Category Archives: Friday Photos

Then Moses said, “Now show me Your glory.”

I have been praying that same prayer for a week now.

And He has answered. 🙂

“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ask to see His  glory…today and everyday,

You will be changed.

You will be amazed.

You will live your life in wonder.

“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.”—Lauren DeStefano

“Autumn, the year’s last, loveliest smile.” —William Cullen Bryant

“Love is like a friendship caught on fire.”—Jeremy Taylor

I love weddings.

I especially love having the joy and privilege of capturing the special moments of a couple’s most magical day with my camera.

Here are a couple of scenes from a wedding I shot recently with a friend. It was a wonderful day.

 

“A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.” —Anonymous

“Enjoy the little things because one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”—Robert Brault

I have recently realized afresh how important the “little” moments are in a life. That being said, here are some of the moments from my own life that I was blessed to recently capture with my beloved camera!

My son Josh playing his oboe in a tree on the day we took his senior pictures…

My daughter Julia at her first volleyball game of the season…

Josh and some of his friends in the backyard on a late-summer Saturday night…

A summer hike…

A sunset over the lake…

The beautiful bride from the wedding I shot last weekend…

The adorable freckled flower girl…

My daughter declaring her first day as a junior in high school to be a grand success…

My mom and my son…

A spectacular sunset right in my own backyard as my Savior paints a masterpiece across the northern sky, beautifully declaring the end of another day full of His astonishing grace…

“If you don’t see it all as gift, you end up taking it all for granted.”—Ann Voskamp

My son Josh started his senior year of high school today.

I love this picture of him (taken just last week) because it speaks of hope, optimism, joy and a bright future.

As does this photo of a five year old Josh with his beloved Winnie The Pooh backpack. 🙂

For many years, Josh loved photography. He was never without his camera and took such great photos at our nephew’s wedding in 2008 that they used and framed some of his pictures in place of the professional photographer’s offerings. His first paid job was as a videographer at a friend’s wedding.

At some point that season came to an end and  to my great sadness, his camera began collecting dust. I loved seeing the world through my son’s camera. I continued to hope that he would one day take that camera off the shelf.

I am thrilled to say that day has arrived!

About a week before school started, Josh and I were taking a walk around our neighborhood and he told me that he intended to truly live every moment of his senior year. He did not want to take anything for granted and his goal was that on graduation day, he would have left it all on the field, so to speak. No opportunity or time wasted. Just good memories and happy times with friends treasured.

His words made this mama’s heart so happy. I have been telling my kids for years to make the most of their days…and he was listening! 🙂

A few days later, he was attending a birthday party with his fellow soon-to-be high school seniors. One of his friends suggested that he should make a documentary (both with still photography and video) of his senior year. Josh was so excited about this idea that he came home from the party and was up until almost dawn researching and planning.

A Facebook status declaring his intentions received great support and numerous requests to be involved from his classmates.

Yesterday, he bought a new camera with his own money and the story of the class of 2014 begins today!

I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds!

May we also be aware of the gift of today.

Keep your eyes open to the beauty and blessings that surround you. Then maybe pick up a pen, a paintbrush, a camera and mark down what you see.

You will not pass this way again.

It has been hot as blazes in our part of the country for the past two weeks.

In an act of defiance, my husband and I emerged from the air conditioning to take a stroll (it was much too hot for a walk) down one of the quiet streets in our town.

I took my camera along with me because you never know where you are going to discover beauty.

It turns out, beauty is all around!

Take a moment and search for the beauty right in your neighborhood!

Happy Friday! 🙂

The Friday Photos section of the blog has been woefully absent in recent weeks, due to the hectic pace of end-of-school activities.

(Side note: If you have not read this brilliant—and hysterically funny— post by Jen Hatmaker on the end of the year madness, treat yourself to a good belly laugh this morning. You can find it here.).

Today finds us getting ready to take our son to a five week advanced studies program at a boarding school in our state.

He took his last final yesterday and with the completion of that test, he was officially a senior. He and some of his friends celebrated by running through the halls of the school and hugging everyone they saw.

I am actually grateful that he is doing this program. I look at it as a mercy, one that will let me ease into the rapidly-approaching day next year when we will drop him off at college in another state. Also, it is by all accounts an incredible program  that has wonderfully enriched the students who have taken part in it in the past.

In typical firstborn fashion, Josh was packed last night. He made the mistake of placing his luggage by the front door…which promptly sent our dog Buddy into a frenzy of fear, whining, and generally gluing himself to our sides, lest we leave him behind.

Within the hour, we will head to the school and get Josh settled in. It will be the first major step on his journey into making his own mark in the world.

I will miss my boy, but I am celebrating the fact that he is a confident, talented, and extremely intelligent young man who is about to have a great adventure.

I really hope I don’t cry when it’s time to say goodbye.

It’s a good thing he will only be an hour away.

In the words of Bill Murray’s character Bob Wiley (from one of our favorite movies What About Bob?): “Baby steps.”

That’s what I need.

The Friday Photos post has been woefully neglected  the past couple weeks, the result of a very busy spring schedule.

Now that things have (temporarily) slowed down, here goes…

This is my son and his girlfriend, who graciously agreed to do a photo shoot with me to celebrate their one-year anniversary. We were at the lake on a gorgeous spring evening and this was one of my favorites. I do love the sweetness and the promise of young love.

This was taken the same day. It speaks to me of the upcoming summer and the deliciously good times ahead.

Spring was in full bloom…

And laughter was abundant because my oldest friend in the world had come to visit. We grew up next door to each other and only my husband knows me better. I adore him. Here he is with my mom, who is like his second mother…just as his dear mom was to me.

He, my mom and my brother spent the afternoon together, reliving old memories and sharing present blessings. It was such a joy.

I love this town.

And I love my life.

“A day without laughter is a day wasted.”—Charlie Chaplin

My mom celebrated her 78th birthday last week.

She recently told me that since she moved to New England six months ago, she cannot remember laughing so much.

I am blessed to have one of the funniest families I know. Not only do we all have a great sense of humor, but none of us are afraid to laugh at ourselves.

Mom fits in very well. 🙂

“A smile starts on the lips. A grin spreads to the eyes. A chuckle comes from the belly. But a good laugh bursts forth from the soul…overflows and bubbles all around.”—Carolyn Birmingham 

Some things look fabulous on paper but in real life…not so much.

Such is the case with Williams College in the Berkshires. We are at that season of our lives where school vacations are used for visiting colleges. Our son Josh graduates next year so this week, we traveled to Williams and Brown University. The instant we drove onto the Williams campus, the first thing we noticed was how picturesque it was. The second thing we noticed was how empty it was.

“Is the semester over?” I asked my husband as we pulled into the parking lot of our inn.

“I don’t think so,” he replied as we rolled our luggage inside the inn that time forgot.  The furnishings were circa 1985. Our large room boasted flowered wallpaper, a floral bedspread, and a bright yellow bathroom with bright yellow towels.

A trip to the front desk in the lobby yielded two suggestions for dinner. Mainly because there were only two restaurants open in town.

It was  6:00.

We were somewhat alarmed to suddenly hear the sound of loud angry voices with an Irish brogue coming from the bar area. Curiosity got the best of me and I crossed the room to see what was happening.

Turns out that a play was in progress. A sign trumpeting the name of the production was placed at the bar entrance. The actors were scattered throughout the bar while the patrons looked on.

Must be western Massachusetts’ form of theater art. The actors seemed quite talented and the audience as clearly enjoying themselves but I just found it to be the oddest thing.

We left the hotel and headed into town to the recommended restaurant.

Once again, the campus was nearly deserted.

We live in a town of 6400 people.

This place made our town look like Times Square on a Saturday night.

We passed through the bar on the way to the dining room. It was nearly full and the customers were loud.

By the time we were finished eating our dinner, the bar was crowded and several people were quite drunk. Josh theorized that it was because there was nothing to do in this town.

This was only Monday night! We could only imagine what it would be like on the weekends.

We had high hopes for the information session the following day.

Those hopes were soon dashed.

The man who led the session was very sincere and well-meaning. The problem was that he seemed hard-pressed to come up with even one valid reason why anyone should choose to attend this school. He spoke in a rambling monotone and was  so boring that the majority of our group left. I looked longingly at the mom beside me who was able to read her Kindle because she was perfectly positioned to hide behind her son.

The very instant the session was over, we made a beeline for the car, as there was no way we were staying for the tour, as Josh declared this college to be “soul crushing.”

Doug and I had to agree.

When we returned to our car, this is the sight that greeted us:

The cat gazed at us  with a certain air of disdain as if to say, “What are YOU doing here???” (Despite the fact that he was on the roof of our car!).

We couldn’t leave until he decided he was good and ready to get down from his perch.

As has been said,  it’s a cat’s world. We all just live in it. 🙂

We were so happy to leave western Massachusetts behind and head to the lovely town of Providence, Rhode Island.

We all fell in love with the Brown campus.

The atmosphere on campus was electric, happy, and exciting.

It was the anti-Williams.

The information session was led by two bright-eyed, winsome students who immediately engaged all of us with their sense of humor and enthusiasm.

I practically fell out of my seat when they spoke of a most wondrous thing: there are NO general education requirements at Brown! None!

The student is free to design their own curriculum, taking only classes for their major and those that interest them.

Why did my university not subscribe to this amazing concept?!?!

All my life, I have hated math with the white-hot fury of one thousand suns.

Yet I had to struggle three times just to (barely) pass college algebra. It nearly gave me a nervous breakdown.

That alone would make Brown my #1 choice for a college!

As for Josh, NYU is still his #1 choice, followed closely by Brown.

If only he possessed ambition and had some goals. 🙂

We headed over to Thayer Street for lunch. On the way there, we heard the loud and clear voice of a street preacher on one of the corners.

Most people ignored him. One man openly mocked him from across the street, hurling insults in between taking deep drags from his cigarette. Others laughed in derision.

Still he preached on undeterred, inviting people to come to him to hear about Jesus.

I admired his courage.

After a delicious lunch, we drove through downtown Providence on the way toward home.

All in all, it was a successful trip.

I find that I am treasuring these increasingly rare times when just the four of us all together, knowing that this season of life when both our kids are living under our roof is rapidly drawing to a close.

My kids think I am being overly-sentimental and maybe so.

But a few decades from now, when they are making these same trips on behalf of their own children, they will understand.

How did it get so late so soon?
It’s night before it’s afternoon.
December is here before it’s June.
My goodness how time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?
—Dr. Seuss