Santa

 

A look back at Jolly Old Saint Nick (or Glen as he sometimes likes to introduce himself to the kiddies.  he looks great but needs to work on his acting).

The Golden City

I loved our time in San Francisco.  It's a fun city to walk around and photograph.   It seems I've eschewed humanity for animals in this post...but I'm ok with that.  

Three landscapes in one.

The yin and yang of sea lions.

Alcatraz.

How the Golden Gate Bridge (which is red during the daytime) got its name...or at least that's what
   I'd like to think.

Returning to Pennsylvania

Driving down these familiar roads I'm wrapped in the beauty and comfort of a quilt of spruce, pines, oaks, maples and elms.  Such a variety blurs into a harmony of green.

This place sings to me, it's in my marrow, every cell, it whispers sweet nothings of the past. Each season, strongly defined, offers its own flavor of memory. Verdant summers: the buzz of bees surrounding peaches fallen from our backyard tree; cool breezes streaming through a window during a drowsy afternoon; the buttery taste of honeysuckle picked from the side of the road.  Or winter: Mittens crusted with frost from building snow men; the dizzying high of sledding down our hill until fingers and noses were numb;  foraying into the frozen swamp for daily adventures.  Or spring: blooming with dogwoods and a riot of color and flowers as dad's garden was reborn each year; the clean smell of cut grass while riding a lawn mower; chasing each other around a cherry tree in full blossom.

Now it is fall, red brushes the landscape, and I'm immersed in pumpkins, corn and mums.  I watch the orange barn painted in yellow morning sun;  walk through fields dappled in patterns of leaves and light.  This place winks at me, offers promises of the future - barefoot children running and laughing in the field, as carefree as I once was, before the weight of school, cruel classmates and the sadness of the world.  This is the only place in memory free from those burdens, untouched, in my mind, if not reality - a constant haven.  I can shut out the encroaching developments, traffic, stores, and people because there are still enough of these green, rolling hills that surround and beckon, taking me back to that place, that state, that wonderful feeling of belonging.

I know my recollections are coated with the veneer of nostalgia, but at its best, this place matches and exceeds these snippets my mind has saved. These pages of memory turn so fast they have blended into a glow of warmth and love, so that returning here will always, always feel like coming home.

Full Frame

San Fran.  A city of hills, the majestic Trans America building, and a giant naked woman.  A fun city to spend and work a week in. 

This here is a full frame image.  Perhaps it's telling that I'm so dang proud of that.  I'm notorious (in my own mind) for shooting too hastily, and cropping/fixing in photoshop, so lately I've been making an effort to check my horizons (I tend to see the world crooked), and to take exact care with my framing, at least when the image itself is static.  How can I call myself a photographer otherwise?  I'm such a product of the slap and dash digital age.  Shoot now and fix or discard later.  The end result is never as good.  I wish I'd had more film training, because the value of a frame would be better instilled in me.  My professors did try.

I'm pleased (for once) with the results!

Hawaii

I never processed my photos from Kauai and the Big Island.  That trip happened right in the mania before our wedding.  They lingered at the bottom of my to do list, but circumstances pushed them to the top.  Scrolling through them invoked such a nostalgia.  Ah Hawaii.  How I miss you.  If my photos are beautiful, it's only because you are so beautiful, seductive, welcoming...I want to see you again.  Soon. I promise.

vancouver

Boys and their toys...it's only landed in the pool once or twice!

The rest of these are from hiking a small portion of the Baden Powell trail. Simply stunning (in a good way, unless you're not careful with the tricky footing, and then potentially in a bad way).  This area is a hiker's dream!

sparkling memorial day weekend

This weekend I visited PA and had a few days with the fam.  I decided it was long past due for a blog entry, so here is one of my favorite Ben moments below.  I'd like to post it as a light to honor our veterans and fallen soldiers...held by one of the cutest people I know.