daisy ventures.

I sling my bag onto my bike and swing onto the seat. My feet pump the pedals and I rattle down the fielded hill, feeling every pothole. I reach the quiet road and skim down the pavement, feeling the cool spring wind blowing my face. I pass daisies bobbing their heads to the beat of the breeze, their faces almost golden in the setting sun. I stop and grab my camera from its bag. 

A woman strolling by stops to ask me what I'm doing. 

"Taking pictures of daisies," I say. It sounds simple, and silly. But she smiles and gazes at the flowers before us in a rather wistful way.

"I used to make daisy chains with my sisters," she says. And I smile, too. 

I pedal down the road with a chain in my hair and petals on my wheels. I pass an old house with an old bike and an old cat in its front yard. The mailbox is surrounded by a tangle of greens, and I wonder what sort of letters it has held in the years gone by. 

I glimpse a man in the window, and I hurry by, embarrassed for stopping to stare. But I like to admire, and old houses are more beautiful than new ones. Their windows have souls. 

marie | portland, oregon senior photography

"Sometimes, people are beautiful.

Not just in looks,

Not just in what they say,

Just in what they are."  -Markus Zusak

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I met Marie this past Fall when I joined my local swim team (and dang, is she crazy talented in that venue!). She is such a sweetheart, and has some of the prettiest blue eyes I have ever seen. We had so much fun traversing through the fields (even though she is allergic) and the Scotchbroom, even trespassing once (shh!) in someone's backyard to get some shots with the lilac bushes. 

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oceanside.

Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus

Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free;

Rolling as a mighty ocean

In its fullness, 

Over me. 

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Seeing the ocean always reminds me of the timeless hymn by Samuel Trevor Francis. It is one of my all-time favorites--the haunting melody; the soulful words. Somehow, I think that if I were on a ship sinking, that hymn would be the last thing playing in my mind--filling me with peace. To think of Jesus' love surrounding me, as powerful and more powerful than the ocean, is an awesome thing. 

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On Sunday, our family traveled down to the Oregon Coast to celebrate Mother's Day (my mom loves the beach, and I do, too. Most of the time). It started out just windy + misty, but it turned extremely wet and a bit miserable.

 Nevertheless, there was a wild beauty about the stormy beach (though I can't say the same about my wet and tangly hair). The tarnished clouds moving restlessly across the sky and the choppy waves with their shades of blue-grey looked so moody and free. I managed to snap a few photos before the air became too wet (and then I sprinted for the car, because naturally I didn't bring my camera bag), but the salt air and the billowing misty wind remain uncaptured.

I used to be afraid of the ocean, and I still am, a little bit--especially on days such as this one. I remember, a long time ago--when I was five or six--running in my little girl excitement down the beach beside the lapping surf. Suddenly, I found myself on my back in the midst of the inch-high tide, flailing my arms. I wasn't in danger or anything, but I was petrified. It is one of my most terrifying memories--lying there, helpless, sure that waves were going to cover me and drag me out to sea at any instant.

Then, daddy scooped me up. And I was safe. But that memory has stayed with me to this day. And I shiver a little when I see a stormy ocean. 

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But summer is coming, when the sea turns blue, the sand warms your toes, and the cotton-flecked sky banishes all storms from the horizon. Yes, I'm all too ready for that, aren't you?

Does your family travel to the beach?

With love,

Lucia 

  

p.s. (have a question you've always wanted to ask? ask me anything here!)