Ah, the rush of trying something new and it works. Works well! I’ve just downloaded my first set of photos in six months from the trusty Canon PowerShot, which is no less ingenious than its lucky owner, though much more reliable in certain aspects.

How I let this lacuna happen I do not know. As the darling buds of May were just emerging, the camera batteries ran out. The batteries I had on hand did not work. The Canon kept saying “Replace the batteries.” This caused both dismay and distress. I was afraid it might be broken.

The past six months have been gorgeous, the sky in crazy sweeps of changing light. Near-extreme weather: an earthquake, hurricane warning, mega heat in June, mega rain in July and August, snow in quite early October. Gardens flourishing, bubbling toward tropical, sunflowers and zinnias, the ferns overflowing their original boundaries, the roses still sweet in November. And I didn’t photograph a single thing.

I went to the local camera shop today. Asked for good batteries. The helpful store owner opened a fresh package, popped them in the camera … and I was ready to snap the pix for the Clear as Mud thesis post.

The first image in this series is a violet on the lawn, Monday, May 2, 2011 at 7:27 a.m., and that was the last photo taken until November 4. Click, click, click from 3:21 to 3:45 p.m. This is the first time I have set out to take pictures just for a post. I love it! It was sparkly and windy out there. To keep my hair away from the viewfinder I had to wrap it around one hand and hold the camera with the other. Awkward. Repeatedly. Then came one of those imaginative leaps we love so well. What if I let my hair fall into view? Answers appear in this lineup.

Photos and words by Catherine Rutgers © 2011