Through the lens

Sunday morning ushered in a bout of 'the blues' that I couldn't seem to shake. The kind of something's-not-quite-right-ness that is hard to remedy because the cause is vaguely related to a million different things. I have been missing my friends, my family, my freedom to come and go as I please. I have been missing time alone with my husband and time alone with myself. Time to read more, write more, take more pictures, talk face-to-face with the people who have known me forever and still love me even when I'm being awful. Those feelings were compounded by a random smattering of disgruntlements (if that isn't a real word, it certainly should be) which I heaped into a big pot and brewed into a giant batch of what Dave likes to call "stinkin' thinkin.'" As the morning wore on, the skies cleared and showed us some of the gorgeous blue that we covet so much in the winter here, so we packed some snacks, bundled the kids and headed out for some fresh air and time spent together in nature. As always, I found that looking at things through the lens of my camera provided a much-needed shift in perspective.

Anglesey Abbey and Gardens

On Monday, our hardy bunch donned winter coats, hats, gloves, and our wellies to explore the coast at Dunwich Heath. It was beautiful and although we didn't see blue skies until just before sunset, we had the beach to ourselves for hours, which meant we were free to gather shells, skip stones, make sand angels, and collect various 'treasures' that acted as props in our make believe game of 'Beach Survivor.'

At the end of the day, the sky gifted us with some glimpses of blue and a beautiful sunset.

And finally, the kooky family portion of this post, because lawd knows a day out with my kids is not complete without some tomfoolery. It was a good thing we had the beach all to ourselves, as Keller amused us by drawing a circle in the sand and ranting in his scarily believable crazy person voice "Don't come inside the circle! Stay out of the circle!"

(For the record, I had to google 'tomfoolery' because it is one of those ridiculous words, like 'shampoo,' then when I type it, I start to wonder if it is a word I made up in my head. Loved that a synonym for 'tomfoolery' is 'buffoonery.' My new favorite word!)