Author: lindastaatsphoto

Tinker

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This past weekend I had to say goodbye to my 17-year old cat Tinker.  He had been battling some minor ailments the past few years and was blind, but he had a heart of gold through it all.  The one huge thing I’ve learned from him throughout this time has been patience.  He was always willing to give his attention and love no matter how bad he was feeling, and he never complained.  Seventeen years ago Tinker picked me when I visited the humane society to find a new four-legged friend.  In a wire cage sat this small gray and white cat with huge ears.  His paw reached through the wires to touch me as I was passing by.  In short time he grew into those ears, eventually weighing over 20 pounds – a big lug of a cat, for sure.  He was a welcoming committee of one; he loved to greet people and become their new best friend.  His favorite spot was to sit in a splash of sunshine and soak up the warmth.  When the sun wasn’t shining (as was often the case in Washington state), he’d curl up next to the gas fireplace insert or the small radiant heater.  With all that heat his coat would become so warm and seemingly more soft too.  Tinker was usually obliging when I wanted to take his photograph, and for that I’m very thankful as I now have a collection of images that captured him in some of his best moments.

While I was at the veterinary hospital I found a quote that someone had posted from Mary Oliver’s poem “In Blackwater Woods”:”To live in the world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.”            Thanks, my friend.

The joy of library books

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In the hustle and bustle of the holiday weekend I needed to return a book to the library.  For some reason whenever I return one book I always leave with multiple books — it’s just the way I do things.  Today I had a list of books I was hoping to find.  I knew I would be happy if just one of those books was available for check out.  But today was my lucky day as I found three of my hoped-for books on the shelves.  Not to be disappointed though, I found two other books that caught my eye.  With a smile on my face I breezed through the self check-out and walked out of the library into the afternoon sunshine.  I was surprised by the great feeling and happiness that I felt carrying my pile of books — I felt lucky and fortunate to appreciate the joy of reading and books.  You can tell a little bit about me by my selection of books.  I have photography books, books about the midwest plains, a couple of books about the canoe and boundary waters area of northern Minnesota, and a book about a woman who returns to her roots in Kansas (my native state).   So later this weekend you’ll likely find me relaxing on the deck with a cool drink and immersing myself in one or more of my library books.

Late summer gardening

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I was doing some garden work this weekend – pruning flowers, pulling weeds, and trying to tidy up a summer’s worth of growth.  We’ve had an unusually wet summer which has allowed some plants to grow like weeds (and even the weeds have been growing prolifically too!).  As I was going about my work I was surprised to find this grasshopper sitting and watching all I was doing.  He didn’t attempt to jump away, but rather he seemed content to be out in the open and observing.  He had a great place to sit, perched on the head of the black-eyed susan.  It’s always fun to find creatures in the garden, whether it’s grasshoppers, bees, butterflies, or even the occasional dried shell left behind by a cicada.  Within a few weeks many of the creatures will have left the area in preparation for fall and then winter.  And hopefully my pruning will be done and the garden beds will be put to rest and covered before the first snowfall.

The art of summer

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The other night I came home and found a purple pail sitting by the sidewalk steps.  It’s not something that’s usually there but when I peered inside I saw it was full of big pieces of colored chalk.  I didn’t think much of it until later in the evening when I saw two of the neighborhood girls drawing hopscotch squares on the sidewalk.  Again, I didn’t think much of it….until the next morning.  As I headed out the door for an early morning walk I was thrilled to find that the entire sidewalk on our block had been covered with artwork.  These industrious young girls had taken their chalk and drawn a meandering path the length of the block and had numbered each square.  In some sections the blocks have different shapes and are sometimes side by side.  But each and every block is numbered, starting at #1 and ending at #600.  I was delighted to see such creative artwork right at our front steps!  Although many of us adults wouldn’t think to do what these girls did, they certainly enjoyed this project.  It made me think back to the summers of my childhood when I spent countless hours on my bicycle, afternoons spent at the swimming pool in our neighborhood, or the days spent tying together the white flowers from the clover to make a clover chain that stretched from my house to my girlfriend’s house.  I flourished and grew up in those summers, and only now appreciate them for all the experiences I’ve carried with me into my adulthood.  So to these neighborhood girls I say “thanks – you’ve shared a child’s joy of summer and art with our entire neighborhood.”

Raindrop ripples

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Whenever I’m out on a lake I’m always looking around at the sky, the clouds, the shoreline and the reflections — anything for a delightful image and photograph.  Last week I wrote about musical patterns that I saw in the surface of a lake with the reflection of cattails and lily pads.  This week I found raindrops dancing on a lake surface.  It was early evening when we put our canoe into the water, with a sun sinking into the west and a bank of clouds passing by.  The sun was still out and when I looked around I could see small circles on the surface of the lake, and not of the fish-kind.  Although we couldn’t feel it ourselves it was starting to rain.  The single drops spaced themselves on the surface of lake, making beautifully concentric circles and ripples spreading outward.  With the sunlight and the blue sky reflected in the surface, I was presented with a wonderful photographic opportunity.  As quickly as the rain had started, it then stopped.  After awhile the sun slid below the horizon, painting the sky a shade of pink and orange; the full moon rose over the trees, the stars filled the sky above, and we were treated to another beautiful summer’s evening on a Minnesota lake.