This Magical Place Called HOME

We have a house guest, Joon Joongwong, visiting from Thailand.  It is so refreshing to see this magical place we call HOME through his eyes.  Joon is an accomplished photographer and avid birder, so we have been taking him to various beautiful places in the area.  He was super excited to see a robin the other day, “Look, a THRUSH!”  Suddenly, the common little robin became an orange-red breasted delightful thrush.  “We rarely see this bird in Thailand!”  And Joon was in super-birder mode when he saw a blue jay yesterday.  I have always thought blue jays are gorgeous, but this blue jay went from a crafty bird to a gorgeously ornate-blue feathered and black-tufted winged creature.

I have lived here for 23 years and I never take the beauty of Washington state for granted, but everything these past few days during Joon’s visit, seems to appear more beautiful because I am seeing life here through Joon’s eyes.  Yesterday, we took a long drive along our Olympic Peninsula.  Our drive included a visit to the Sol Duc hot springs where we soaked for two hours in the 106 degree sulphur water. The first photo I took is the featured photo above of Kalaloch beach.  We were blessed with a fine day and beautiful light for taking photos.

Below is the rest of the photographic journey seen through my Leica lens.

I know this will crack you up, but we had to stop in Forks so Joon could get a photo for his Twilight loving friends back home! Here is Joon “hamming” it up.  I met Joon 23 years ago when he was just a 13 year old student studying English at Washington Academy of Languages in Pioneer Square.  We have kept in touch over the years and have visited each other. He was an outstanding teenager at 13 years of age and he is continues to be an accomplished and well-traveled  man today!

Sol Duc: Waterfalls and Mossy Rocks

Olympic National Park: the rain forest

Sol Duc waterfalls.

True Beauty: Ruby Beach …we arrived just before sunset

Seastacks at Ruby Beach

Joon captures the sunset at Ruby Beach

Ruby Beach

Going home.  End of a great day!

Cooking: Joon takes over our kitchen and makes our house smell of Thailand! He is a great cook. Rick said Joon practically bought out the entire local fish store in preparation for tonight’s dinner