Saturday Photo Hunt Theme: FREE

Today's theme is "free." Usually, one would think about the sorts of things you can get without paying for them. But I tried to go a bit deeper than that and came up with the following five.

1. Memories: There are so many things I love to think about and remember. For instance, my childhood, my days at university, my first jobs, camping with my family, weddings, births, deaths. Here is a sample of a very good memory. It's around the mid-50s when my mother's parents and her brother, wife, and their first son spent Christmas with us. My uncle took the picture and it was faithfully placed in the family photo album to treasure forever. Can you guess which little girl I am?
2. The beauty of nature: You never have to pay to see the beauty of nature. It's all around us wherever we go. You can see beauty in the sunshine, the rain and the snow, in flowers and trees that are either full of blossoms in the springtime or stark and bare in the winter, in the clouds as they scud past on windy days. I took this photo last fall when I went for a wonderful solitary walk in Deas Island Park which is surrounded by tributaries of the Fraser River. It's a popular place for rowers to practise and I was fortunate to catch this shot.

3. Friendship: It's one thing to have friends, but to have a friend so dear and close that you can actually be goofy with them is miraculous. I have a few of those kinds of friends, and I'm delighted that my daughter Jaclyn (below left) has Heather. Their birthdays are only days apart and I know they'll always be best buds. 4. Joy in the moment: I took this shot early last fall as I was strolling along the pathway at Centennial Beach. It gave me such joy to see this senior couple sitting closely together enjoying the view. It gave me joy that they had each other to share the joy of the beautiful afternoon.

5. Talent: Talent is a gift from God, in my humble opinion. I wish I had the talent that God gave my friend Suzanne. This is one of her paintings that she presented me with when I went to visit her two years ago at her place in Arizona. Her mother is also an awesome painter/art teacher and specializes in doing roses. My friend Josie is another special friend who has been given this gift. You should check out her site and see some of her little drawings.

So that's a sampling of what I think of when I think of "free." I hope you enjoyed my post and will be back again next week for its theme -wooden. Hmm...I better get thinking.