Home

Have you ever had a place you really loved to go, and it seemed like home even though you'd never lived there?  For me, that place is Sullivan Lake, in the very northeastern corner of Washington State.  The farm where I grew up was just over an hour south of there, so all my life I've gone as frequently as I could.  My family moved to Washington when I was 4 years old, and we went there a few times between then and when I turned 9.  That year my paternal grandparents came up to visit from San Diego.  Since their last name was Sullivan, we just had to take them to Sullivan Lake.  At that age, I got a real kick out of the name coincidence.  My grandparents had driven all the way up from California in a pickup with a camper on it, and I was proud to get to ride in that on our little outing.  It ended up raining, but we had our picnic anyway because there is a shelter there with picnic tables and a huge chimney complete with barbecue rack.  Some of us took a walk in spite of the rain and I ended up getting so wet that I had to change into my grandma's robe, which she gave me, and I still have it 24 years later.  These are very fond memories, and since I got old enough to drive a car, I've spent a lot of time up there camping, fishing, swimming, hiking, and of course, taking pictures.  I always liked to be outdoors, but it's there that my love of nature really grew.  Anyway, I ran across a picture I took near there back in the spring of 2003, and decided to post it here.  To me, this picture has "home" written all over it.  There is a large quiet meadow off to the right side of the image, and in the evenings there are nearly always deer there, sometimes 15 or more at once.  I keep telling myself that some day I'm going to go sit quietly at the edge of that meadow and wait until they appear so I can take pictures of them.  This may sound crazy, but I can think of nothing more enjoyable than being someplace like that, patiently waiting for that perfect shot...