Recently, I got to spend a few days at Long Beach Island with a good friend. I do like the winter quietude that surrounds this place but look forward equally to the summer season and all its raucous activity. For me, having grown up in the East and having spent many summers at "the shore" as we call it here, it is familiar and comfortable. A second home really. And at this point in my life, I like familiar and comfortable. And so, this beach, a barrier island, on the edge of New Jersey, an eastern edge of this continent, takes me back to my early childhood. My grandfather had a summer cottage in this area and I spent the happiest days of my childhood romping around these parts. And so, with some luck and determination, I hope to rediscover the area this summer...surrounding myself with old, dusty, dreamy memories simultaneously creating new, exciting adventures and escapades. I wasn't in full photographer mode while visiting - my hostess is not a camera buff but I managed to do some good scouting around (for future photo sessions!). I like all 4 below, but the solo bird moves me emotionally. I wasn't prepared for "bird photography" (it requires equipment I just don't have...and probably never will!)...but I took this shot at the faraway angle on purpose. I like the way the tiny bird appears against the big, expansive sky. Lots of meaning for me in it.
And so, I leave you with two quotes this time...I liked them equally so decided to include both:
“When I look back on my childhood, my earliest memories seem like artifacts from a long-lost civilization: half-understood fragments behind museum glass.”
― Matthew Flaming, The Kingdom of Ohio
