The Experiment - Day 26

Wow. If you include today, only 5 days left of The Experiment where my 10-year-old daughter assigns me tasks I must complete.

Yesterday, I had 3 tasks:

The first was to eat my lunch outside, which I did. I didn't devour it, but I could have eaten more slowly. There were a few small clouds near the western horizon, and one had a great swirl to it, making it look like a big wave at Waimea Bay, so I imagined a surfer getting some tube time in the swirl. Rebecca had written that if I did not see many clouds, I should close my eyes and imagine a few - which I did not do. I was reminded of this by a photo posted to facebook that confronted me right after coming in from lunch. Though it's been photoshopped, it is a very cool image of a cloud in the shape of a galloping horse.

My next task was to go outside and take 5 pictures, and then arrange them into a checkerboard pattern. I got carried away with this project. As I thought about the checkerboard arrangement, I decided I wanted to take it one step further and make a quilt square. I thought about the kind of close-up photos that would best lend themselves to the task and ended up taking 29 photos in all. Based on Rebecca's reaction to taking so many photos, I think she had intended for me to restrict myself to 5 images so I could position and repeat them if necessary.

Once she saw the result, she didn't seem too concerned about my having diverged from her exact instructions, but I still think she would have liked me to have followed her directions more precisely. All the images I used came from sections of the exterior of the buildings on our property, and the plants in the garden.

"Find your special place" is still a task on the list. Special was underlined, so I think Rebecca doesn't want me to think of it as a secret place, but rather a place I will feel comfortable, secure, connected and protected. I tried a few different locations around our house. I sat on the stoop to one of our outbuildings; I sat under the Vitex bush; I sat on the side of the porch. I gave each place a chance, quieted myself, and tried to see how each spot felt to me. Still, none of these places felt special. The search continues! Perhaps I will find a special place around the house, and eventually find a new secret place for myself up in the mountains?

Today's tasks:

1. Go down to the garden and find a fallow plot. Stick both hands into the soil and feel the cold dirt. Today, I like having a task that's easy to accomplish.
2. Find your special place. I'm hoping "find" still means "keep searching for".
3. Though it's not on the sheet, at breakfast Rebecca added a walk around the block.

I'll let you know tomorrow how I did!