for renee and one fine day

here it is. my dear friend renee asked to see this photo again, the photo that won someones heart. and now i have a new printer. i hope you like it renee.
thank you again, photo judges, i ♥ you. (image is lake kariba, zimbabwe).
now, lets go to the beach!


rincon, a world class surf spot, is in our own backyard. chuck was on "dawn patrol" sunday morning and asked if i'd like to come along. yes! but i opted to meet him since his idea of dawn differs a bit from mine, he left in the dark...

here is part of this gorgeous beach. it's a point break with a big sweeping cove. it's winter now so most of the sand is gone. the sun is just starting to come up over rincon hill...there are a lot of surfers, watchers and photographers out this morning.

oh! i have an idea, let's peek into my friends house, it's right here at the shore. it's too early to take photos anyway just yet, and we'll never be able to spot chuck without more light..

my friend lives here and manages this house. it is a kind of retreat. you can stay here if you like. it's a very spiritual place, magical even...

one of the rooms...the waves are lapping (well, more like crashing at the moment) right outside the door....

we could eat here or better yet lets dine alfresco in the garden...

here we go, out the back door, it's getting light out now...see the ocean?

oh! look, it's chuck, he's coming up for a quick kiss and hello. when you catch a wave here you can sometimes ride so far it's easier to get out and run back up the beach to where you started. or you could paddle and have your arms fall off like mine would....

here is someone catching a beautiful wave. my photos of chuck are in my film camera, waiting to be developed. these pictures are from my well loved little leica, but it has a tiny lens, not good for distance. so this is kind of a sample of how the waves looked...

here i was sitting and watching (i mean, here we are ) when i hear "mom!" it's my son, my youngest. he's driven up from santa monica to surf rincon. everyone comes from everywhere to surf the queen. i am so happy to see him. i kissed him a lot while he was patiently trying to get into his wetsuit. he is so cute.

there he goes, running away. he'll paddle out above the river mouth, where the two surfers in the distance are. it's hard to tell, my timing was bad in this photo, but the waves were so big...

here is my girl. she came with me to watch. she surfs too. she would now, but she's grown out of her wetsuit and it's too cold to "trunk" it. or in her case bikini it. today, she sang instead, sang to me funny and sweet songs that she made up.

fast forward several waves and many fantastic moments to this. my youngest son and my husband meet up on the beach. i loved watching and listening to them describe their waves, laughing at how great today is.

over the weekend we made the trip back and forth to rincon at least four times. each visit was different, my daughter came once, i saw my son in another, we searched for sea glass one late afternoon and we went to breakfast after one early morning session. one time i saw a dolphin jump over a surfer at the top of a wave ( a big wave) which would have made a one in a million billion photo, if i'd have gotten it. but i didn't of course. at least not in my camera. but its with me , right here in my minds eye, captured forever.

have a brilliant day wherever you are,

♥ lori