When you follow your dog...

...into a wildflower bog...

...there's no help for it, you're going to get wet, muddy, and stinky.

But you learn to be agile in the mud and muck...

...and to find new ways to get where you want to go...

...and you discover things that you would have otherwise missed...

...like this lovely water garden at the end of the leat.

Following the Muse is like that too. Sometimes, in the middle of a story or a painting, you find yourself wallowing through the sticky, boggy bits...

...and you just have to keep on going, no matter where it leads.

But I'm ready for the journey. I'm wearing sturdy boots, and I'm prepared to get muddy. So let's go.

Words: The poem in the picture captions is from Territories: Writing from Innu Assi, Québec and Scotland (Edinburgh International Book Festival/Scottish Poetry Library); all rights reserved by the author. Pictures: A leat, a bog, and a wet, stinky dog.