The Same Stick

The kids didn't want to go to school today so I let them stay home for a while after their (very first) dentists' appointments. They were good kids at the doctor's and frankly, I was in no rush.  By the time lunch rolled around, they were both excited to go and play with friends for a while.

Since then, I've been photographing some of the finds from my recent walks with Fionn.  He rides his bike and we both stop and find things of interest; me, for their possible relationship to my book and him, for various reasons (that in turn inspire more thinking for me). I appreciate anew so many things about architecture and perception because of my kids. Take this dirty ole stump.

When Fionn found this, he stopped, got off his tricycle, picked it up and presented it to me like it was the greatest thing ever--a keyboard, a computer, a seriously sophisticated museum-quality find.  He was very particular about which way I hold it, and I knew immediately he was right.  It's an incredible little thing with a certain weight and required orientation, with so much to say about the way (and why) it was made.  But since we were on our walk and I was already weighed down with sticks and twigs and his Lightnen McQueen...I made a motion we leave it.  He was fine with this but I immediately regretted the decision.

So on the way back from my run later that day, I was delighted to find it still there and knew I had to have it. It was the tail end of my route but I wasn't ready to call it quits, so I tucked the root under my arm and finished, surprised by how little soil broke free from the heart of its little bundle as I ran.  An amazing network, I thought, and at the same time I couldn't help feel it was something creature-like, city-like, human-like.

I'm investigating this thing now, waiting for my battery to charge so I can continue to photograph it for diagrams, along with some Y-shaped twigs and the two sticks up top.  Though I should add it's really just the same stick seen from different sides.  Amazing, isn't it?  That we should all have such various sides?