Seaside Retreat

Lately I have been pining for the simplicity of life in retirement. It's far too early of course to be thinking such "foolishness" as my mother would often say, but I none the less look forward to a retirement filled with adventure and many photographic endeavors. I have lived near the ocean, for a time near the mountains and now am very much land locked in the suburbs of Atlanta.

I believe to my core that when you grow up near the most magnificent of Gods naturals gifts, you are forever marked by the indelible impression they make, and continue through life to be drawn back to them. The ocean, for me, is that unquenchable lure that reels me back to a life filled with the sights and sounds of the Maritimes. While a city boy at heart, and certainly not one to lay claim to living off the sea, I deeply appreciate the cliché, "You can take the man out of the Maritimes, but you can't take the Maritimes out of the man".

During a recent uneventful evening in a hotel while traveling, I stumbled upon the television show "Swamp People" on the History channel. It struck me how very committed and content the alligator hunters of the Louisiana bayou were with their lifestyle and heritage. The younger generation learning from those that came before them and eager to teach those that followed.

This photograph stands as a reminder for my life goals and for a time when, the two seats will be filled with a pair of aging Maritimers, charmed by the adventures they share together, in love with each other and the land they came from.