Beside our porch at the lake, stood an old stump, a few feet high, all that remained of a tree planted decades ago. It took years to take the stump out, and maybe that's why it became something better: each spring, birds hollowed out a nest inside, it must feel like the safest place in the world.
Our lab has his own ritual, hauling big rocks up from the lake, carrying them around, rolling them through the grass, sometimes dropping them on our feet. We started stacking his finds on the stump, just to save his teeth and our feet. But the lake never runs short of rocks and the stump became full.
The pile stayed anyway, through summer, through wind, through rain.
And porch talk often wandered back to it; that odd cairn on the stump, part of the scenery, part of the stories.
I caught it in a photo, the summer before it the stump disappeared, a gorgeous sunset, the porch full of family, voices overlapping, the lake glowing beyond. Every element in place, all at once.
12” x 16” watercolor on cradled panel, varnished and waxed (it doesn’t need to be framed under glass). Framed in a white wood floater frame, ready to hang.
Beside our porch at the lake, stood an old stump, a few feet high, all that remained of a tree planted decades ago. It took years to take the stump out, and maybe that's why it became something better: each spring, birds hollowed out a nest inside, it must feel like the safest place in the world.
Our lab has his own ritual, hauling big rocks up from the lake, carrying them around, rolling them through the grass, sometimes dropping them on our feet. We started stacking his finds on the stump, just to save his teeth and our feet. But the lake never runs short of rocks and the stump became full.
The pile stayed anyway, through summer, through wind, through rain.
And porch talk often wandered back to it; that odd cairn on the stump, part of the scenery, part of the stories.
I caught it in a photo, the summer before it the stump disappeared, a gorgeous sunset, the porch full of family, voices overlapping, the lake glowing beyond. Every element in place, all at once.
12” x 16” watercolor on cradled panel, varnished and waxed (it doesn’t need to be framed under glass). Framed in a white wood floater frame, ready to hang.