Operation Find Peace

Thanks to Green Jello and Blue Yonder, I am on assignment this week. The assignment that I've chosen to accept is Neighborhood Week, so every day this week, I will be sharing a little of my neighborhood with all of you. Today's theme is Peace, and the first place that came to mind is the irrigation ditch that runs right by our house. While it is a highly functional feature, carrying water from the mountains, through the foothills, to the farms in the valley, it is also one of my favorite features of our neighborhood. There is a dirt path that follows the canal for quite some distance, and this is one of my favorite places to walk. There are trout in the canal, and seeing one surface is one of my favorite things.


When I was pregnant with Avery, George and I would take long walks (I called them Death Marches at the time) and we always walked home along the canal. When we went to Lamaze (when I was idealistic about childbirth and didn't fully appreciate the beauty of the epidural) and were instructed to focus on a peaceful image, the canal was where I went. Several months later, after Avery was born, she and I would walk along the canal everyday and she would inevitably fall asleep on the way home. An older couple whose backyard overlooks the canal would sit on their deck and say, "There goes the girl with the baby."

This morning, I woke up early and went for a walk by myself to try and capture the beauty of this peaceful place. I took over seventy pictures, I saw about five trout, and I didn't see one other person. As the sun rose, the reflection of the houses and trees became an impressionist painting on the surface of the water. It was a wonderful way to start my day.