Author: Bridgette Mathews

Tulips are rising!

Posted on by Bridgette Mathews

Anyone else notice that the tulip bulbs are already rising? Last year I had a “significant” birthday so my husband and I with a couple of friends decided to celebrate it in the Netherlands and had an awesome adventure tooling around Amsterdam, the Tulip fields and Kuekenhof gardens. As a birthday gift my friends sent me 50 various tulip bulbs from the Keukenhof garden and I am now anxiously awaiting for them to bloom! So enjoy the rainy day and know that soon we will be gifted an early bloom of the bright beautiful colors of spring!

Sad reality of being a teacher these days.

Posted on by Bridgette Mathews

Remember the days of fire drills in the schools? I wonder what teachers back in the day would think about the ALICE TRAINING (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) schools have to go through in case of possible threat of an active shooter? My daughter Abbey who is a high school teacher (not on Cape Ann) posted this photo the other day. She said they put tape on the door locks so you don’t have to look for your keys in case of a lock down. The handle itself is locked but its taped, so when the kids come and go it doesn’t lock behind them. If there were a lockdown all the teacher has to do is remove the tape and shut the door, that way they don’t have to play around with the keys. It is truly the sad reality of being a teacher these days. Next time parents are frazzled about what to do with their kids on a half day (professional day)…I hope they realize and are grateful for the training these teachers are going through to save their child.   12792125_10206077375353497_8310450808479085403_o

 

Where’s your favorite Sunrise spot?

Posted on by Bridgette Mathews

My first post to GMG had me wondering what on earth I could possibly contribute to an already amazingly talented group of contributors. My daughter Abbey made it pretty simple for me by saying just start with what you know…photography! I picked up a camera about 7 years ago after my kids went to college thinking it would be something to pass the time and an outlet for my creativity, but as it turns out, the camera is evil! It makes you do evil things! It makes you learn stuff about what you are photographing. Like when the sun rises and sets (seriously…I had no idea that the best part of sunrise was actually before the sun rose!) So since this is a new beginning for me, and spring is in the air I thought I’d start this day off with a sunrise! You can visit lots of areas and see many sunrises, but I honestly can say that Cape Ann has THE MOST spectacular sunrises and sunsets. No…I’m not a morning person, in fact, I love sleep, but remember I told you the camera is evil? It makes you do evil things??   Well it makes you get up early too! So here you go….pick a day….get up early… bring your camera or just bring a blanket and a cup of coffee and treat yourself with the peacefulness and beauty of the early morning! My favorite place to go is Good Harbor Beach and on any given day there are a half dozen cars parked there and a handful of people on the beach walking and waiting.  This morning’s sunrise was hindered by the clouds, so I’m sharing one of my favorites from GHB.   I’d love to hear where everyone’s favorite places for sunrises are (on or off Cape Ann)!

(Nikon D610, 1/15 sec, F8, ISO 200 – shot in Raw with Lightroom edits) 

GHB Sunrise http://shutterbythesea.artstorefronts.com/