Happy 4th of July

I am so grateful for being part of this incredible country - Happy Birthday, America!!

Eagle Spring Lake, WI

July 1, 2017

Serenity

Comparing to the past few years, this spring/summer has been uncharacteristically calm and quiet.  I haven't taken significant photography trips since April just so I can save up enough vacation time for the long trip with National Geographic to Antarctica in January 2018...

The quietness gives me more time to think, reflect and appreciate a different pace in life, and I think it is also fully represented in these photos!!

Naperville, IL

June 3-4, 2017

The Little Guys

Weekend was overwhelming and exhausting!! The long awaited swan babies finally arrived - 6 of them all together... and you can finish the rest of the story. I took many trips to the "Swan Lake," and they'd put on such a show for me each time!

Naperville, IL
June 3-4, 2017

The Seven Dwarfs

I set the alarm clock at 1:25am, got up and left my hotel room before 2am to go visit my seven little dwarfs...

They stood under the nightly sky, in the desert, quietly and attentively.  Their official name is "Seven Magic Mountains" -- the artwork by internationally renowned Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone.  Comprised of seven towers of colorful, stacked boulders standing more than thirty feet high, Seven Magic Mountains is a creative expression of human presence in the desert.  It punctuates the Mojave with a poetic burst of form and color.

The Seven Dwarfs

Jean, Nevada 

May 4, 2017 

 

 

Yosemite National Park

The fact that it took so long for me to process these photos from my trip to Yosemite in early March is inexcusable and unacceptable.  But I mean, what can I do??  I am trying to fit as much STUFF in my life as I possibly can, including shutting down my computers and phones for 4 days (for soul cleansing) -- everything takes TIME, and TIME is the very thing that I don't have much of...

Yosemite National Park
California
March 6, 2017

Village Spring (山寨春色)

I don't believe I've ever seen a Spring that is more vivid than this one...

Anhui, China
March 26, 2017

 

My Friend Bill (3)

We went to visit my friend Bill again today, and this was the second time in the past 2 weeks.

Clearly, Bill's time for this life is limited now.  His cancer has spread and he has stopped treatments...  He was very happy to see us, as always, and he kept on saying "I don't know what I did to deserve this kind of friendship, and sometimes I wonder if I would do the same for my friends..."  I said: "Of course you would do the same!"  And I made sure to tell him this time how thankful I have been for all the help he'd given me in the early years of my life in America.

He told us "The days are pleasant and there is a lot of harmony within the family..."  He is very proud of his two sons and is grateful that he's had the opportunity to prepare them over the past 4 years (since his cancer diagnosis).  When you think about it, this probably is the most important thing in our lives when we reach the end.

His older son stays with him all day now to take care of him.  Over the weekend, the boys would both stay home with Mom and Dad, just as in the old days.  When you think about it, this probably is the most important thing in our lives when we reach the end.  

As always, I took pictures for them.  But this time, I paused for a second before pressing the shutter -- it was an incredibly beautiful family photo...   

Cherish each and every day of our lives.  Live the life you love, love the life you live!!