I managed to scare up three photos of myself semi-submerged to make a little theme for this week's prompt. It's a real stretch to pass these photos off as "sky" photos...as they're mostly about the water. I'm about four years old in the first photo, resting on my elbows in the tepid water of Grand Beach, Manitoba, apparently quite alone, except for the photographer. The sky looks almost clear...wispy summer prairie clouds. The photo was taken 68 years ago and the beach is quite different now.
In the next photo, I've become a teenager and I'm treading water in Dorothy Lake, Ontario. Again, there's not another soul to be seen. The sky was slightly overcast. At this age, I was starting to think about a get-away. I wanted to go to a city...somewhere with razzamatazz. I'd had enough peace and quiet for those years - could I just keep swimming? The most exciting thing to do at Dorothy Lake was to burn the leeches off our legs with burning cigarettes. Oh, I almost forgot - we could slap at the mosquitos too.
The last one was taken last December at Angel Island resort off the coast of Flores Island in Indonesia. We shared the island with one guest - an accountant from Sweden. No one in sight.
How about this Indonesian sky? My swimwear consists of a rash guard, hat, sunblock and sunglasses. After all these years, I'm still able to enjoy being almost all in. I wanted this particular picture to print and put in my wallet. I paid special attention to the smell of everything, the intensity of the colors, the feeling of the warm water lapping up against my skin and the silence. I'm hoping I can hold it all together in my memory to recall when necessary.
And a little travelogue. Here's the charming, short airport at Labuan Bajo.
Here's where Angel Island is on a map (below) in case you need a bit of peace and quiet. We went: San Diego to Seattle to Dubai (two nights) to Jakarta to Denpasar, Bali (overnight) to Labuan Bajo (overnight) to Angel Island.
Travel over to Sepia Saturday for more interesting stories inspired by old photographs.
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| Selfie - Husband, me, water, sky. |
That was fun, watching you grow up and travel to the ends of the earth!
ReplyDeleteThat's the cutest little 4 year old I've ever seen!
Barbara
Love the picture of you with your red hat & sunglasses in the water on Angel Island. The clearness & gorgeous color of the water there reminds me of my beautiful Lake Tahoe except I'll bet the water at Angel Island is a LOT warmer than Tahoe. I think it would be lovely to laze around in the water where you're pictured, but I love to really swim in the chilly temp of the water at Tahoe.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of swimming in the sea - it's far too cold in Scotland for a start! Now, Angel Island looks like it has the sunshine and warm water which would entice me in. The colours in your photos are so vibrant and alive but what a short runway... Jo :-)
ReplyDeleteThat shot with the red hat is wonderful! And thanks a lot for reminding me about leaches. A childhood memory from a lake in New York state that I have still not shaken.
ReplyDeleteOh goodness your photos are priceless! Lovely cheery post, thanks.
ReplyDeleteGreat journey to Angel Island, both geographically and through your lifetime.
ReplyDeleteInteresting the play of light on the water in the larger photo.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos, Helen. And one of Grand Beach - did we communicate before about that?
ReplyDeleteDorothy Lake memories sound like fun (leeches and mossies) - I have a fear of leeches but we get them off with salt not fire.
ReplyDeleteSuper photos neatly collected through time. Angel Island sounds heavenly and perhaps just as hard to reach!
ReplyDelete'Almost all in' - I assume this means you were wearing nothing below/under your rashie, as we call them here in Aus. I trust it was a longish one :-) you are clearly still a water baby, and that is a fabulous shot of the clouds and rippling water reflections.
ReplyDeleteBest label on a photo ever!
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