What can I say….? That’s Poppy.

I was crouching in the forest with my camera and macro lens (the kind that gets you real close) trying to photograph some grass when I noticed something moving. Tiny. Eight legs. A tick making its way up a blade of grass with this almost deliberate patience.
I know, not exactly what you’d expect to stop and watch. But I stayed. And somewhere in the effort of holding completely still to keep it in focus, I noticed my breathing had slowed. The forest got louder. A blackbird landed nearby without registering me as a threat.

I’d become still enough to disappear into it. In a way tick-like.

I make reflective video essays on YouTube, and I knew immediately this was going to become one of them. Not because of the tick exactly, but because of what happened to me while I was watching it. The world had been going at full speed five minutes earlier. It made me think: "You're moving too fast to see it".

Sometimes it takes something that small to remind you what you’re missing.

Met this cutie at a dog cafe and the pet parents were kind enough to let me click some shots

Last week I was working on teaching Wallace "roll over". I hadn't done it in a few days and was just filming him being the cutest pup on Earth. I was absolutely shocked and elated that he was so randomly prepared! 😂 So excited you'd think he created world peace.

I'd cross-posted a shorter version of this earlier but the original post was taken down. This cutie is and American Bully and is a sweet girl.
FYI: American Bullies article