Every garden needs a water feature. It took me years of yearning before I finally got mine. It's just a half whiskey barrel with a pond liner that sits on the patio. Elon the fish lives there in the summers; his very own summer cottage, complete with a non-stop fresh food buffet.
Fish are devilish photo subjects. The digital lets me take photo after photo of tailfins slipping out of frame before I manage a potential shot. And the camera is never quite sure where to focus - deep, at the rocks I've placed at the bottom? Or high, where the leaves of the Japanese maple reflect so artistically? No matter, it is a Zen exercise to sit, to wait, and to slowly press the shutter release and to catch that fleeting image.
I still need to figure out how to rig my pump so I can get a water noise. The first pump I used in the 'pond' was from a tabletop fixture, it had a faux bamboo riser and the water exited above the pond's surface to land with a pleasing burble. Unfortunately it wasn't long before the amount of water in the pond exhausted that little pump. At some point I will get creative and fix something up, but for now, my water is silent.
Water, however, is always in motion. From the subtle and barely discernible motion caused by the submersible pump - a concave distortion of the water's surface in the direction of the water's flow - to the rising of the fish and the landing of myriad insects, the pond always draws the eye.
And my little pond proves that it's not the size that counts.
If I had one of those I'm afraid one of our cats would make a meal of it
Posted by: bill | July 27, 2003 at 05:57 PM
He pretty much only comes up when I feed him. You can see the food flakes in the last shot...
I need to worry more about racoons than cats...
Posted by: jenn | July 27, 2003 at 06:30 PM