Last month, we were contacted by Donna Garlough, editor of Boston Weddings. She told us that she had been browsing our blog and loved the photos we captured at Kirsten & Dennis’s fabulous Nauticus Marina wedding. And she asked, could she feature it in the magazine’s Summer issue?  Umm…yes, please!

I’m not sure which flattered us more, the fact that Donna was browsing our blog unsolicited or that with all of the talented photographers in New England, she liked our photos enough to have them be one of only four featured weddings. To say we were flattered would be an under statement.

Since her call, we’d been excitedly awaiting the magazine’s arrival. The other day, we opened our mailbox to find several copies. Magazines hit news stands today, and if you haven’t had a chance to see it, it’s another gorgeous issue. Here’s a sneak peek at the cover…

And, the opening page of the “Real New England Weddings” features section…..with our photo of Kirsten & Dennis. Wowza!

In addition to the opening page of the features section, Kirsten & Dennis’s wedding got two more full pages. We’re so happy that Kirsten & Dennis get to have their wedding commemorated in this way!

And, as if all of that wasn’t exciting enough…this incredible exchange between Dennis’ mom and a close family friend, as captured by Andy, outside the church, after the ceremony, was highlighted in the “One Last Shot” section, on the last page of the magazine….Pure Joy!

Huge thanks to Donna & her wonderful staff for seeing something special in our work and for recognizing the inspiring beauty & love that surrounded Kirsten & Dennis on their unforgettable wedding day. And, of course, special thanks to Kirsten & Dennis! Thank you both again for inviting us to be a part of such an important time in your lives and for welcoming us with such open arms & open hearts! You two are wonderful and your love is truly inspiring! With love & hugs, Christine & Andy xo

After exploring Panama’s cities and mountains, Andy & I were ready for some beach time. The guide books talked about Bocas del Toro, a group of six densely forested islands, as being Panama’s principal tourist draw card. This made us a little trepidatious about going there, since we prefer to visit less visited places. But, we ventured to Bocas anyway.

There are some gorgeous places to stay on the less inhabited of the six islands, but we were saving our splurge for San Blas, so we stayed on the main island, Isla Colon, where accommodations were more reasonable, but still overpriced for what they offered.

And, while Bocas wasn’t really our scene, we had a couple of fabulously languorous beach days both on Colon and on the smaller, less inhabited Isla Bastimento, a five minute boat ride away. This next photo was taken at Red Frog Beach, on Bastimento, which has one of the nicer beaches in the archipelago. The beach had tons of tourists later in the day…we got there early to soak in the natural beauty…

We visited Playa Estrellas, Starfish Beach, on our second day in Bocas. It wasn’t a particularly fabulous beach. It was good for children, since it was shallow and very calm, with tons of starfish everywhere. But, there wasn’t much of a shore line for parking your butt. It didn’t really make sense to spend too much time at this beach as there wasn’t much to do or see, so visitors came and left relatively quickly. The woman in the photo had biked all the way from town, which took her 4 hours over muddy, unpaved roads. I’d guess she was in her 60s…a total rockstar in my book!

We made the most of our time at Starfish beach, then walked back about a mile to where the bus dropped us off to do some more chillin’. There by a beach-side restaurant, we spent the rest of the day, playing cards and swinging in hammocks till the last bus of the day came to pick us up. In this next photo a bunch of sea birds sun themselves on pilings just off shore. We tried taking the photo from shore, but it was a much better perspective wading in up to our waist. We’ll do anything for a good photo.

Our visit to Panama ended with 4 heavenly days in San Blas, an archipelago of some 365 islands off the north coast of the Isthmus, east of the Panama Canal. Home to the Kuna Indians, the islands, some of which are no bigger than 30 feet in diameter, are part of the comarca Kuna Yala, along the Caribbean coast of Panama. Most of the Kuna island dwellers live on just a few of the islands, though several, like Isla Pelicano seen below, have one house made from bamboo and palms, that is inhabited by a single Kuna family. Like many visitors to San Blas, we flew from Panama City to the Kuna Yala captial of El Porvenir on the mainland, then took a short boat ride to the island of Whichub Wala, the most densely populated of the islands. Home to some 400 Kuna, you can easily walk from one end of the island to the other in less than three minutes. The Kuna rely heavily on tourism, fishing and the exportation of coconuts, lobsters and plantains to survive. Being so densely populated and having plumbing only in the hotels for tourists (although the piping goes directly into the ocean), the water around the island is too polluted for visitors to swim. So, our hotel guide, Orlando, took us and other hotel guests on daily boat trips to visit some of the less or not at all inhabited islands in the Kuna Yala. Isla Pelicano was our favorite island (seen below) so we spent a couple of days here, chillin’ under palm trees, snorkeling, reading and just enjoying the incredible views and the crazy aqua-colored water.

Below a Kuna woman looks out her window. Most of the houses not directly over the water were made entirely out of bamboo and palm. But, the hotels and those houses that were over the water, like the one below, used wooden frames and corrugated steel for the roof.

San Blas is an absolutely stunning region of the world, with pristine uninhabited islands and water like none we’ve seen before. But, with a growing reliance on tourism, there are new problems, namely with waste disposal. It was hard to see discarded plastic, aluminum beer cans, and other waste used as a sort of erosion control on the perimeter of the more inhabited islands, especially for a people who, at least from what we could understand, have a faith/culture that seem to feel a real connection with Mother Earth.

The few hotels on the island of Wichub Wala did have toilets that flushed, but they flushed right out into the ocean and locals use these outhouses, which were nothing more than a hole in the floor surrounded by four walls.

Fishing is a big activity for the men. And, many of the boats they use are made from hollowed out trees. The boats are simultaneously beautiful and perfectly functional.

The Kuna used to wear few clothes and decorated their bodies with colorful designs. When encouraged to wear clothing by missionaries who visited the islands, they followed their body painting designs in their Molas, which are worn by traditional women in their clothing and are a big item to sell to tourists. The good ones, like these below, are hand made and feature more traditional designs. They’re gorgeous and incredibly intricate.

In addition to wearing molas sewn into their tops, the more traditional Kuna women, like this woman below,  also wear rows of beads tied together in patterns on their legs. The bright colors are beautiful and pop against the blue background that constantly surrounds the islands. Below a Kuna woman and her granddaughter watch, with a puppy at their feet, as a boat of young men cast their nets for fish. I love this photo, even with the contrast of the expensive catamaran anchored in the background. The islands, with their natural beauty and the protection they provide from the open ocean, attract hundreds of boaters who drop anchor for weeks, months and sometimes years.

The contrast of old and new in the Kuna Yala is at once arresting and beautiful. Below western clothes hang on a clothesline as the evening sun warms the bamboo house.

This was the smallest island we saw, big enough for just one house. The truly amazing thing about this scene is the woman, who is the cousin of our guide, Orlando, came out of her palm and corrugated steel house carrying a purse and wearing modern clothes. Orlando picked her up to take her to the mainland, about a 45 minute boat ride away, to do some shopping. Can you imagine living here?

The Kuna Yala was exactly the break from modern day reality we needed and the perfect ending to a fabulous vacation. We absolutely loved Panama and will be posting a slideshow highlighting more picture perfect moments from our super fun trip tomorrow. Stay tuned! Chris & Andy xo

To follow up where we left off with our vacation recap yesterday, here is the route we followed during our 23 days in Panama:

After the first two days in Panama City, we took a quick 12-seater flight to the country’s second largest city, David, where we spent the next two days & nights doing a lot of sweating, walking, drinking bottled water, and more sweating. We spent one afternoon wading near a waterfall and met this super sweet girl, who told us she was an Olympic swimmer for Panama and won the silver metal at the last Olympic games…or at least that’s what we think she told us…our Spanish is not brilliant.

Days 5 thru 10 - We started Day 5 by boarding an old yellow school bus for a trip to the mountain village of Boquete, near Volcan Baru. We loved it here and stayed for 6 nights, exploring nearby villages on foot and via scooter. We tried our hands at rock climbing, hiked in the lush mountain forest in search of the illusive Quetzal, sipped coffee at a coffee plantation, and swam in a rock-lined river.

Day 11 thru 13 - We had to take the bus back to David to catch another bus north to the Caribbean town of Bocas del Toro, where we spent 3 nights checking out some of the local beaches. We snorkled, swung in hammocks, saw the native red frogs and even a lounging sloth.

Day 14 thru 16 - Day 14 began with a flight back to Panama City and a 4-hour bus to the sleepy mountain town of El Valle, where we spent three days playing a lot of cards, soaking in mud baths and hiking along waterfalls. We also met a very interesting herbalist, Frank Gruber, creator of the rather infamous Gruber’s Jungle Oil. Created from a blend of herbs he found in the El Valle forest, his jungle oil is meant to repel all kinds of biting insects and even eliminate the sting if you did get bit. It could also be used as a sunscreen, although I didn’t quite understand how that worked, given that it was primarily made from oil. Frank also said it could cure several types of skin cancer and reduce the poison of a viper bite. And amazingly it could also cure acne and be used as a deodorant. Frank generously gave us a bottle, which we haven’t really put to the test yet. But, it was so cool talking to Frank. He was such an interesting person with some fabulous life experiences to share. We could have talked with him for days.

Day 17 - We took an afternoon bus back to Panama City, where we stayed the night before flying to the remote and native Kuna Yala-owned islands of San Blas.

Days 18 thru 21- Sunrise flight to the islands of San Blas, where we spent four heavenly nights on the 400-person island of Wichub Wala. Every day we took a boat ride to explore one of the San Blas’ 365+ islands. We only visited a handful, but it was blissful. We’d park our butts under a palm tree and just wile away the day with some swimming & snorkeling, reading, cards, and a whole lot of nothing.

Day 22 - Flight back to Panama City for a little souvenir shopping, a dip in the hotel’s roof deck pool and another belly filling meal of meat, rice and beans before heading home on Day 23.

Here’s a map outlining our route:

David was still a city, though not nearly as big as Panama City, so mostly we just walked around and ate. Boquete was one of our favorite places. The climate is much cooler because of it’s mountainous location and there was more to see and do there, even if that meant just sitting in the plaza people watching, as this young boy in the next photo is doing….two seconds later he was texting on his cell phone. Crazy, right?

Coffee is a big industry in Panama and Boquete is one of the largest producers. This next photo was of what we thought was a coffee processing plant. Looks like they dry roast in the sun…

I ended up with a pretty uncomfortable stomach bug and was in some serious need of relief, so we popped in the Clinica Valle Boquete. As awful as I felt, it ended up being a really cool experience. It cost me $5 to see the doctor and get a prescription of antibiotics. The doctor didn’t speak English, but he was wonderfully patient with me and spoke very slowly, enunciating really clearly. I actually felt like I could speak Spanish. As strange as it sounds, my visit to the clinic was a highlight. Plus, it’s always good to see how other people live in a very day-to-day way and while our health care system is no doubt in need of some serious reform, we are blessed to live in a country with state of the art medical facilities. It’s always good to be reminded of that. We took this next shot for a giggle the day after I started feeling better….

Andy spent an afternoon in a rock climbing lesson one day. I still wasn’t 100%, so I didn’t take a lesson. But, our instructor, Cesar, was super passionate about the sport and encouraged me to give it a go. So, in shoes way too big for me, I scurried right up the climb just to the left of where Andy is in this next photo. That was the beginner’s route and the first one Andy did too. The one Andy is on in the photo below is his third trip up. It was a more intermediate climb. We both really enjoyed our time on the rock and are really excited about trying it again.

Just passing time….

Willy the toucan, resident at Pension Topas, where we stayed in Boquete. Every morning began with “Hola, Willy,” as we walked past his cage. It’s just amazing all the beauty that is in nature. His colors were spectacular.

These little munchkins were the children of a guest at the pension and the dog belonged to the pension owners. Kind of a fun perspective…

One afternoon we hiked up into the hills of the town, where many of the native people live. Boquete is beautiful, but the disparity between the haves and the have nots is upsetting. There are many US transplants living in Boquete, in what would be million dollar homes in the states, while the people of the Ngobe Bugle tribe live in ramshackle houses on the perimeter of the coffee plantations. They wash in the river and get paid very little for the back-breaking work of picking coffee, not to mention their exposure to pesticides working in the fields. They don’t own cars and have to walk great distances to get into town to buy food and supplies. Some speak Spanish, but they also have their own native language. We wished we could have spent some time with a family. Here a family crosses the man-made river bridge to make the long trek down the hills into town.

A little boy plays outside his house.

These little girls saw us walking up the hill and were excited to make contact. This shot pulls at my heartstrings. With laundry drying on the barbed wire fence and the girls in their traditional native dress grabbing on the fence with their little fingers, they are still filled with the happy innocence that is childhood.

The girls and two boys we assumed were their brothers ran out to the street to see us. They saw our cameras and wanted a photo, so we grabbed a couple. I loved the first one we took, where they all looked so serious. Andy grabbed the second photo, which I LOVE, where I’m showing the kids what they look like in the photos. I tried asking their parents, who were outside doing chores, if they had an address so we could send them copies of the photos. But, I don’t think they understood us, and honestly, I doubt they had a mailing address. We tried finding a place to print photos in town, but couldn’t find anywhere. Such a bummer.

This young woman washes her clothes in the river.

High in the hills of Boquete, near the start of Los Quetzales trail, the temperature dropped and we were nearly in the clouds, with a rain-like mist that gave such a lushness to the surroundings. It was beautiful!

Later in the trip, we visited Los Pozos Termales, or thermal pools, on the edge of town in El Valle. Our $1 admission let us cover our faces in therapeutic mud, then soak in mineral baths before rinsing off in the outdoor shower. With sunburns from our stay on the beaches of Bocas del Toro, the mud and minerals felt great.

Tomorrow we’ll be posting photos from our stay on the islands of San Blas and the beaches of Bocas del Toro. Stay tuned. Chris & Andy xo

It was just before 5PM when the doorbell finally rang. I nearly fell down the stairs in my excitement to get to the door. I knew it could be only one man….Bob, our trusty UPS delivery man. I’d been waiting for Bob all day. In his big brown truck, driving around his Cape Cod route, Bob carried with him my much-anticipated new camera…Nikon’s super fly D3S digital SLR.

Sensing my excitement, Bob asked if the box he was delivering was a new camera. To which I immediately replied, “Yes! I’ve been so excited all day for it to arrive.” “I thought so, since you had to sign for it,” he said. Bob is so cool.

After signing, my hands a little shaky from all the excitement…or perhaps from my sprint down the stairs…I bid farewell to Bob and dashed back up to the office to tear open my treasure box. Taaaa Daaaaa!

Andy is one of those people who likes to take his time opening presents. He slowly removes each piece of tape, one at a time, careful not to rip the wrapping paper. Then, ever so slowly, he unfolds the creases to reveal the contents. Sometimes I wonder if he does this just because he knows it drives me crazy. You see, I am a shredder. I’ve always been one of those people who tackles a present with wild abandon, ripping off paper, popping off bows, and throwing the scraps over my shoulder to see what’s inside.

But, this was different. I found myself taking Andy’s slow approach. I was quick to find a pair of scissors, but that’s where the quick ended. Slowly and precisely, I sliced the brown B&H packaging tape from each side of the box, then sliced along the top center. I sat there for a few seconds, wanting to savor the moment before I peeled the box flaps open. Once opened, all I could see was a pile of white packing popcorn.

“It’s in there,” I thought to myself. My innate tendencies were to dump everything out into the middle of the office floor, until my treasure tumbled out. But, I held back. Instead, I moved a few of the popcorn pieces around, revealing what I thought was the top of the camera box…turns out it was the bottom. There on the golden box, in big black letters, I caught my first glimpse.

The excitement was now growing to a fever pitch, so I dug my hands in and found the bottom of the box, pulling it out, popcorn spilling out all over the couch. But, I didn’t care. My new toy was really here. I opened the box and had to step back to take in the view. So much to go through…

But a lover of instructions I am not. I would rather get right to it. Pressing buttons. Turning dials. I would rather do than read. So, I quickly moved the top layer of stuff to the side.

And, then I found her…quietly waiting for me in the bottom of the box, beckoning me to touch her rugged, yet, precisely constructed, sexy magnesium alloy body. Isn’t she beautiful?

And check out that backside? Wooooo hoooo!

Like my D300, the D3S has a gorgeous 3-inch super-density 921,000-dot LCD monitor. I admit, I was a bit hesitant to move up to this camera model because it’s so big! With the built in vertical grip, the camera is about 6″wx6″hx3.5″d and weighs nearly 3lbs. That may not sound like much, but once you add some of the lenses we use on this puppy, the weight and size add up fast. I was considering getting the new D700 instead. But, as it turned out the weight difference between the two cameras was minimal. And, as soon as I picked her up in the store, I knew this was it. It just felt right. She fit…..we fit. And, so it was meant to be.

But, what really drew me to the D3S is it’s amazing ISO capabilities. The D3S’s standard ISO sensitivity ranges from 100 to a stunning 12,800. As if that wasn’t enough, the D3S has three expanded ISO options that can take the ISO up to a shocking 102,400.

For the non-photographers out there, this basically means I can shoot in very little ambient light without using flash. Yes, it’s super grainy at those mega high levels. But, right now, I rarely take my D300 above 1000 ISO because the noise is too much. Knowing, I can easily shoot at 6400 ISO with less noise than the D300 produces at 1000 ISO makes me giddy. This summer I will find myself with boundless new creative options and I am super stoked!

Like the camera itself, the battery for the D3S is on the large size. But, sometimes bigger is better. This puppy has a battery life of approximately 4,200 shots per charge. Thank you Nikon!

It doesn’t have the pop up flash my D300 has, which was good to use as a trigger for off camera flash set ups. I’m not sure why Nikon eliminated that cool feature in it’s pro level cameras.

That said, there are so many other features that more than make up for the lack of built in flash. Did I mention the dual card slots or the super high flash sync speed? What about the full frame sensor, which now brings all of my lenses back to the 1:1 ratio? That could take some getting used to, but I’m ready. Oh, and the coup de grace of the D3S is the new video feature! And, it produces freaking gorgeous video!Ohhh, the places we will go! I did find a few things I wasn’t sure how it all works. So, it looks like I need to go read the instructions after all.

Chris xo

The new Southern New England Weddings magazine hit news stands this week and we were super stoked to find the fabulous Ocean Edge wedding of super cuties, Ivy & Ben, featured in the Cape Cod section. We love Ivy & Ben so we were really excited for them to get to have their special day highlighted.

To check out pics of the 4-page feature, pick up a copy of the magazine in bookstores or visit the magazine’s website. (Ivy & Ben’s wedding can be found photo thumbnail to the far left on the bottom row of thumbnails.)

Here’s a couple of quick snaps we took of the magazine:

We’re not an advertiser in the magazine, so we’re super grateful for the free exposure! Thank you Allison Liset at Elegant Engagements for working to get the wedding featured. Thank you, too, to SNEW Publisher Lisa Schryver for finding beauty in our photos. And, biggest thanks, as always, goes to Ivy & Ben for putting together such a beautiful (and super fun!) wedding! Love you guys! xo

The results just came in this morning and it’s official…..we’re the best! Or at least you all think so!!!

Thanks to all of the incredible love and support we got from our fabulous Bello friends & family, we once again came out at the top of the Cape Cod A-List, being named this year’s Best Photographers on Cape Cod & the Islands! Yipppeeee!!!!

We absolutely could not have done it without your votes, so this award is as much yours as it is ours and we’d like to thank all of you who voted from the very bottom of our hearts!!!! We feel tremendously blessed to have the most incredibly loving & supportive clients. I always feel funny saying clients, because really you are much more than just clients. To us you are part of our ever-growing Bello family.

Getting to know and photograph the incredible people we do is truly a labor of love for us and being recognized for our talent and efforts feels really good. So thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

With much love and heart-felt appreciation, Chris & Andy xoxo

So, today is the last day to vote in the Cape Cod A-List contest for Best Photographers. Last year, we won by a clear margin. This year, it’s unclear whether we’ll take home the title again. Competition has been stiff and we really need your votes!

So, if you think we deserve the top honors, we humbly ask you to please click HERE and vote. Polls close at midnight and results will be announced August 17th. We’re keeping our fingers crossed!

In the meantime, we’d like to extend a huge, heart-felt THANK YOU to all of our wonderful Bello Family & Friends for already taking the time to vote. The comments you have left are truly the greatest reward!!! Even if we don’t win this year, we know in our hearts, that we are already winners…having THE BEST people in the planet to work with!!! You guys rock and we love you!!!! Truly!!!

Thank you again for your continued love & support!  Chris & Andy xo

For the second year in a row, CityVoter and NECN.com have nominated us Cape Cod’s Best Wedding Photographers. Can I get another “Whaaaa Hooooo!!!?”

Winning last year’s title was so exciting for us and truly, truly humbling! The outpouring of love and support we got from our incredible Bello family just blew us away. The things people said about us…..amazing! And it wasn’t just our wonderful couples, or even their families…their friends came out to vote for us too. I mean…Really? It was just the coolest feeling for Andy & me to see that many people care enough and feel strongly enough about us and what we do to take the time to vote!

This year, our competition is quite stiff and we’re a bit behind in the polls, so we’re hoping to inspire a Bello revolution! But, before we do, we’d first like to extend a heart-felt THANK YOU to all of you who have already voted and for those of you who are hearing this for the first time, if you like our work and have had positive experiences with us, we shamelessly ask you to spread the love and cast your vote for Bello!

To check out the contest, click the A-List link and once on the site, hit the yellow VOTE button underneath Bello Photography. We’ll be sure to keep you posted on the results. Voting ends on Sunday (August 9th), so please spread the word!

THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!! It doesn’t quite seem enough those two simple words, but they are packed with more feeling that you can know.

With love & hugs, Chris & Andy xo

So, we went out to our mailbox the other day, and inside waiting for us was the latest issue of Boston Magazine’s Elegant Weddings. And, what to our wondering eyes lay inside the Real Weddings section, but the fabulous wedding of Cape Cod cuties Emily & Larry.

We photographed Emily & Larry’s super fun wedding last September. It was the perfect mix of casual elegance and oodles of love. Emily & Larry said, “I do” at their favorite local eatery, Clancy’s Fish n’ Chips, in Dennis. One of our favorite elements of their special day was the raffle they put together, giving away some of their favorite things, including tickets to the Red Sox. The best part was that the winners got to enjoy the activities they won with Emily & Larry. So fun!

Their sweet wedding apparently struck a chord with the magazine’s editors too. We were contacted by Editor Donna Garlough back in April, after she spotted the blog post we did on Emily & Larry’s wedding. We were of course excited to have our work featured, but we were more excited for Emily & Larry. They worked really hard putting all of the special details in place that really made their wedding unique. We were just so happy that they were going to get a little attention for all of their efforts! Plus, it’s sweet that Boston gets a sneak peek into the their very special love!

The cover…Sweet right!

Photos by Bello…yipeee!

The feature:

Big thanks to Donna and the talented crew at Elegant Weddings for choosing Emily & Larry’s wedding to highlight. (The article, written by Mia Gant, is fun & playful and definitely worth a read if you want to pick up a copy of the magazine.) And, a very special thank you to Emily & Larry for sharing their love in such a generous way! You guys rock!!! xoxo Chris & Andy

Andy & I belong to the Professional Photographers of Cape Cod, a group of some 50-75 photographers living and working here on beautiful Cape Cod. We joined PPOCC, as it is affectionately known, our first year in business…hoping to learn as much as we could about what it means to be a professional photographer! We wouldn’t be where we are today without PPOCC and all of the incredible photographers we’ve met through the group!

Although it started out more as a social club, PPOCC has grown over the years and now offers its members educational workshops, classes and a fabulous network of professionals, who do still enjoy socializing.

Last Monday, several members of PPOCC gathered in Provincetown for a little photography safari. We had done this a similar trip a few years ago to Martha’s Vineyard.

Andy & I decided to head down to P-town on Sunday evening to make a little “weekend” out of it. Typical summer weekends don’t really exist for wedding photographers, so you take what days off you can get and make the most of them. And, that we did!!

We got to P-town and checked into the lovely Crowne Point Inn just as the hotel’s wine & cheese happy hour was kicking off. Don’t you just love when that happens! We settled in by the pool and lounged the evening away. Instantly, the stress melted off of us. It was heavenly!

The next day, we got up early, enjoyed a yummy breakfast of blueberry pancakes and bacon (this really is a fabulous inn if you ever find yourself wanting to stay in P-town) sunned ourselves by the pool and then headed out in the afternoon to meet our photographer friends. Unfortunately, the meeting time rubbed a little too closely with our wine & cheese happy hour, so we didn’t really take too many photos before heading back. Pathetic, I know! But, we felt so pampered and it was such a fun treat for us…we just couldn’t resist.

We met back up with everyone later that night at Race Point Beach, where we watched the sunset and had a great night of conversation by bonfire. Unfortunately, it was a little too cloudy for the presentation on photographing stars & the night sky that our friend, Chris Cook, was going to make. Fortunately, there were s’mores to cushion the disappointment.

Here are just a few snapshots we took earlier that day:

I just loved the character oozing off this sweet little woman sifting through what looks like her art supplies. Or maybe it’s recycling and trash. But, I just thought her aura screamed, “I’m an eccentric painter lady,” so I like to think they’re her art supplies.

Being goofballs!

Beautification underway…

Talk about eccentric. Some nutball had broken ceramic lining his/her driveway. There must have been tons of it, not to mention a whole yard full of trash. It was kind of crazy. We of course all stopped to take photos. And, in true Andy fashion, he decided to lay on the ground for this cool perspective. Unfortunately, he cut his arms in the process. Broken ceramic driveway? Really?

Pilgrim Tower as seen from our balcony….sweet!!!