Small things
A rare glimpse of the sun
June hasn't so far delivered the weather many of us might have ordered, certainly not up here. Between the rain showers and a steady stream of grim news headlines, I've found myself feeling a little flat at times. One of the odd things about retirement is that, while it's wonderful to have more free time, it also allows me to drift unconsciously down internet rabbit holes. A quick glance at the news can become half an hour of doom-scrolling, and before you know it the world seems to be in a terrible state and my coffee has gone cold.
Then someone donated a tree that had outgrown its pot to our community garden. I shared a photograph of it and people seemed genuinely pleased to see it settling into its new home. I sold a framed print to someone who was overjoyed with her find. I had a nice chat and a cup of tea at the café while delivering some new prints for sale. We managed a few sunny pics and picnics by the sea. None of these things would make the news, but they do matter.
Photography has always encouraged me to pay attention to small things: a patch of light, a passing cloud, a quiet moment that might otherwise go unnoticed. It's easy to forget those moments are there at all.
And then along came a small bundle of joy - my second granddaughter. Suddenly the weather didn't seem quite so important.
The news remains much the same, of course, and the world will continue doing what the world does. But a new granddaughter, time together in nature, a few photographs and some shared smiles seem like pretty good reasons to remain cheerful.
Now, if June could just sort itself out and provide a few more sunny evenings, that would be great. We've a lively weekend coming up at the motorbike races at Knockhill. I won't be taking photographs - I'll leave that to people with quicker reactions and considerably larger lenses, and I probably won't be getting much sleep, but it’ll be a blast.
