Feeding Each Other

This sweet dress from Love Shack Fancy was one of my summer chillax go to’s. Light, short, and so breezy it’s barely there. Plaid is a nice break from ubiquitous summer florals, and the smocked off the shoulder detail made for a super cute day look. I picked up this fun hat at Anthropologie a few years ago, and my necklace from Free People has been an almost daily staple this summer. It’s one of those easy necklaces that has layers all in one. It’s made of neutral tones so it goes with pretty much everything. This look is summer personified: a little sundress, straw hat, and an easy accessory.
The most beautiful things in these photos are my magnificent koi fish. I’m fortunate to have a beautiful pond in my yard with dozens of gorgeous koi. Feeding them has become one of my favorite daily tasks. I started feeding them myself this summer (as opposed to asking another member of the household to do it) because I was not spending enough time on the part of the property. This really bothered me because I knew I was depriving myself of this particular connection to nature. Once I “officially” took on the task to feed the fish my whole mood, and relationship to my property, changed and developed. It not only felt good to take responsibility for nourishing and attending to my own fish (as it does when we do the same for ourselves), but I relished in walking down to this beautiful area and giving myself daily time to sit amongst nature. Feeling my feet kiss the earth, listening to the fish instinctively rise to the surface as they heard my footsteps, watching the feeding frenzy, checking on my nearby vegetable garden, and breathing in summer with all its sensory experiences truly enhanced my relationship to myself, this amazing season, the fish, my land, and to the present moment. It’s a big source of aggravation when I’m disappointed in myself for not fully utilizing my surroundings. I don’t like letting myself down by not taking advantage of what the present has to offer, so it ate at me that I wasn’t in proper relationship to this particular gift of nature in my own backyard. It’s crazy what is right under our noses that gets overlooked or under appreciated. So much passes us by until we decide to genuinely pay attention. It’s a radical choice to stop, look, listen, and breathe.

I fed the fish but the fish fed me, as did the moist grass, the crickets, my garden, the light hitting the trees and plants in soft stripes, the breeze on my skin, the deep appreciation for the instant medicine of nature, and the connection to all of humankind throughout time who have drawn from these very same beautiful pleasures.