My children

[vaneramos]

Brenna at South Head (All the photos in this post were taken August 21 on Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick. Grand Manan was Brenna's favourite part of the trip.)


Friends say I’m happy when I talk about you, and it’s true. The quack shrink last summer said I should work hard so I can have enough money to buy a house where you can come and live with me. What utter crap! Working hard won’t bring you back, not that way. Growing children move into their own spheres, and we might never have times like this together again, even if we lived together. I see hardworking parents who haven’t enough time. My father was one. A rare gift of my broken life has been the luxury of time spent utterly with you.

I must turn away, for a season, from sunny beaches where we browsed for shells, from candy stores and bead shops, leisurely afternoons in distant places and strings of adventurous days back-to-back.

I hear the annoying voice of complaint begin to reassert itself. Not that I should silence it; that would be unhealthy.

But I want to fill my time with other children. I’m thinking of Tendril, Trent and others yet unborn, some more abstract and some less fictitious. I need to let them jangle in my ear, demanding nurture and attention, just as you would do.







Overlooking the cliff at South Head







Dark Harbour







Joe-Pye weed and virgin's bower at Whale Cove

Comments

[mylastsigh.livejournal.com]

such beautiful photos!!!!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you, my friend!

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

wow, yes, beautiful photos. i love the fog!

it's a poignant thing, the way our kids grow up and beyond us. mine act fond toward me, but they're no longer my little ones. it's bittersweet.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I feel this intensely at times. For a while it was alarming to see how much they changed between visits. My despair a few years ago (at feeling them pulled away) has turned to poignant joy as they returned through good fortune and their own will. But they are already grownup in so many ways.

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

Your daughters look so much like you. I loved the picture you posted the other day, of the two of them dancing around, looking so different in their personal styles but so much like sisters, and so clearly yours. It's so weird to watch them grow up in your journal, and so cool at the same time; these two young women I'll probably never meet but feel I know so much about.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

My memory is poor, and several years of their early lives are practically lost to me. I'm grateful for the LJ community, which has motivated me to record so many of my experiences with them the past 52 months.

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

Wow Brenna has almost-Gioconda-face in that photo. I wonder if she can do this at will?

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

What a striking resemblance! This shot reminded me of the movie of Tess of d'Urbervilles, but I haven't seen it in years. I recall Brenna was pretending to be impatient with me, but looking through camera and fog I couldn't see her expression when I took it.

[mhkrabat.livejournal.com]

Both your daughters become such evocative portraits. Amazing in the disquiet and sometime-awkwardness of that phase of life they are surely going through that they also have the ability to be such natural subjects. Reading bitterlawngnome's comment above referencing Giaconda, I can only shake my head in the affirmative. Tempted to mock up a painting in photoshop of this photo of Brenna just to see what happens.

It's hard to say what presents more pure beauty in your photo subjects: the landscapes or your girls. I revoke the competition and call it a "tie".

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I would like to do a lot more portrait work if I had time, opportunity, the right camera, etc. But landscapes seem to be my forte, and I'm happy to work with that. If you do anything in photoshop I'll be happy to see it.

[art-thirst.livejournal.com]

Your images are so very close to what I've seen, and taken pictures of, in upper Minnesota. The boats are absolutely fantastic.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Interesting comment. I had the impression Minnesota was a lot like Central Ontario, but the Maritimes landscapes seemed so different. I found the sea coast difficult to photograph well. I often wished for a wide-angle lens to capture the breadth of cliffs and wide seascapes, or, while riding a ferry, a decent zoom lens to get close to fishing villages dotted along the shore. Besides, extreme tides on the Bay of Fundy create bizarre landscapes unlike anything inland. I never had the opportunity to photograph them satisfactorily. Returning to Ontario was a shock: the Niagara Escarpment (which cuts across the lower part of the province) and the Precambrian hills around our lake at the cottage seem puny compared to the Laurentian Mountains near Quebec City, and the northern limits of the Appalachians in Cape Breton. The geography of Grand Manan Island itself was particularly bizarre, and yet I can see your point about these photos; I've seen scenes resembling them along the shore of Lake Huron in Ontario. I suppose the thing most striking about them is their contrast to the flat lands you and I are both accustomed to.

[art-thirst.livejournal.com]

Ah, the Laurentian divide. It runs thru parts of Minnesota which I never thought much about until we stopped to stretch our legs and, give the dog a walk and pee break. The Continental divide I've driven across or, been driven across, many times. When I was a pre- and teen I was really fascinated by the magnificance of the US as seen outside the big cities and on the highways that connect this country. I guess that's part of the reason I'm always wanting to head out of town and into some backwoods.

[ubermunkey.livejournal.com]

really lovely each and every one of them

be well

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thanks Mr. Munkey. Cheers.

[blt4success66.livejournal.com]

I realized that very soon, my 8th grader will be in high school and my daughter is now in the 1st grade. It's kind of melancholy feeling but one that I'm willing to put aside as they're eyes (well, my daughter's, at least) are opened wide by all the things she can learn. My son, with renewed respect, has even done well in his first week.

by the way...beautiful pictures, especially of your daughter. The word "earthchild" comes to mind when I look at her.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Brenna really is becoming a bit of a Neo-Hippy. I can relate to your feelings as they return to school. This weekend has been hard; missing them a great deal.

[blt4success66.livejournal.com]

I think that's something we share in common, a deep love and devotion for our kids...