Change

We had a water bowl already.

It's been used for many years.

On the surface, it was very functional.

The design only allowed the pets to see a small portion of the water

so they were unable to splash the water on the floor.

But it was not perfect.

Exposing what has been hidden, 

removing the lid, 

the unseen water was not clean.

Don't they deserve better?

It was time for a change.

This is the new water bowl.

The water is constantly moving.  

It is filtered so it's always clean.

It's healthier.  It's better.

The world is always resistant to change.

Isn't it true?

Change is scary.

Change is hard for many.

Even when it's necessary.

When something has been the same way for so long,

it takes courage to do things differently.

It takes is someone with the courage

to try another way... 

to show others it's not scary,

and hopefully lead others to the same conclusion.

Still, some resist.

But be persistent.

Don't give up.

Or maybe just give them no other option.

Downsizing the Tree

Bigger is better, right?

That's what I've always thought when it comes to Christmas trees.   Growing up, we always had big trees to fit the high ceiling in our living room.

I remember trudging through the woods of Vermont (somewhere) with my family and watching my father top a good 12 feet off the top of an unsuspecting pine tree.

The tradition continued when I was married and we had our own house with a cathedral ceiling in the living room, first with real trees (from a tree farm) and in later years with a 12 foot artificial tree.

It was always a major event to put up the tree as the kids oohed and awed over each ornament as they placed them exactly where they wanted them on the tree.

Vance was usually on the stepladder to decorate the top section of the tree.

This was fun with the anticipation of Christmas in the children's faces, even though taking it down and putting all of the ornaments away was one of the worst tasks I faced each year.

As time passed and the kids grew up,  they wasn't the same excitement in putting up the tree anymore.  In fact, for the past two years they just wanted lights on the tree with no decorations!  When my sister was here for Christmas last year,  my niece, Hali, took pity and used here own creativity to make the tree more festive.

This year,   it was Adam's idea to downsize.   Since we spend most of our time together in the dining room, he thought it would be a good idea to get a small tree and put it in the corner near the table where we could enjoy it.  At the time,  we were picturing a perfectly shaped small tree, but it didn't turn out that way at all.

When the time came to go to the tree farm to pick out a tree,  Kerry got the idea to cut a small tree down from out back yard,  and that seemed like a fun idea to everyone, so we all trudged through the snow to the back section of our yard to take a look.

It was not quite a "Charlie Brown" tree, but pretty close.

It was a lot easier than any other year and everyone enjoyed the novelty of it!

We put it in a bucket of rocks with water for a stand.

The kids picked out their favorite ornaments that didn't weigh too much for the delicate branches.  We used micro LED lights on a thin wire too.

And voila!

The next morning, it made me happy to find Adam doing homework by the light of the tree.

At least for this year, and maybe in the years to come,

downsizing was a very good decision!

And it will definitely be a breeze to take down after the holidays.

The Mindful Archivist

Since May 26, 2013,  something has been bothering me.

That was the day that my son, Adam, graduated from Middlebury College.  The commencement speaker, Jonathan Safran Foer, spoke on the topic of personal technologies and how they are diminishing us.

There was a particular part of his speech, however,  that I've been thinking about and has been nagging me ever since.

Foer noted that there are two kinds of people,  Eyewitnesses and Archivists.

Archivists are gadget-carrying people:  cameras, cell phones, video devices...  They like to record the moment to save for future enjoyment.

Eyewitnesses are just that.  They take away nothing physically recorded.

The disturbing part for me was his claim that Eyewitnesses are more fully present and have more valuable memories of an event than Archivists, who are less present and whose attention is divided by taking pictures of the event.

In case you're wondering, I am an Archivist.  Always have been, always will be.   Have I been less present because of my camera?  Foer painted a pretty convincing argument, but was it necessarily true for me?

A year and a half later,  I would like to present my view, which is just the opposite.   I feel being a photographer makes me MORE present, MORE aware of what is going on.

To illustrate my point,  I'd like to show you photos that I took at the waterfront in Burlington this fall.

When we arrived at sunset,  it was cold and windy and foreboding.  There was really no sunset, which was the reason we were there in the first place.  

I believe a photographer experiences MORE and sees MORE.

Instead of standing in one place and seeing the moment from one perspective,  I walked back across the parking lot and viewed the lake from farther away.  Wow!  How beautiful and different than the first picture.

Then in began to rain, so we sat in the car for a few minutes. I was able to capture this unique picture just moments before my husband turned on the windshield wipers so we could "see" better.

The rain stopped, but it was getting darker.   The clouds were magnificent and the beam of the lighthouse stood out in the darkness.

As darkness crept in, the lights illuminated the pier, inviting us to linger a little longer.

A wider lens and a lower perspective gave me this very different picture.

We very easily could have left when we saw the lack of color in the sky, or when the rain began or when it got dark.  Having my camera and wanting to capture the beauty of the moment, sunset or no sunset, encouraged me to appreciate the evening for what it was.

The same reasoning applies to other moments in life.

As I'm riding in the car, cruising down a country road on my bike, watching my kids play sports or pulling weeds in my backyard, 

I feel I am MORE present because I am always seeing life as if I had a camera in my hands (wishing that I did).

Being a photographer makes me notice what is going on in my life.

It makes me MORE mindful.

How beautiful was my cat coming to greet me in the garden?

Looking at this makes me feel really happy!

So does this one!

The act of taking a picture can be joyful in itself.

I can still hear the sound of the waterfall and the birds as we headed into the horseshoe at Niagara Falls.

How perfect was this sunset over Rockville?

  

To me, this picture really captures the presence of the saxophone professor during rehearsal before last weekend's concert.

Can you hear the wonderful music that is being played?

And feel the "high" after the performance?

As a parent,  I will always remember the smile on Annie's face as she walks to the car when we pick her up at her dorm.  I don't really need  a picture to remember this, but it's really nice to have!

So I can finally put Jonathan Safran Foer's nagging theory to rest

because, at least for me, 

I know it's not true.