There is something about March that makes me want to start looking properly again.
After months of bare branches, muddy paths and grey skies, suddenly there are tiny signs that things are shifting. A bud where yesterday there seemed to be nothing. Green shoots pushing through the soil. The first blossom. Even the evenings seem to stretch almost imperceptibly.
One of the reasons I started Little Piece of Wonder all those years ago was to remind myself to notice these things. Not the big, spectacular moments, necessarily, but the small ones we can so easily walk past.
I’ve been thinking about ways to record the seasons this year. Nothing complicated. Taking a photograph from the same spot every month, perhaps, or choosing one tree and watching it change. Photographing the tiny things I find on a walk. Making a simple nature mandala from fallen leaves, petals, twigs and seed heads.
I love the idea of having a visual record of a year – twelve photographs of the same tree would tell an entire story.
And perhaps that’s what I need at the moment: not another project to complete, but a reason to pay attention.
There is already so much changing outside at this time of year. I just want to get better at noticing it.