I haven’t taken many pictures since Reggie died, in part because I no longer have a slow-puttering dog to walk in the mornings and in part because April is always a busy month. Whereas for years my life revolved around the morning ritual of waking, walking, and writing, over the past two weeks I’ve settled into the slightly different habit of waking, doing yoga and meditating, and then writing.
It’s a routine that seems to work for me, at least right now, when I’m making a conscious effort to go gentle on myself. But this morning ritual of yoga, meditation, and writing doesn’t offer many opportunities for photography. Whereas on a walk you can be perpetually on the lookout for interesting things to photograph (especially if you’re walking an old dog who stops and sniffs every few feet), my yoga mat and the bare corner where I meditate aren’t visually interesting. That’s the whole point, after all, of facing a wall when you meditate: you’re not looking for interesting images, you’re just following your breath as it comes and goes.
This past week I’ve been walking our beagle, Melony, in the evening: a way of continuing the walking I love, but in a different way than I walked Reggie. Melony and I haven’t yet developed the same rapport that Reggie and I had, where he would quietly wait while I photographed things and I would quietly wait while he sniffed, peed, or pooped. Eventually, Melony and I will reach the point where we settle into a mutually agreeable stride; for the time being, though, I concentrate on walking the dog when Melony and I walk, not on taking pictures. That will come soon enough, but not yet.
This morning I knew I wanted to write a blog post today, since the rest of the week promises to be busy. Knowing I didn’t have any photos from this week’s Melony-walks to share, I walked around the yard with my camera to see what I could see. Even without an old dog’s pace or an inquisitive beagle’s curiosity to assist me, I managed to find a few interesting things to share. During a week that promises to be busy, a handful of backyard photographs is a windfall indeed.
Apr 25, 2012 at 7:32 pm
And there, in your back yard, is the loveliest of all springtime flowers, the lily-of-the-valley. I’ve almost always lived too far south to be able to grow them but remember a neighbor from my early childhood who somehow managed to have a great many in her garden. My earliest impression of the magic of gardening came from her yard. She was a quite elderly lady who made an old-fashioned sun bonnet for me every year until she died. She had a gramophone on which she sometimes played Caruso records. She knew how to find a sassafras tree in the woods and would make sassafras tea. She gathered sweet-gum balls and pine cones and painted them for Christmas ornaments. I loved to visit her year round. There was always something to discover appropriate to the season at her house.
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Apr 25, 2012 at 11:03 pm
Those photos are just lovely!
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Apr 25, 2012 at 11:40 pm
a lush, green spring all around you!
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Apr 26, 2012 at 2:50 am
Mmmmm…fiddleheads! Time for risotto!🙂
Sometimes it’s a fun exercise to photograph your own yard — a good reminder that there’s so much in the world to see! I didn’t realize you have a beagle too. Melony is cute!
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Apr 26, 2012 at 9:13 am
anitanola, I love your portrait of your childhood neighbor. How wonderful that she left you a lasting memory of sunbonnets and lilies of the valley. (Ours were planted by a previous owner and continue to thrive despite our negligence.)
Jo(e), I’m glad you enjoyed my five minute photo expedition around our yard. 🙂
Sky, it’s been a very weird spring. We had an initial, too-early blast of warmth that brought out many of the flowers and leaves, and then their growth was stunted (or killed) by cold. Lately it’s been cold and intermittently rainy, so everything is lushly green.
Steve, I have no idea whether these fiddleheads are the kind that are edible, but they certainly are photogenic! We actually have two dogs: Melony the beagle and MAD the lab. I suspect they’ll be getting more face-time here now that Reggie isn’t the official blog-dog.
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