lilies of the valley, time lapsed

Lilies of the valley.

A small patch, at the side of the house near the driveway, with a single old lamp post smack in the center.

A patch big enough, for me.

April 7th to May 13th.* Their beginning to their peak. It always seemed as if they lasted only a day or two--in reality, I was too busy to ever appreciate them long enough to realize. A whole five weeks, they took to grow.

Taking photos every day, from the same exact places, made me stop. It made me pause.

I'm all about pausing.

The first set was taken from above, holding my camera out at arm's length before the lamp post, sending out hope to the universe that the lens was still focused and that it would capture the same spot as the day before. The second set is from the side, resting on the same spot on its rock wall border every time. Dogs came and went, as did the sun and the rain, and eventually the leaves filled the frame.

When Rachel moved to Washington, DC, I knew she'd miss things about Connecticut, like her lilies of the valley blooming in the springtime.

And I realized that recording this for her was just as fulfilling for me.

Click to view larger, because my margins don't hold them.

It makes me wonder--what other things are moving along quickly that I'm failing to appreciate?

*You'll note the amount of photos in each set is neither the same nor corresponding to the 36 days that lapsed. I may have gotten lazy about taking a photo every single day. (Especially between photos four and five, oops.) But you get the idea.