Sunday Serenity: Little Things

Posted on by Annie

When I’m traveling, it’s very easy to see the big views out my windows, like this one. I always see such potential in looking at the long road unfolding in front of me and the big skies overhead. It’s exciting, for sure. Then there are the times — like this week — where I focus instead on the little things, the details of what makes something so interesting. This orchid was odd at first glance and I didn’t really like it all that much. Moving closer, seeing the delicate patterns on the lip, made me love it in a way…

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Longwood Gardens

Posted on by Annie

There are few things I enjoy photographing than flowers these days, so a few hours at Longwood Gardens was a slice of pure heaven. It also marked the first time my left hand was strong enough to work with my favorite (and heaviest) camera, the Sony A7, since the accident on Memorial Day. From the home of the Lenni Lenape tribe for generations to the farm of Quakers descended from William Penn that over two centuries became a tree-filled arboretum, this place has a long history. When logging interest threatened to level the trees in 1906, Pierre S. DuPont bought the…

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Weekly Update: Jul 5, 2017

Posted on by Annie

It’s been a busy week, so Wednesday slipped by me without a sound, and it wasn’t till this morning that I realized the weekly update was overdue. Oops! Last week I arrived in Pennsylvania, seeing Gettysburg as I drove to friends in Lancaster, where I’ve been happily ensconced in their guest room. Their generosity has made it possible for me to get to a good hand doctor, who removed the cast (YAY!) and started me on therapy. I know from knee rehab that patience and persistence win out, so I started gentle stretches and heat right away. At Monday’s first…

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Gettysburg

Posted on by Annie

I grew up in Southern California, thousands of miles and a century removed from the Civil War, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I stopped at Gettysburg National Military Park last week. I knew I wanted to pay my respects at the National Cemetery there (my parents are buried in the National Cemetery in Riverside, CA) but other than that, I didn’t have an agenda. It turns out I didn’t have a clue what Gettysburg meant to my country, then or now. I spent time today — Independence Day, and 154 years after the battle here ended —…

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Luray Caverns

Posted on by Annie

In the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, there are several caverns you can visit. I chose Luray Caverns because (1) it was right on my way north and (2) it advertised a Stalac-pipe Organ and how could I resist that? This place is smaller and not as deep as Carlsbad Caverns (120 feet down compared to Carlsbad’s 700+ feet below ground) but you get way closer to the formations and so that was a big win for me. Luray has a big, shallow pool that does amazing reflections of the stalactites hanging down (above and the photo at the top of…

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