The World Through My Lens

Switzerland and France, Part 2: The French Alps!

2011-01-16T10:07:00.000-08:00

When I last left off, we were just about to embark on our dangerous journey (remember: sheer drops, no shoulder, exorbitant speeds?) to the French town of Entremont, nestled in the alps. This, little did I know (though I should have assumed), would be the highlight of my trip!

It was hard to capture the enormity of the mountains as we made our way up the elevations! I can only imagine how crazy the roads are now that it is winter, and high ski season!

Crazy beautiful! It only gets better!

And we arrived in Entremont. Anyone read french?

And here is where we stayed! Magical, right?

Looking up the drive way!

The home was a converted cow shed. From the front you can tell that it is not a typical chalet, but inside it is spacious and has plenty of charm! This property has been in Ellie's family for years. Her mom popped in to visit over the weekend on her way back to England after a trip in the south of France. Isn't that so fun to say? :)

Front of the house

Laura capturing the beauty!

Views from the house

Breathtaking

It was World Cup fever all over Europe while we were there! We spent some time keeping up with the games!

We also were treated to gourmet feasts while we stayed with Luke and Ellie. We had bread from the local baker, fruits and veggies bought at the green grocer, local cheeses that will never be exported to the US (they keep the good cheese and wine for themselves!) , and one of my favorite specialties: Luke's potatoes fried in duck fat! :) There was also a large supply of chocolate to be had and tea was served, thanks to Ellie's British heritage, frequently throughout the day! They were the most generous of hosts and we loved every minute!

Here we are at the green grocer.

Luke proved to be an eager and knowledgeable tour guide! Poor Ellie was stuck inside most of the weekend preparing to defend her thesis the following week!

The area in and around Entremont is a bustling ski area in the winter and is actually being considered as a host to the winter Olympics.

We went into one pastry shop and saw meringues as big as our heads. :) You slice them like bread.

The weekend in Entremont was lovely because Laura and I got time to relax, process the things we had seen so far, and truly soak in our surroundings.

It was only a weekend, but it was rich with experiences....more to come from the french alps! :)

Switzerland and France, Part 1

2011-01-15T14:47:00.001-08:00

Here is the next installment of the European adventure! I am now seeing the blessing in not blogging about these things earlier because taking the time to reminisce in the midst of this cold winter weather is quite therapeutic! :)
My photos from my time in Switzerland and France (particularly the French alps) are my favorite from the trip. Breathtakingly beautiful scenery that is barely captured by the lens...but I must say some of the photos are stunning!
Laura and I took EasyJet from Amsterdam to Geneva. What we learned: When an airline tells you there is a one bag carry-on limit, they mean it. That one carry-on does NOT include a personal item such as a purse or camera bag. At the gate the attendant told us in her pleasant French accent that we would have to condense our already very condensed bags. Well, our bag's contents were laid bare and the trash barrel was filled as we weeded through our things. And as long as you only have ONE bag, they don't seem to mind if you board the plane with your arms loaded with jackets, cameras, granola bars, and other paraphernalia. I truly wish I had a photo to capture the craziness. We were not the only ones to find ourselves in this predicament. One lady tried to pawn her CD's off on us.
Once aboard we sat back and had to laugh at the absurdity of it all and marvel at our fantastic condensing skills.
We also had to laugh at this little sign on the seat backs:

And once we were in the air, the views were stunning!! Flying into Geneva, with the shrouded alps as a background was indescribable. There is something so thrilling about seeing famous mountains! :)

Lake Geneva as we approached landing

We had a few hours to kill while waiting for my friend Luke to meet up with us. We happily walked around the lake front with our condensed suit-cases, embracing our obvious identity as tourists.
Here is the landmark fountain that we later found out was directly across from the street we were staying on. If we could find the waterfront, we knew exactly where home was.

Watches, banks, and jewelry advertisements galore!

We couldn't have asked for a nicer day to lug our suitcases around!

Swans so fit the aesthetic of Geneva.

Another one of my favorite photos from our trip! We were sitting on this bench resting and this man came and sat down by us to eat his lunch. We noticed in Europe that, unlike the US, strangers have no problem joining you on a public bench if there is a seat available. Their concept of personal space is different. This man spoke a few words of English, broken French, but fluent Italian (from what we could tell!). He did his very best to make conversation with us and enjoyed hearing we were from "America". He pointed out a few things in our travel guide, and got a kick out of the black licorice candy we shared with him, which I had brought from Holland. It was the particularly salty bitter kind. He was not a fan but we had lots of fun making faces of disgust together! I will never see this man again, but these smalls interactions with another human being in a country far away are the memories I cherish the most. It's what travel is all about I think!

The lake water had a turquoise hue to it!

We met up with my friend Luke, who I've known since childhood and whose family are wonderful friends of my family, and explored the old city for about an hour or so before packing up the car and heading the French alps, 45 minutes outside the city.

this photo makes me laugh

It's a challenge to capture cathedrals.

Love this little group of preschoolers with their orange hats. What a brilliant idea. :)

The University of Geneva, where Ellie, Luke's wife, was finishing her masters degree.

The gellato line

Outdoor, over-sized chess

After our first day in Geneva, we jumped in the car for our trip to the alps. Ellie was our fearless driver, a necessary constitution for anyone who drives at speeds upwards of 50mph (the marked speed limit is 45), on hairpin, near vertical roads at times, with no shoulder and sheer drops to one side.

Christmas

2011-01-02T12:57:00.000-08:00

A few photos from my family's Christmas celebration. We spent the afternoon, as we always do, with the Ball family.....they are truly the closest things to relatives you can have without the DNA! :)

Our tree....the most beautiful tree I've seen this season. Yes, I'm biased!

Beautiful Christmas table my mother set...

Oran and Irene Ball have the loveliest home....

Another sweet Christmas tree...

Ball family photo

I love these two! They have more life in them than some people half their age!!!!

I get a photo with Irene! We are birthday buddies! Our dates of birth fall on the same day but about 64 years apart! She grew up in WWII Germany....and who knows what times will befall me......

Grandma and Granddaughter

Their house could be a museum...filled with all kinds of objects, each with significance and usually a very interesting story!

Ah she's pretty!

Beautiful hands

Singing carols is a tradition...usually in a key too high for everyone....vocal train wreck's ensue, as can be heard in this video!! :)

NEWS FLASH! NEW BLOG at WORDPRESS

2010-12-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

For a number of reasons that do not need to be discussed (mainly because blogger isn't very user friendly, in my opinion!), I am switching my blog to wordpress. My subsequent adventures in Europe posts and other thrilling thoughts and photos can be followed at:http://corylanephotography.wordpress.com/

Thanks friends!!!!!!!

Holland, The Final Installment: Den Haag and adventures with Ward

2010-12-18T13:46:00.000-08:00

One of our most adventurous days was making our way on bike through Den Haag (The Hague). Laura and I had mapped out a grand plan of how to get to Scheveningen, the port of Den Haag (note: this word is nearly impossible to say correctly for anyone not a native Dutch speaker -- apparently it was used as a pass word of sorts during the World Wars to uncover German spies!). However, as we quickly found upon arriving in Europe, we were not so skilled at reading maps, and all the dutch street names began to run together in our minds. After circling the train station on our rented bikes a number of times, we decided to ditch the map and go with our gut sense of direction. Astonishingly, that worked quite well and we ended on on the wharf, which I had been to before when I visited Holland with the Gray family in 2002. It all looked quite familiar with the grand hotel, many open air bars, shopping, and of course ice cream and herring stands.
We also ventured onto the beach at the end of the wharf and admired the Netherlands' remarkable dike system.

I must say, I was quite happy that "via" is a somewhat universal term. :) It helped us with sight seeing efficiency!

Doing what we do best (except at the end of the trip!) : waiting for trains.

Grand hotel right on the wharf

Sea gull christening a sand sculpture

Sea gull wanted lunch too

These funny little statues, as well as giant ice cream cones, are everywhere!

Fish and chips, a healthy choice.

Open air bar...

The other side of the Atlantic

It's fun to see sea shells that wash up on different shores...

so beautiful along the water....

Den Haag from afar

The dikes doing their job of holding back the sea

More photos in the city of Den Haag

Love these huge houses!

Dutch Parliament...we saw some cars with tinted windows and fancy license plates coming in and out of the gates..

And now onto adventures with Ward...
on our last evening in Holland we took a little excursion with Ward, who is the beloved brother, uncle and brother in law of my good friends the Grays!

Little village near Amersfoort (I didn't write down the name!) that used to be a thriving inland fishing village.

Caught a woman walking through the streets wearing traditional clothing that the town is known for... a true "fish wife" :)

He then took us to a lovely palace nearby!

This charming photo is courtesy of Ward! One thing that was so refreshing about Europe is that you didn't see any obese people. Everyone leads pretty active lifestyles, and despite the abundance of rich food, they know how to consume in moderation. They say french women don't get fat and apparently the same can be said of the dutch!

Near the palace

Probably my favorite photo of the trip! :)

Yet another sand deposit left over from glacial movement during the ice age. Ward called it an "oasis". Perhaps in Holland's lush landscape a deposit of sand would be considered such.

Ward explaining glacial movement, no doubt!

Just a few more of my favorite images from Holland....
(for more on this photo, see earlier posts!)

Gorgeous poppies that were in bloom everywhere!

Best play structure ever!

The dutch seem to like their nubby trees

And for a multi sensory experience, here's a video of me almost crashing my bike while trying to videotape. Brilliant footage! ;)

Holland Part 2....so many months later

2010-12-16T18:25:00.000-08:00

No excuses......
Just simply going to keep posting about Europe and pretend the four months since the last post didn't happen! :)

One of my favorite things about Holland was the beautiful homes....everyone takes particular care of their property. I'm convinced the entire Dutch population has a green thumb. There isn't much space for everyone in such a small country, but the space they have - whether it be a small deck, patio, front stoop, or yard- is usually immaculately cared for. Here is selection of some of my favorite homes around Amersfoort and Gouda.

Cool little drive way! I would love to drive my car over a little bridge every night! :) This was one of the most charming neighborhoods we saw!

More of Gouda.....As a cheese fanatic it was fun to be in a town which a famous cheese is named after. We spent the early evening sitting in the town square devouring Gouda cheese and bread....basically the staples we survived on during our whole trip! :)

BIKES EVERYWHERE! If only for this reason alone, I could be convinced to live in Holland. Bicycle infrastructure is amazing!

Yes, those are wheel of cheese decorations (or perhaps lights!) suspended in the air!

World cup fever

Gouda town square

More Photos in and around Amersfoort....

Taken our first afternoon there, right off the plane! Jet lag, what jet lag? :)

In love with thatch roofs...not an exaggeration :)

Sheep or cows are never far off...

Dutch Montessori school!

Sign on the bike path

Groovy apartment building

Contrast the above picture to this....all within a mile of each other..

And onto Amsterdam....
Honestly not one of my favorite places in Holland. I much preferred the countryside. Laura and I out of curiosity took a very quick walk through the redlight district, which was deeply saddening and disturbing. That probably clouded my view of the city the rest of the day......
Here are photos of the more savory parts! :)

What did i tell you about the green thumb? ;)

More world cup fever!

To me, this photo is quintessential Dutch. :)

Floating flower market taken with my crappy camera

Our first time trying Indonesian food. The guide book said that outside of Indonesia, Holland is the best place to get it! It was quite delectable...somewhat similar to Thai food, but with it's own distinct charms!

My favorite building in the city, right outside the train station. A beacon of light near the redlight district.

Next post coming up soon... Den Hague and adventures with Ward!

Tomorrow is my last day of work before Christmas break, which means that more time (hopefully) awaits me next week!

Holland Part 1

2010-08-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

As promised, I am continuing my posts about Europe (I know you were all waiting with baited breath! ;) )
Laura and I flew into Schipol airport, Amsterdam and enjoyed a lovely stay with Ward Schoemaker, the uncle of some of my dearest friends! He lives in Amersfoort, a good sized town in the middle of the country.
Here are some photos of the area he lived in. Even the apartment complexes in the Netherlands are well designed and stylish.

I particularly liked these "floating" apartments.

His apartment was lovely as well....

We enjoyed eating out on his little deck...especially at 10pm when it was still bright as day!

Cheese, fruit and salad was a very common meal for us! :)

The Sunday morning we were there, we had a lavish spread with Ward and Monique....complete with raw herring ( a dutch delicacy!), and hagelslag, chocolate sprinkles that are meant to go on bread. Hagelslag is simply what Americans would put on ice cream, but in Holland, it is marketed to go on buttered bread. Quite tasty actually. I highly recommend it! :)
In this photo, Laura pretends to sample the raw herring! :)

And here I am with the hagelslag.

After filling up on a hearty dutch breakfast, we headed off to Hoge Veluwe National Park , a beautiful park that represents one of the more arid parts of Holland, complete with a "mini sahara", a sand deposit brought about by glacial movement during the ice age. There were miles of bike paths and a free white bikes at the entrance to transport you throughout the park.In the middle of the park was the Kroller Muller art museum and INCREDIBLE sculpture park. Even farther in, was a beautiful hunting lodge erected by the benefactors of this park when it was their private property. Such a lovely day of riding, art gazing, and nature absorbing!

Riders coming through the dunes...

Here's the mini sahara

Loved the two ducks :)

One was supposed to be male, the other female...we had trouble determining which was which...

Only in Holland have i ever seen such massive rhododendrons! There were massive walls of these bushes throughout the park.

Laura at the entrance to one of my favorite sculptures.It was titled the "garden".

Making our way into the "garden"

the hunting lodge! get a load of that watch tower!

Like a savanna in the middle of Holland!

Here we are with our trusty bikes! Our backsides were so bruised from riding the past two days that we had a painful time getting on and off of those things!

The majority of our time in Holland was spent on bicycles, as it is one of the primary modes of transportation in this country. Being so flat, cycling is accessible to everyone, young and old, professionally athletic and, well, not. :) To close out this post, here are some photos from a lovely ride we took through some of Holland's many pasture lands.

gnarly looking sheep :/

I read this sign as saying it is fine to let your dog defecate in this spot. It would seem that the Dutch assume that it is not acceptable to let your animal do so if not marked, whereas with Americans, it is just the opposite.

Beautiful mother horse and foal

More on Holland to come....including thatched roof houses, Amsterdam, Den Haag, and Indonesian food! :)

End of July....

2010-07-23T18:37:00.000-07:00

Soooooo it's been waaaayyyyy too long since I last blogged. That's how all my blogs start out, and that is sad. Somehow blogging seems overwhelming to me. Maybe if I was in the habit of it, that wouldn't be the case. Anyway, It's been almost a month since I got back from my European adventure. Can that be true? In some ways it seems like ages ago, in other ways, not so much. I will spend my moments of free time slowly blogging about some of the highlights from that trip. It really did feel like an accomplishment to do this trip. My room mate Laura from college and I have been dreaming about this trip for over a year and finally made it happen in February when we booked the tickets and started making all our contacts!
(here Laura and I are enjoying the French alps! :) )

Thankfully we did not have to stay in hostels and were treated to the joy of staying with locals! Where I knew people was where we traveled! Made narrowing it down a whole lot easier! :)

We stayed with Ward in Holland (Uncle of two of my best friends)

Luke and Ellie (Luke is a childhood/family friend who is living in Geneva with his lovely wife -- we also got treated to their lovely little chateau in the French alps!)

And Naomi and Joseph, who are stationed in Ansbach, Germany with the US military. We got both German culture and army culture when we stayed with them!

This last month has been a whirlwind with seeing friends, working, enjoying the company of a lovely new man ;), choreographing up a storm for an upcoming show (www.songonthewind.com), and prepping for my "big girl" job starting at the end of August!
More Europe reminiscing to come! :D

Kylie :)

2010-05-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

My college friend Kylie came to visit me over Patriots Day weekend! P. Day is a BIG deal in Massachusetts...especially in the Concord, Lexington area. It marks the beginning of the Revolutionary War. It also happens to be Marathon Monday, the day thousands of runners tackle the Boston Marathon.
Kylie and I enjoyed taking photos at the Old North Bridge (the site of a big reencactment) the night before Patriot's Day! I so enjoyed having her visit and she makes a beautiful model! :)

Here's a big one! :)

Ky enjoys "shooting" too! :)

These are two of my faves that she took of me.

And here we are! :)

Just found this post that I thought had been accidentally deleted! It was supposed to be posted back in Feb! Never too late, i say! :)

2010-05-01T22:05:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a month since I came home from Florida, but the memories are still warm. :) As I mentioned in the earlier post, I went to Florida to surprise my friend Kimberley for her 40th birthday. I arrived on the 21st, her actual birthday and then her husband pulled out all the stops on Friday of the next week with a surprise party that included five other friends from out of state! It was quite a joyful time! My friend Kimberley is the most extroverted person I know, which makes close friends surprising her even more meaningful.
The week began with my friend Brendan picking me up from the airport. He was kind enough to drive me down to Kim and Henk's to surprise her and have dinner. Here he is showing his true feelings in his very stylish apartment.

Kim teaches dance. Here she is with her level 1 ballet class.

And this face is priceless. We all have those days. :)

Henk is a talented artist and photographer. Here he is teaching a class in his home.

Here is a watercolor he made for Kimberley's birthday.

And they have two gorgeous children: L and A on this blog!

These children know how to eat their veggies! :) Before the dreadful frost that Florida got in January, their grandparents, who live right next door, had a thriving garden. L and A enjoyed eating the remaining broccoli off the bush!

And here are some photos from the amazing surprise dinner that Henk threw! What an artist he is!
Kim and kids waiting for Henk to come pick us up for the surprise! :)

L had too much party.

And what Florida trip would be complete with a beach trip!?

Anne ( a good friend of Kimberley's from Kansas City dancing days) was one of the highlights of the series of surprises!

Dancers unite!

Other favorites.....

Maple sugaring...this is LATE!

2010-05-01T17:58:00.000-07:00

May 1st. Can that be true? In a little more than a month I'll be off to Europe....!
It's so green around here now. The torrential rains helped with that. :)
There are many things I could have blogged about in the last month....but since I'm such a backed up blogger, I'll post a few of my favorite March photos. My neighbors headed up the 2nd annual "sugaring" endeavor in our back yard. For those of you not familiar with this process, it involved gathering sap in buckets from sugar maples and boiling away the water until we were left with maple syrup. :) It takes about 40 gallons of sap to get 1 gallon of syrup. Now you know why it is so expensive!! Liquid gold!
Here are some of my photos from the sap boiling and the celebration pancake breakfast! What a gem of a neighborhood I live in! Truly blessed!

Bringing kindling for the fire....

The neighborhood children love getting in on the action!

Two years worth of pancake breakfasts! We've had pumpkin, buckwheat, buttermilk, banana, and blueberry! No Bisquick here! :)

And here are my FAVORITE photos from the group: An example of the range or "grades" of syrup we boiled. Aren't the colors spectacular!?

Enjoy your "liquid gold"! :)

Contentment

2010-03-26T07:51:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about contentment lately. I had a lovely lunch time chat about this subject with my friend Charlotte yesterday as we sat out in the sun by the train tracks behind her work. We decided that we need to really pray for the grace to live joyfully in the place where we are called to be right now! The single people want to be married and the married people miss their "freedom" -- the girls with the stick straight hair (like me!) want to have a beautiful head of ringlets and the curly tops wish they had my hair --- to use an age old cliche, the grass is always greener on the other side. Now, I'm not saying that many people don't find themselves in very challenging situations that need to be addressed and alleviated. I'm not advocating being passive in your life, but what I am saying is that we all could use a large dose of thankfulness. There has been this video going around about this man who was born without arms and legs yet is filled with joy and the love of Christ. He has a powerful ministry that includes working to stop child sex trafficking (http://lifewithoutlimbs.org/). I've met people myself who find themselves in gut wrenching physical and emotional pain, yet are more positive than everyone else for whom the going is easy. All that to say, I'm making a stand to be passionately THANKFUL!! And honestly, that can't happen when we have our eyes on ourselves all the time. I need to change the focus.
I'm vowing today to not miss the beauty of today... to take pleasure in the details and the "mundane"...to notice the smell of the air as i walk to my car...to notice the crocuses persistently pushing their way through the hard ground....to look into someone's eyes and honestly listen to them...to enjoy that warm shower...I just forget so fast. In an hour I will probably find myself wistfully wishing for some part of my life to be different. But for right now, I'm choosing to be content and to notice the little details.
Here are some of those little details that can be so easily missed....

The miracle of a bud

The beauty of a face..... I love faces. :)

Nature's artwork....

And most of all....people who love you!

Thanks mom and dad....:)

2010-03-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

I'm settling in after a long day of Montessori training up on the north shore. It's always lovely to see all my fellow teachers in training. However, what was particularly lovely was the evening walk I took on Crane's beach tonight. Perfect sweatshirt weather. The sea breeze was refreshing and the long rays of the sun created elongated shadows as they hit the dunes. It was a perfect evening. I love the beach in the off season. I'm not a fan of the blaring music, barely clad girls, and beer coolers that summer brings. The beach is given the chance to restore itself over the winter and has an unadulterated beauty in the early spring. I am a New England girl through and through. I will always love this place. Tomorrow I hope to go again and will bring my camera to capture some of the beauty! It is supposed to hit around seventy degrees tomorrow! Unheard of for this time of year.
As for photos, which must accompany every post on a photo blog, here are some black and white film photos I took during a college photo class. My friend Erika reminded me of these the other day, and so I will share them once again. :) Although I know I will likely never get into a dark room again, I enjoyed learning about the traditional processing methods. It's truly magical the way projecting light and a collection of chemicals create an image (I know, so technical! :) )

This photo was taken in the late afternoon with full sun on the grave stones. The over exposure allowed for the gravestones to still be seen when the contrast was pushed. I take no credit for this image because it was a truly accidental result in the processing.

This is Erika feeding her little daughter.

And here is her daughter. I love this shot. It makes you wonder what is capturing her gaze.

I couldn't believe I captured this photo. I just caught her enjoying the sun as it warmed her face.

View off the Old North Bridge in Concord, MA

Below the bridge

I love when trees lose their leaves and the shadows become pronounced

My father really needs to kick this habit, but it made for an interesting photo

I'm off to dream land...please enjoy your Saturday, wherever you may be. New Englanders, you have no excuse that's good enough for you to not be outside tomorrow (that is unless you are inside all day doing Montessori training like me! ;) )

2010-02-15T09:48:00.001-08:00

Once again, it has been a month since I posted. Post college life has been much busier than I expected. I have been busy substitute teaching, babysitting beautiful children, creating a resume, working on materials and albums for my Montessori training, dancing, and catching up with friends. All wonderful things! I also enjoyed a lovely trip to Florida to surprise my friend Kimberley for her 40th birthday!!! She doesn't look a day over 25, though! Must be that green drink( kale, spinach, etc) she drinks every day! :)
Here are a few photos from the last month or so.

This is back at the turn of the new year...we went down to PA to surprise my grandparents dressed in a red gift bag, of course! :) My, were they surprised!

And here is a photo of my oh so photogenic cousin! Look at those eyes!

I enjoyed looking at all my grandparents old photos, including one of my very dashing grandfather in his WWII uniform.

And I loved seeing this shot again. This is me and my brother posing with Norm Abram from the PBS show The New Yankee Workshop. My dad was the gardener for the show The Victory Garden and the sets for both shows were on the same property.

And last but not least, here is family photo from the trip!

And then it was on to January which brought another wonderful Montessori seminar up on the north shore. Art, yoga, and language were the topics of the weekend.
I think art was my favorite! I got some GREAT ideas for high quality art activities to do with children!
Print making

Here are prints i carved:

And some of my pieces from the weekend:

One morning that weekend I woke up to this beautiful sunrise!

Here is Linda Seeley, one of our wonderful teachers instructing us about the Montessori language curriculum.

She has been teaching for many, many years and has the most MAGICAL classroom. I loved being in it and I can imagine it's such a special place for a child to learn and grow!

Love this little kitchen with REAL tools!

And then it was off to Florida where i went from
THIS:

to THIS:

(yes, that's me doing cartwheels on the beach!) It was not exactly swim suit weather, but lovely none-the-less!
I loved spending time with Kimberley and Henk who are two of my favorite people!

And their beautiful children!

I have many more Florida photos that I will post at a later time! But for now, it's on to work on my resume!

2010-01-04T14:51:00.000-08:00

yep....it's been a month......
but here i am again, a college graduate! :) :)
It feels terrific!!! There are many things i will miss about college such as friends, MERCYhouse, the pioneer valley, beautiful vistas.... but i will not miss homework. I'll miss being compelled to learn new things and challenge myself in my thinking, but I will not miss pointless homework assignments. It's quite rejuvenating to not have that constant cloud of a paper hanging over my head. I know that life will always have deadlines of some sort, but I don't expect that they will all be as mentally challenging as some of my anthropology papers...the pressure to produce original, intellectually and academically sound work is something I'll enjoy taking a break from..no more social theory for a while. It has changed me though. Most people roll their eyes when they hear I was an anthropology major ("what kind of job can you get with a degree like that!?"), but I would not have picked anything else. I approach the world in such a different way now and don't take any behaviors, customs, beliefs, etc at face value anymore. Call it a curse or a blessing....I no longer waltz through life unaware.
I returned home from college and jumped into things right away: Scrooge, Christmas, weekend trip to PA, my birthday, new years, a graduation party, cast party. All wonderful things, but I'm exhausted and need a vacation from vacation! :)
Here are a few photos from a Ebenezer Scrooge: A Christmas Carol to hold you over until i post again....whenever that will be! ;)

Another beautiful family....

2009-12-06T12:14:00.000-08:00

This is totally a procrastination post. :) The end of my college career is so close, and I am more unfocused then ever! It is getting done, just not all that efficiently. As usual, editing photos, looking at photos, and thinking about photos is distracting me.
Here is a sample of photos from the second family photo shoot I did a few weeks back. Is it just me or are the Wetherbys a super photogenic family? Thanks guys for being fantastic models!!!
Here are some of my faves from the shoot.

Come on....how GORGEOUS is this little guy?

And how can he not be gorgeous with such good looking parents? ;)

One of my faves...

Just love this photo...something so dreamy about it (minus the runny nose! ;) )

Ok, so i got a little carried away with this post....but there are just so many photos i love from this shoot!!!! Thanks Wetherbys!!!! :)

Sweet family...

2009-12-05T16:43:00.000-08:00

Two families asked me to take their photos within the last two months....it was a great experience and I learned a lot...hopefully these families got at least a couple photos they were happy with as well!!! I warned them I am not a professional! Being asked to take portraits is a bit scary! There are suddenly expectations on you to produce a good image! I don't know how you professionals do it! :)
Here are a few of the Duprey family whose photo shoot took place at the Old North Bridge in Concord, MA in mid October. Aren't they a gorgeous family?

Cutest kids ever! Look at those smiles!

beautiful couple!

I think the following two are so cute and capture the spirit of this family!

Make new friends but keep the old...

2009-11-13T14:11:00.000-08:00

The weekend of Halloween my good friends Jill and Naomi came for a visit! I enjoyed showing them around the Happy Valley! Naomi is also a photography fanatic, so between the two of us, we took more photos of the day than i'd care to admit!!!
I've loved making so many amazing new friends at college, but I'm so thankful for the friends who I have shared lots of history with! You know what they say about friends....some are silver, others gold. I'm hoping my silver friends will become golden friends as well! :)

It was an overcast day, but so warm! Love the sky!

Isn't the mist on the mountains so eerily beautiful?

We visited the greenhouses at Smith College! Here's Naomi being her gorgeous self!

Upon entering the rainforest room my lens fogged up from all the moisture! Great effect though!

Here is Jill through the fog!

The campus of Smith is so idyllic

Nay took this and i like it! :)

Awesome shot Naomi!

Love candid shots like this...

sweet deserted bird nest with acorns in it..

This girl is so photogenic!

my golden friends

Flawless...she's such a beauty!

2009-11-04T09:12:00.000-08:00

I have lots of photos to blog....i'll probably get around to that in the next few days or so...
Here's a little taste of what's to come...

Going to the Chapel

2009-10-15T08:57:00.001-07:00

On Sunday my friends Joe and Leigh celebrated their wedding!!!! Joe is the administrator at my home church New Life, and Leigh is the worship leader! A match made in heaven! ;) They had a beautiful sunny day for their wedding! It was a bit chilly, but lovely none the less! I love fall weddings!! You can't beat the colors! They had their wedding at Arrowhead Acres in Uxbridge, MA. My dear, and VERY talented friend Henk Prinsloo was the head photographer and I had the privilege of lurking behind him taking candid shots and watching him work! There were 250 guests, many, if not most from church! It felt like a big family reunion! One of the most fun weddings I've been to in a while...
Here are some of my favorite shots from the day:

The wedding was under the pines

Here comes the glowing bride! I don't think she stopped smiling the entire day!

Love this tender moment!

The wedding party being arranged for photos...

One of my good friends, Gina!! Isn't she gorgeous?

The happy couple and the flower girls and ring bearer.They look like family...a sign of things to come,perhaps! ;)

More beautiful bride's maids

LOVE this shot of Janel! She's one gorgeous lady!

Best man and groom being their studly selves! :)

I love this shot of RuthMarie gazing adoringly at her husband!

Is this not the epitome of the beauty of childhood?

Sisters by marriage and birth

Love this smirk!

Leigh! You're SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

Henk working his magic!

Work it guys!

Most dedicated ring bearer ever! He adores Leigh and was bursting at the seams with pride that he got to be in the wedding!

Cameras in their faces all day! That's what comes of being a bridesmaid!

My fave!

I had to get a photo with the bride!

A little touch up!

Help a brother out!

Manliness

Henk Prinsloo: Photographer slash Model! ;)

Great idea!

Bevy of beauties!

Kissing: What it's all about! ;)

A weekend of remembrance and celebration!

2009-10-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

This past weekend MERCYhouse, the church i attend out here at school, celebrated its TEN year anniversary!!! So many beautiful stories of how lives have been transformed by Jesus' love!!! I have treasured being part of this community of incredible people who are devoted to loving God and loving others!
To celebrate, there was an alumni brunch, a concert with the worship band, and a beautiful service on Sunday morning filled with testimonies, tears, and thankfulness! Here are a few photos I captured over the weekend....

Alumni Brunch

Pastor Robert and Melanie's lovely daughter enjoying some tea!

The Concert led by the amazing Cindy!

Hannah...

The Vita Nova band rocking out!

Cindy rocked her red boots!

A little too much singing for Kayla! ;)

Autumnal

2009-10-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

I am a born and raised New Englander, yet the splendor of the fall NEVER ceases to take my breath away. I love the colors, the smell of apples right off the tree, the scent of woodsmoke in the air, the crisp breezes that hint at winter....Every fall I just want to drink in all the beauty and find some way to store it up until it comes again next year. Thankfully, photographing it actually satisfies that desire to some degree. It's funny, looking at someone else's photos of fall doesn't have the same effect. To feel satisfied, I have to be part of the process of capturing the beauty!
I spent some of last Saturday doing just that.....Here are a few of my favorites! :)

Of Fallish Things

2009-09-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

Is it really the 4th week of classes already?
Yes, a glance at the calendar just confirmed that. My last semester...that blows my little brain. A milestone about to be checked off the life list. It's been a delightful semester so far...the weather has been incredible...only two rainy days that i can remember! :)
I've loved getting more involved with my church out here, MERCYhouse, and experiencing one of the best college towns in North America (http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/newsreleases/articles/91929.php)! I'm praying about staying out here for the spring semester even though I won't be in school...it will feel incomplete to move home again in December. If anyone has any job prospects for the spring, let me know!!!!
And on another note, it is so refreshing to blog...the punctuation isn't perfect yet my ideas are still conveyed (or so i hope)! :) In the academic world, I've been told I'm a good writer, but that doesn't make the writing process easy for me! Sure, it's gotten a little less painful over the years....but it's still a grueling process to crank out academic papers.
But this is a blog about photography and I will let my shots do the talking...a photograph is worth a thousand words.

This was from a hike i took to Mt. Sugarloaf my first weekend back...it was a magical evening. The distant mountains were draped in haze and hot air balloons could be seen gliding in the distance (though not in this photo!)

The beautiful valley

I just love this photo....

I enjoyed my fist University football game! Yep, it's been four years and I've never gone....:-/

Complete with marching band!

Crazy fan!

And then there was Kickoff Sunday at MERCYhouse!

Welcome Weekend was fun too!!! So many great people!

Singing with Cindy

Foliage photos coming soon....it's that time of year!

Snippets of the end of summer....

2009-09-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's official. I'm the worst blogger ever....it's been over a month....oh well....it does not have to stay that way!
I've been in my last semester of college for about a week now and it's been fabulous!! I love all my classes (that's a first in my college career!) and I'm enjoying connecting with old friends and making new ones!!
And now for some photos...
I'm in love with this photo....i captured it on a walk i took at Great Meadows in Concord, MA! There were flocks of swallows everywhere and I was able catch this shot as they landed on a tree. Delightful i think! ;)

This one was also on that walk.... love the texture

Great Meadows..

And now for another walk...i went to the Old North Bridge with my friend Jill....she is seriously one of the most beautiful girls i know...inside and out!

The bridge where the one of the first battles of the American Revolution was fought

View from the bridge....

And on to more friends...Kimberley and Henk were up visiting from Florida....here is a shot of Henk and daugter Andalise.....

and their delightful son Liam!!! Is he not one of the cutest little boys? Here he is on the phone with his Oma!

Hannah's birthday....she turned the big 21!! Here is her dachshund and champagne glass. :)

and amazing cupcakes she made! Lime curd in the middle with a dollup of lime zested whipped cream of some sort...

And here is the birthday girl herself

and her wonderful grandparents...my godparents!

And lastly...here is my home, adorned with sunflowers and morning glories...I love the gardens my dad creates! Oh summer....i will miss you. See you next year!

Alex

2009-08-13T17:41:00.000-07:00

My cousin Alex came for a visit and we had a little photo shoot! Doesn't she make a beautiful model?

And here's one she took of me

A Fairy Birthday!

2009-08-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of helping out one of my friends with her daughter's 8 year old fairy birthday party! Kate is one of those incredible people who has to have some creative project going at all times.... or so it seems! She made fairy tutus for each little girl and had three different crafts relating to fairies for them to do at the party, including decorating their own wings. After they were all bedazzled, they headed into the Butterfly Place and wandered around gazing at other beautifully winged creatures. Of course, I had my camera and enjoyed capturing the beauty.

The Birthday Girl!

The little brother...he got to be a caterpillar :)

Love these precious faces!

second blog of the day......

2009-07-07T18:37:00.000-07:00

Here are a miscellaneous collection of photos from the past few weeks or so......These people, places and things that make up the beautiful life God has graciously blessed me with!! I try to wake up and lie down at night with a thankful heart for the treasures I've been showered with!

My hunk and hulk of a brother

summer fun!

2009-07-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

I'm on a break from my child development class, which is part of the Montessori education intensive I am doing this month! I thought i'd pass the time by blogging some photos from a fun birthday luau my neighborhood had for one of my neighbors a couple weeks ago!! The kids made paper flowers and fern skirts..we munched on pineapple chutney and lime birthday cake...it was a festive time!!! We know how to celebrate and love life! Enjoy!!

some portraits

2009-06-14T17:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy last couple of weeks! I've been getting myself into the groove of summer and spent the last week and a half or so up in Maine and down near Cape Cod!! There is no better way to kick of the summer than by the ocean....there are many photos i would love to blog, but for now, I'm going to post a few portraits i've taken in the last three weeks or so!! I just treasure all the lovely people in these photos!!

Kyle is a precious 2 year old boy i babysit for! He has so much spunk and energy, and, I'm sure you'll agree, the most beautiful blue eyes!

Madeleine -- I love the slight scowl she has....this is such a wistful photo

A little happier here...

Christopher -- I love his beautiful round face and freckles!

Milo and Jasper-- These delightful brothers live right next door!

My FAVORITE!

Alex -- this beauty is my cousin! These were taken on the recent trip to Maine

She has a sense of humor!

Bob is proof that men only get better with age!

Ana is a lovely young woman from Mexico!

Carrie-Anne is my beautiful friend of ten plus years!!!

And this post would not be complete without a self-portrait or two! :)

2009-05-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

I'm home again...the last two days have involved unpacking and crazy amounts of laundry...I'm also in the process of decluttering my room...which is surprisingly a lot of work considering that my room is about 12 x 8 ft!! haha!!! It's fun to find old journals and notes....and plenty of dust bunnies!

Here are some photos from my last weekend at school...i brought my camera with me to my final exam and shot some photos around campus!! :) Made the whole exam process less painful!

I'm a sucker for baby ducks! I love how they all stuck their heads in the water at the same time! They seemed to have a rhythm..in out, in out!

This isn't on campus, but it is somehow fitting....

Friends...

2009-05-19T14:40:00.001-07:00

Here are some shots from a hike I took with two friends from college!! Tomorrow is my last exam and then i am completely DONE.....for summer that is!

I absolutely LOOOOVE the lighting in this photo! Look at the green shadow on her face! Beautiful!

A similar shot in black and white!

Kylie took this photo and I edited it.

There is a path you know....

I think this picture captures the anticipation of the summit!

We made it!

The typical teenage self-portrait...we aren't teens, but it wasn't that long ago! :)

Love this photo of Autumn! such a natural beauty!

Typical tourist?

Me and Autumn

cool shot Kylie got as i nearly fall off the mountain!

Absolutely adore this!

This one makes me laugh! I look ready to hit the Appalachian trail and Autumn has her mall swagger going on! :)

And this one deserves to be large because the texture is so fantastic!

Spring Green!

2009-05-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

I went for an almost three mile run this morning with my roommate Laura! I've never even run one mile...so this was an accomplishment! It's easier when you have a buddy to keep you motivated! The peer pressure kept me plodding along! We ran through some beautiful little neighborhoods, up around a small pond, and through an incredibly beautiful wooded path...the light was so amazing that I had to come back and take pictures!! I also drove around a bit and came upon a dirt road...it eventually opened up to this field that had a lovely view of the mountains to the south and my campus, which unfortunately sticks up like a sore thumb in the middle of the natural splendor... I'm enjoying taking time to explore now that I'm not up to my eyeballs in work! :P

Here are some faves from my little outing....

And just for effect, here is a similar photo in the same woods a month and a half earlier:

Happiness! :)

2009-05-13T11:50:00.000-07:00

Oh it's a beautiful day in more ways than one! :) All major semester projects and papers have been handed in and I had a great time at my Anthropology project presentation party! This is my 8th, and next to last semester of college, and I'm always amazed and still not sure how everything gets done and, in fact, usually done quite well. One of life's little mysteries i suppose...If i knew what the magic potion was for a successful semester...i'd manufacture and sell it!
The other lovely event is that I am going to see Alvin Ailey dance company perform tonight! Could not be more excited! In honor of all the good things that today brings me, here is a blog post with random photos of things that make me even happier than i already am! :D

Weeping Cherry Blossoms

Charlotte's Golden Braid

My Exquisite Cousin Chloe!

Storms rolling in over the marsh lands...

This Precious Face!

Woodland walks with little Lauren..

Random pieces of furniture in the woods

Jesus

This delightful face!

Joyful jumping!

And in honor of tonight's performance:

Gorgeous Girl!

2009-05-08T18:45:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple photos of my beautious (ya, i know it's not a word) roommate Laura! It was after dark so i had to use the flash, but they came out better than i expected! It helps to have a good lookin' model! :)

And here are a couple of her and her boyfriend Ben! They are lovely highschool sweethearts who have been together for 4 years!

A dip gone a little wrong... :)

Black and White

2009-05-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

I love black and white photography....the way it makes me look at the textures and shapes in a different way and suspends my disbelief and romanticizes the subject or scene in the photo....ah it's magical. My first, and only, photography class was two years ago in college. It was a traditional dark room photography class and I borrowed my neighbor's Pentax K1000 that she had used when she was in high school and college....it's a classic camera and I got some good shots.....I will most likely never step foot in a dark room again, but it gave me a deep appreciation for the methods that my predecessors utilized to create their images. It's quite an incredible process....I still don't really understand how the paper absorbs the light projected through the negatives and how the chemicals make the image imprinted there appear.
Here are some of my favorite images from that class that a friend helped me scan. I'm not happy with the dust flecks in the images...but maybe it enhances the "classic" look. :)

A bite of SPRING!

2009-05-04T06:20:00.000-07:00

I just LOVE spring! It comes every year....and yet I somehow forget that I've ever seen it before! There are flowers popping up on every tree and out of every nook and cranny! I just love it! I want to eat it, breath it in, rub on my skin like lotion (ok, now it's getting weird!) I'm a fan of spring time, and that's all i'm going to say! I'll let the photos do the talking.

A walk at Wildwood

2009-05-03T06:05:00.000-07:00

I'm running off to church in a moment.....But i thought I'd blog a few photos from my excursion to Wildwood Cemetery yesterday. I had to do a little assignment about the material culture of graveyards for my Archaeology of Us class....but of course, the camera came along!
The cemetery was different than any cemetery I've ever been to (not that i've been to that many!). It had the normal lawn with grave stones popping up but then it had this wooded area in the center which also had grave stones of varying styles. There were benches, large natural rocks with a name on them, traditional headstones, and even a bronze horse! They were all just scattered around the forest floor, nestled in as if they had always been there. I don't think that it was simply a case of the brush growing up around these stones because many of the dates were fairly new....It was obviously intentional. I found it fascinating. Grave yards always make me think of my mortality.... it's something we all have in common.

This stone was hidden amongst a patch of lily of the valley...you wouldn't know it was there if you didn't get close.

I want to be faithful unto death...this stone gave me chills.

These were pretty fresh flowers....this was touching and sad.

Celtic Cross

Those might have been too big....

2009-05-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

I'm going to paste in a few more that aren't so HUGE !! I will get the hang of this one of these days....and then i'll get down to doing things that need to get done....such as writing final papers. :-(

Yay! I figured out how to add large photos...paste in the html! Genius. Duh!

2009-05-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

Here is a precious photo of my friend's little daughter Mina! She's a beauty, even with a grumpy face!

Here is a photo i took of her when she was just a baby:

Here are a few other portraits that I love!

TADA! I'm so excited about these large, lovely photos!

Flickr Flickr

2009-04-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

I enjoy Flickring! :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30934719@N03/

Photos from last weekend

2009-04-30T18:41:00.000-07:00

At long last, spring comes to new england!

2009-04-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

My roommate had a good laugh when i announced that spring time and child birth have something in common ( not i'm an expert in childbirth or anything!). My metaphor goes like this: winter is like labor and spring time is the baby. Once the baby has arrived, the mother (or so i've been told) forgets about the labor because she is overjoyed to be finally holding her precious child. Likewise, once spring has arrived, we New Englanders are so enraptured with it's beauty, we forget that winter was ever upon us. That's how I feel at least. The mountains of filthy snow lining the walkways, the icy wind blowing down my neck, and the 20 cups of tea i consumed daily are fading fast from my memory.

I finally got my Nikon D60!! Yay! I love it....although I don't know how to use it yet...at least the manual settings. Lots to learn! I don't think that i'll really be able to study my manual and fool around with the camera until school lets out on May 20th (YAHOO!). It will be a treat to study something besides Somalian pirates , fermenting techniques , The Latino Threat, Tibetan diaspora, and grave stones as material culture....don't get me wrong...it's not that I don't find these topics interesting, it's just that i'm really tired of producing, producing, producing. I want to produce photos, NOT term papers. I have senioritus big time. I'm counting my blessings though: at least its not swine flue. :-/
Here are some shots I took recently while meandering around campus. I forgot that Umass is actually not half bad. Spring has a way of improving a place.
As a side note, does anyone know how i can get my photos to appear bigger on here? When i stretch them it reduces the resolution and they look grainy.....click on the photos to see their actual clarity.

My friend Ashley was feeding the ducks at the campus pond... the ducklings will be here soon.
Want a Bud?

There are cherry trees all over campus. They take my breath away. I wish weeping cherry trees bloomed all year long....maybe in heaven they do

North Apartments at Umass

Happy little photographer!

First Post....

2009-04-07T09:14:00.000-07:00

I love looking at other people's photography blogs, and have wanted to start my own for a while...So here it is! I'm still trying to figure out how to best post photos....the layout is a bit narrow for my taste and cuts off the edges of larger, horizontal photos if I paste in the html from flickr.
I'm going experiment a bit with this...Here are some of my favorite photos...