“After a mid-April snowfall, even the plants seem hesitant to re-open.” – Ed Lehming

It’s a bit odd that I keep finding allusions to COVID in my photos. Living in the province of Ontario, Canada, with it’s high case count and obscure lockdown measures to come at COVID, my thoughts often tie back to ‘opening up’. Currently we are under a 6 week ‘stay at home’ order, meaning we are to stay home except for ‘essential’ reasons, such as groceries, exercise, and work that can’t be done remotely.

It’s been a very frustrating year and change, with government strategies, supposedly informed by science, poorly executed and seemingly random. I’m happy that I have been able to spend time outdoors, hiking and making photos, but the effects of not being able to socialize, especially with family and close friends is wearing me down.

It’s a bit like our weather lately. We had several beautiful, mild days in March, ice and snow melted, and wildflowers began to emerge. There was so much symbolic hope and promise in those days, and it has remained relatively mild since then. That is, until last week, when it got colder and we had two days of intermittent snowfall, which felt like the lock-down measures imposed after weeks of improving news.

I’m feeling much like this trillium, seemingly surveying it’s environment, deciding whether to take it’s chances in opening up, becoming vulnerable to the environment. I remain hopeful that this COVID situation improved as more people are vaccinated, but supply is erratic and unpredictable, with hope being offered and then delayed once more. I remain hopeful and take joy in the natural world around me to sustain me, but remain uncertain in a summer of relative normalcy.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G I AF-S VR Zoom @ 220 mm
1/1000 sec, f/14.0, ISO 800