
Photo-a-day Challenge
The Bumblebee, the Snail, and the Trees
Chronicles of living in Germany — Week 2
The view above greets me every single day. I know I’m lucky for it. Some days it’s foggy, some days rainy or snowy, and some days sunny and bright. The first week of June brought some summer heat to my little corner of the world. At last. I see this view every day as I walk my lovely, playful, and going grey Mona Lisa.
Mona Lisa is the name of my Jack Russell Terrier. She became a member of the family when she was six weeks old, ten years ago. It was the first time I was responsible to keep a life, well, alive. Since our arrival in Germany, I always walk her around our neighborhood a few times a day.

I am so used to making sure to walk her daily that it appears I haven’t been paying much attention to the changes in our normal route. I paid better attention this past week and through rain and shine, I started to notice the details. Like the bumblebees.

What I like about bumblebees is that I never see them at first. But I always hear them. The quick vibrations of their wings give them away, and I listen to their buzzing as I walk by the blooming flowers. They like to keep busy hopping from flower to flower. This one didn’t even notice me standing a foot away from it.

I welcomed the rain this past week too, it made the heat bearable as it refreshed the air. It also made the snails come out of hiding.

For some reason, I always believed snails were slow. Maybe this particular one is an exception. Maybe I’m wrong. It probably had a place it needed to be. It was heading towards the trees.

The path between these trees serves as a shortcut to my apartment. Mona Lisa loves it, and she always leads me here. During the winter, it’s dry and dead, but I swear the leaves grew overnight. I haven’t noticed how much these grew until I realized the lack of sunshine seeping through.
Sometimes life gets busy, and as I move from task to task, I tend to stop paying attention to my surroundings. This past week taught me to stop and appreciate the nature around me. To be mindful and present at the moment. Not to rush back home.
© Diana Lotti 2021
Thanks for reading! I hope you have a lovely week ahead. Below are more photo stories from life in Germany.