Dina And Me..Friday's

No my friend Dina does not have a new friend.  I know I've been neglecting here these past few Friday's but that always happens in the summer...She's good with that.  She knows I'm in Maine and next week she will be here with me.  We are going to Boothbay for a few nights to visit the most beautiful Botanical Gardens.. 

I miss Dina when we don't have our regular routine..she is fun to be with and I can rant to her about every thing and she's pretty good at ranting back...so here it is Friday and I'm thinking of her so I thought I would post our last adventure in June. Oh, I've seen her since then but we just went to breakfast.  No adventure that day...but this day was fun..

That is Dina and Julie.  Julie is the manager at our favorite breakfast spot.  The Wenham Tea House.  So civilized there. Tablecloths, real linen.  Fresh flowers.  Tea made with tea leaves..so good, but mostly we love it because its quiet and they have excellent food and the people...oh my, so nice.  We love Julie.  She takes very good care of us.  Somehow though she always seats us in the corner...hmm, I wonder about that. 

Now Julie is on the other side of the camera.  She did a great job for someone who doesn't really do photography but being that she is a creative, not surprising.  Look at how nice the tea shop is decorated, yes, Julie does that as well as take care of us. Dina and I usually pick up a few things here if we need a small but special gift.  Best of all, they sell my photo cards here...bonus.

So of course, always after breakfast, we hit the shops.  Sometimes we don't want anyone to know we are out shopping AGAIN, so we go in disguise.  Do you think anyone would find this strange, maybe, but not from us.  Actually we like consignment stores and this is what we found on this day.  We played around a bit, yes another store where everyone knows our name..so of course, they were happy to take a snap.. her and I laugh at ourselves.  She's the best kind of friend.  With us it's always, whatever.  We are old enough now to just go out and have fun and not worry about what others think of us. We talk to everyone who comes our way, we laugh at ourselves and we do exactly whatever we want on our Friday adventures...everyone needs a good friend like that.  Like anything else though, it takes years to grow such a beautiful friendship.  A lot of give and take..and lot of tears and laughter and life experiences.  In the end, like any great connection, it is all about caring.  We care about one another...so for Dina and I.  I hope we have many more years to raise hell and to raise a few eyebrows when we are out there on the loose on Fridays. Life simply wouldn't be very colorful without her.

July was a difficult month for me...I am glad to see it take a hike. I will also be glad to share the month of August with Dina.  I know she understands me and will life my spirits.  So wherever she is today I bet when it came time for breakfast she was thinking about me...just like I was thinking of her today..

Each friend represents a world in us,

a world possibly not born until they arrive,

and it is only by this  meeting

that a new world is born.

-Anais Nin

All Friday Photo's are taken with the I-Phone 6 plus...

Beauty Blooms On A Rainy Day

When we woke up on the morning of our photo tour I was a bit disappointed that it was overcast and at times raining.  I'm happy to say I am not one to let the weather really get me down though.  So off we went with zip lock bags for our camera's and raincoats.  The hotel offered us an umbrella because of course we had left ours home...but like everything else in life, if your willing to adapt, you will find out that sometimes a not so good start turns into a wonderful adventure...and so it was for us this morning...would we not have spent so much time in the Gardens, we would not have seen so many beautiful flowers and for sure we would not have practiced photographing raindrops. What we would have done was hurry on to the major events.  So in the end the rain was a gift and later the  sun came out but before that happened we spent some time with Shakespeare and his flowers, and it was all so wonderful.

This is one of the many roads that wind around the gardens.  I loved the fence and as we walked by, a peek of light came through..but it didn't last...also this fence, was lined with roses.

Such a delicate beauty...just full of little raindrops..

Raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, these are a few of my favorite things...

From a distance, there is harmony
And it echoes through the land
It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace
It's the voice of every man

See the beauty within yourself..dont' let anyone rain on your parade.

Without even being in bloom, I fell in love with the delicateness of this flower...soft and lovely and so very Victorian..

Don't fence me in...

Moving out of the garden into the sunshine. The trees gathered me in.  So much goodness in nature thoughout the park, it was like being lost in Pooh's world...

The end of a most beautiful day..so it started out with the rain and ended up with the sun shinning and wonderful shadows...flowers blooming, raindrops on roses and giant trees...Nature.  Never let the weather determine your day.  You decide and from where I stand or walk..a bit of rain makes the world lush and very colorful...you can't stand in the forest waiting for the sun to come to you, you just have to get out there and find it for yourself...Central Park is beautiful in any kind of weather...I would love to go in the winter...

Central Park...Part 1

I love travel, I love taking photo's and I don't mind at all editing, although it does take a bit of time.  What seems to happen to me though, is for some reason, I don't get my work up in a timely manner.  I question why lots of times.  I wonder if I don't trust myself or my work.  I wonder why I don't have a better work ethic for scheduling projects and post.  Am I afraid it's not good enough or I should have made a better choice of subject of perhaps used a different edit in Light Room...but after enough time has gone by and I start loving some of what I did, I get to it.  So today I start to share our New York Photo Tour adventure...in Central Park...and then I'll move on to a little bit of the city...

We had a lovely hotel, close to Central Park, west entrance.  It was an easy walk on Saturday afternoon to meet up with our guide.  It was an easy walk but it was raining...but then we never let the weather dampen our spirits...rain or shine we go..the above photo makes a good point...you can see the rain drops and the murky background of the city but you can also see the beauty and sparkling color of that lovely little bird. He set the tone..and we followed.

Central park is quite large...and because of the rain we stayed within a small area while we were on the tour...later, when the sun came out, we went further on our own...so much to do and see.  Another trip will be in our future...I love that New Yorkers are never bothered by weather either...it is a walking city.  Often people walk through the park to get to the other side...we walked from the west side, where we were staying, to hook up on the 5th ave. side to meet our guide...there is always something to see and shot while walking..a quick shot and the camera back under my rain coat...

There are many of these little tunnels through-out the park also...fortuanately for us, this was at the very beginning of our tour so we spent a bit of time in here shooting the scenes...color, light, composition, texture, all were discussed and critiqued..and then there was the music... 

This man, so much talent, so much beauty...and patience with us.  Let us up close and posed for all of us. Kindness is everyhere if your willing to receive it..

Big tip for him...well deserved and appreciated.

The hands and the horn...

Out of the tunnel and into the light...moving on...until next time..  I promise the wait won't be as long as it was this.

Goodby for Now...

As the sun sets over the mountains and the lake, I wish my youngest brother a safe and pain free passage to join my Mom, Dad and my other brother...It was a long three weeks and a huge struggle for him.  His life was not always easy..but he is now safely in the arms of all that have gone before him. At first we were four and now we are two.

This photo was shot last night and he died at 2 a.m. under a full moon.  It is mostly unedited except for a slight horizon adjustment and an auto tone correction In L.R.  I did not want to send him off with a fake sunset...

Rest in peace Jack...your struggles are finally over.

“ To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other’s hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time.”– Clara Ortega