Little Things

All day I had dithered about walking. The sun came out; I hung out laundry. The sun went away; I picked up a crossword puzzle. A friend was here cleaning house so while she did the basics I tackled laundry and dishes. It is very nice--even if it lasts only a moment-- to have everything clean and tidy --except for the stacks of books and bags with knit projects, but we're not talking perfection --we're talking about comfortably tidy. And so shortly before time to fix dinner, I took a walk up the hill. If it rained, I'd get wet. Enough dithering.

As soon as I was out the front door, I felt better and took off at a good pace for me. I never was built for speed, but I was walking more than thinking, with my camera bag tucked across my shoulder. Maybe I'd take some photos; maybe not. OK so the walk did not put all the dithering aside, but to photo or not is a creative decision which falls in a different category in my mind--usually no angst.
For some time now I have had in the back of my mind a sort of competition to find the smallest flower. This is the kind of thing that would occupy my brother and me for ages in the time frame of children, so it might be minutes or weeks or years, apparently since I still call it to mind.

By the time I had reached the top of the hill, I had scoped a couple photos I wanted to take on the way back. By the time I came to the edge of the loch, I had slowed and pulled my camera out. About the same time I was down on hands and knees setting up for my smallest flower competition, I began to feel those other little things on the hedgerow--notorious midges--the Scottish version of Florida's no-see-ums. Invisible, persistent, annoying.

So with the light beginning to fade and the midges bombarding me, I rushed my shots and hurried home for a shower. So some of the flowers have their close ups, but I'll have to try again for a complete set of tiny little flowers.
This last photo is one of my favourites. It comes from my own garden. The red clover is not particularly large, so it gives you a good sense of just how small those little blue flowers are.