When I was teaching English to junior high students, I always included a unit on creative writing, and during the "writing descriptions" portion of the exercise, I asked them to change their vantage point. Instead of sitting in their seats, they could stand in the corner, perch on a table, sit under my desk, even climb on the bookcase -- anything to change their perspectives. I knew they'd see different details with just a little shift.
I need to take my own advice more.
We've been adding a porch to our house, and, originally, I wanted the main steps to come off the northwest corner at the section of the porch that formed a gazebo. But I could NOT figure out how to landscape the entire west side of our house -- all dirt? all grass? large vegetable trugs as a focal point? It just wouldn't come together. Then the idea slipped into my brain as these ideas often do -- when I'm in the shower or driving or lying awake at 4 a.m. after the cat has pounced on my head -- that we'd put a table and chairs in the gazebo and the stairs straight out from the door. Immediately, I could see the landscaping -- a sidewalk out to the driveway with purple phlox on either side, stepping stones around to the south porch and all along the west side through iris and peony and whatever else would be fun to traipse through. It was startling how one little shift created such clarity.
I've been struggling with my Dresden plate flowers (see earlier post). Clearly, I need to climb atop my fabric cabinet for a better view.
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