posts, nit-picking my words and scrutinizing old photos. And what did I discover?

I discovered that this whole process is so ingrained in me that my equilibrium was off, and my whole day seemed a bit discombobulated. For a few days I even took to watching mindless TV because I had convinced myself I had earned the right to relax! Luckily the TV thing spurred me into action and also made him ask me what was going on. He listened as I tried to explain, but simply told me to renew, because the time among my photos is what I deserve to do.

So here are a few more from our trip up to Blaine, where I carried my camera with me everywhere we went. More birds, because as my friend Donna has taught me, we love what we love, and shooting for the mere pleasure of it because my friend Kate has taught me there doesn’t have to be any rules.

shifting seasons

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” 

― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Our tiny vegetable garden has produced such goodness this summer. Keeping us in produce and flowers, it is now time to shut things down. I spend time picking the last of everything, only to walk out the next morning to more ripening tomatoes, one more small batch of green beans, and the last strawberry (which I save for Percy to pick). I am always ready for the growing season to be over, knowing next spring I will be beyond eager to get out there again.

Fall is waiting in the wings and I am ready to embrace her.