The Photography Studio

Her Tomato Plants

kanniduba7 Comments

Our vacation house is the one in the middle.

Sunset Over Our House

But I can’t help but think of the home next door tonight. That beautiful home on the left is just that…a home. Not a vacation home…it is a single family, year round home, complete with tomato garden. I spoke briefly to the owner while we were there three weeks ago as she tended to her lovely garden. And tonight that was the first thought I had…not concern for her beautiful property…no, I got choked up over the likely loss of her beautiful tomato plants, so lovingly tended.

Hoping she and her family have evacuated as they were supposed to.

Tonight my thoughts are there, so I will share “there” with you.

Our Daily Path from the House

Take Flight

Dave and His Girls

Alex Flying a Kite

Mom and Ella

“The wise man in the storm prays to God, not for safety from danger, but deliverance from fear.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Grace

kanniduba6 Comments

Grace…hard to define, but you know it when you feel it. It’s that “knowing.” That deep feeling of peace which grants us a moment’s respite from doubt, a split second of true unblemished contentment, a mere glimpse of the divine.

We feel it, but then as suddenly as it comes, it leaves and we’re left with a memory of the moment when we felt whole, hoping that it will descend upon us again. It cannot be forced, it cannot be replicated, it simply happens at unexpected moments.

I can remember several moments when Grace whispered.

The moment my son was laid upon my belly.

A moment, sitting on a rock on the shores of Lake George on a misty summer morning, the smell of campfire thick on my skin.

A moment, watching my daughter carrying my son down a leaf strewn path.

A moment, walking the virtually empty street in Saratoga in the early morning sunshine.

A moment, laying on a trampoline at Camp Wilton, looking up at the stars and feeling swallowed by the darkness.

Most moments of Grace are mere memories, captured only in my mind. But this moment, when I stepped off the path returning to the beach, with the lavender colors of the sky…catching sight of my family, with the vastness of the ocean beyond overwhelming me with gratitude and “knowing”…this moment I was fortunate enough to photograph

Sunset Hues

“I do not at all understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.” -Anne Lamott

Therapy for the Soul…

kanniduba3 Comments

In just a matter of days, we will be returning to one of my favorite places to vacation—Ocean City, NJ.

Interestingly, I found our blog friend Scott Thomas by following Ocean City photos back to their source quite a few years ago, way back at “View 32.” 🙂

My family discovered Ocean City when I was about 15 years old, and we have all returned regularly ever since. This year we will return for the third summer in a row with my Mom and Dad, and my Sister, Brother-in-Law and their two girls. We share a house directly on the beach, and you couldn’t ask for a more relaxing setting to get away from it all. There is something very comforting about returning year after year to the same location to vacation. We already know the lay of the land, where to go for groceries and sundries, and of course we can look forward to all the favorite food joints we’ve come to love over the years: fried scallop takeout from Mike’s, ice cream sundaes from A’La Mode, salt water taffy and fudge from Shriver’s, and of course my very favorite thing from the Boardwalk, chocolate macaroons from George’s.

I cannot wait to live in a bathing suit for a week, and sit in the water with my feet buried in the sand. Not sure who is more excited this year, Zan and me, or the kids!

I leave you with a few shots from last year’s trip…nothing beats the sunrise over the ocean.