Carpe Camera!

"Let's go take pictures of the trees," my daughter says. I know it's an excuse to extend our outside time before lunch, but I let her pull me back outside. I want to take pictures too.

The brilliant glowing reds of the Japanese Maples are giving way to crumpled dull reds and wet leaves on the grass. Last year, I admired them, but failed to capture anything before the leaves were gone for the year. It's a fleeting pleasure, so why not take the time to savor it? Not unlike my daughter's childhood and my own fleeting existence. No need to wait - Seize the Camera!

Even the camera is a means of capturing the moment, yet insufficient to the passing of every moment. How many moments pass us by unnoticed, unremarked? I take notes, I write, I photograph, I capture so I can savor once and then savor again in memory. Those leaves! Glowing! Heart-lifting! My daughter's face as she wallows through the piles of leaves. A gleeful moment not to be missed.

No, I don't care if she messes up the raked pile. What else are piles of leaves but to play in right this very moment? The red leaves add their sparks to the browns and yellows that have come before. The leaves glow, my daughter's face glows. Carpe Camera!