Wise words from Austin Kleon.

Use your hands.

Side projects and hobbies are important.

Do not leave your longings untended.

Everyone in my family is working from home these days. The neighborhood children are all learning virtually. And even though it’s a beautiful day, it seems we’re all stuck inside doing some version of homework. I’m sick of this screen and I really just want to make something with my hands. And, no, cooking and laundry do not count.

I am grateful to people who teach what they know. And especially today to Georgia from More Like Home and her YouTube video who showed me how to make a macrame plant hanger. Now I can’t wait to make more - one for every friend.

I don’t know just how macrame relates to photography, but I know this kind of work helps my mind to make new connections.

 

Not every day is a big picture day.

I carry the camera with me every day. Some days it barely leaves my side and others it never leaves the trunk of the car. But I like knowing it’s there.

There are days like today when I meet a friend for a walk. I always try to arrive early so I have a few minutes to spare - to see through the lens and fill a frame or two.

Today. A canoe stored for the season. Orange chrysanthemums cascading over the flower bed onto the sidewalk. British soldiers on almost every corner as if spread by seed far and wide. Hydrangeas dried to softer hues. A sprinkler showering annuals - still flowering in early fall - set in a beautiful urn.

Today is not a big picture day. But there are more days like this one, the simple days of routine and ordinary, than there are the days of great revelation and creation. It seems wise to work with what I have been given.