i wish . . . .

I wish you could photograph - - -

the way wild roses smell along a country road

the way a magnolia drops its sweet scent into the breeze

the liquid song of a red winged blackbird amongst the rushes

the melancholy sound of a mourning dove in the early morning hours

the smell of freshly cut grass

the shrieks of kids as they splash into a swimming pool

the smell of chlorine and Coppertone

the stillness just before a summer storm

the wind as it breezes through the leaves of trees.

I wish you could photograph summer.

storm season

The rumble of far away thunder sounds off towards the west. The birds quiet as the wind picks up and the dark clouds cloak the sky. The day turns into night as the storm intensifies. Suddenly, a ray of sunlight crowns the trees across the street making them golden against the dark sky and the storm doesn’t feel as scary anymore.

it really is true

I’ve been using my phone more and more lately to take pictures. It’s convenient, it’s always on me, even when I’m out running, and I’m learning how to edit the pictures in Lightroom (and it helps that my phone shoots in RAW format). I caught this sign this afternoon while David and I were out driving routes for an upcoming gravel/tarmac/singletrack bike race we have coming up. Shooting with my phone still lets me keep up with my daily-ish picture project without the hassle of lugging my Nikon around with me everywhere we go.

This message kinda spoke to me as we drove past this church this afternoon: I’ve been working on letting go of worrying about situations that are out of my control or haven’t even happened yet; instead, I’ve been really working on just staying present, just thinking about what I’m going to do after that day’s run or housework or gardening or the next immediate job we have instead of focusing on a job we might have three weeks from now. My sleep has improved, I’m not as stressed or nervous like I used to be or filled with dread. So when I saw this sign, I asked David to turn the car around so I could have a reminder to keep working on the here and now.

And I had my phone with me. I snapped, got back in the car and off we went.