Fun In The Sprinkler

 A couple of young mothers brought their children to the park last week, on a very hot day. Park workers had set out sprinklers to water some of the very thirsty plants. The children ran in and out, under the arching cascade of drops, screaming with delight and the joy of being free to race around. The smallest boy was fascinated by the way the water ran through his toy truck. He studied the gush of water with the intensity of a physics professor on the cusp of a new breakthrough. And I am sure he was ready for his nap later.

Fence Shadows

 Late in the afternoon on a hot summer day, I came across a schoolyard fence laced with children’s Post-It sized pieces of art. While the art was charming and colorful, it was the shadows on the sidewalk that really spoke to me. The shadow version was distilled down to lines and shapes.  There was just enough interplay of order and disorder to keep me looking at the pattern. I re-photographed it in black and white–something that so often seems "right" in a city scene.

Ripening Figs

 As a kid, my only experience with figs was as the gooey filling inside Fig Newtons. These days, they are offered at the farmers market, thanks in part to our warming climate. Fig trees grow in yards in my neighborhood. This one has been especially productive. While the fruits were still tiny green knobs, I spent some time wondering about how fig leaves became the modesty covering of choice in paintings of otherwise nude figures. Now I see the figs ripening a bit more each day and my thoughts turn to  whether the homeowners will get to eat the figs before the hungry squirrels do.