Paying Attention to Patterns

by Kelly

My neighbor’s coneflowers are blooming.

Now, I know what you’re thinking…  ‘Well that’s great Kelly, but really?  A blog post about your neighbor’s coneflowers? What’s the big deal?’

Well the big deal is that I dearly love purple coneflowers. I love their divine color.  The ordered arrangement of petals.  And with these especially, the way the late evening sun washes them in a magical golden light and sets them all aglow.

As I was traipsing through my neighbor’s front yard the other night with my camera, I thought to myself, ‘well this is kind of silly…why would you take another picture of mrs. graham’s coneflowers?  you’ve taken pictures of them for the past two years.  move on…find something different to photograph.’

But I love these coneflowers.  And I look forward to them every year.  Just like I do my daylilies and my shasta daisies.

I love that about gardening… this predictable cycle of bloom. From late-February to late November - crocus, daffodils, tulips, iris, peonies, etc. – at any given time I can pretty much expect that something will be blooming.  And purple coneflowers are just one glorious phase in the succession of blooms in the course of my gardening season.

I find so much joy in the routine and rhythm of my garden.  And I like a certain amount of routine in my life as well.  Having an order to my days.  Knowing to a certain degree what will happen from one day to the next.  A pattern to my life if you will.

I don’t know if you’re into this sort of thing, but my daughter says that I am a classic Taurus.

My guess is that if you have been gardening or photographing or blogging or parenting (or whatever!) for any length of time at all, you probably recognize patterns in your own world...in your own life.

And I think there is a place in photography for documenting these routines.  To celebrate or at least give a nod to the patterns that make up our ordinary days.  Morning coffee, daily runs, going to the store, making dinner. These patterns tell us so much about who we are and what we love.

But you know, if all of life was this same predictable routine, day in and day out, well that would get pretty boring.  Monotonous.  Even for me...the Taurus of all Tauruses.   Thankfully life isn't always so predictable. There are always happy surprises in the garden....like when your saucer magnolia just up and re-blooms for no apparent reason.

So today I'm honoring the ordinary.  The routine.  The pattern of our days.  But also, the out of the ordinary, like having your daughter home from college.  Making coffee for two in the morning.

This is the good stuff.

So how about you?  Do you love routine?  What are the predictable routines and patterns in your life?  We'd love for you to share with us in the comments or in our Flickr pool.  There are so many gorgeous images of pattern this month!  Thank you to all who are playing along with this month's theme!  And if you are on Instagram, be sure to tag your photos of patterns with #focusingonlife.  

Until next time, 

Kelly