Playing around

My dad has become a very good photographer since retiring. (See some of his photos at drhphoto.net). I only began regularly picking up a camera when I started this blog. But I find that I’ve learned from watching him capture patterns in nature. 

Growing food – especially on the home scale – need not be purely utilitarian. Rather, it is an inherently creative act, adding to the beauty around us.

Sometimes that beauty comes from shaping whole landscapes, seamlessly blending form and function in a harmony that works with nature to delight our senses on many levels at once. In our yard, we see the multi-hued greens and vivid, changing colors as flowers bloom in sequence; smell the earth and moisture with their changing scents throughout the day; taste the tangy mustards, spicy nasturtiums, sweet raspberries, or sun-warmed tomatoes as we wander; hear the unmistakable whirr of a hummingbird’s wings as it flits among nectar-filled flowers; anticipate the flavors of the dinner that will be prepared from ripening zucchini, beans or beets; or sit beneath a grape and kiwi-covered arbor, sensing, on some level that's hard to name, being a part of this life-filled environment all around.

Other times, however, beauty comes from seeing on a smaller scale than usual, discovering new perspectives in a familiar sight – as in the fabric-like foldings of this cosmos flower starting to go to seed.

Top photo: Richard Lansdowne, taken during my parents’ visit in late May. Bottom: Margo Hittleman