Its a Goal!
When we were kids my dad made us watch British Soccer Games on ABC on Saturday afternoons. The games were actually pretty boring but the announcers of the games were very lively in their British accents and made the games interesting to watch. Our favorite moments on those Saturday afternoons were when one of the teams scored a goal and the announcer would scream quite loudly into their microphone… “Its a goooooaaaaal”, drawing out all of the vowels as the British do.
Today was a soccer day for me. First and foremost I had a chance to watch my awesome nephew Geno play soccer for the first time. He is an awesome athlete and very competitive so I was very proud to watch him doing his best on the field. Later that day my other two awesome nephews, Charlie and Irish took me to the San Diego Soccers Indoor National Championship game – and they won. It was an all around great day for Soccer in San Diego and the weather as usual was picture perfect. Click on the link below to see the full gallery of Geno playing his heart out in the soccer game.
http://www.frankiefoto.com/Portraits/Soccer-Boy/21896010_SkrPXn
The Magical House and Fairy Garden
After a long search of hundreds of houses across San Diego Tu finally found her dream house and moved into the beautiful home this week. Tu knew the instant that she walked into the fairy tale backyard of the house that it was her dream home. She called me to come over and take a look at the house. She never told me why. The minute I walked into the backyard I was instantly overcome by a sense of calm serenity and peacefulness. The backyard reminded me of a Japanese Tea Garden and at the center of the garden stood a Banzai Tree which was planted over 50 years ago. The garden was a complete masterpiece – a work of art and something that evoked emotion and feeling from the instant you stood in it.
Well, the backyard was not the only incredible thing about the house. The entire interior of this beautiful property was painstakingly remodeled from floor to ceiling. Hardwood floors, completely new kitchen, new appliances and entirely renovated bathrooms were the cherry on top of the whipped cream on top of the cake of this place.
While the garden was magical and the house beautiful, the real energy and soul of the place was the history of the family that lived there and grew up together there. In 1961, 50 years ago a young couple Del and Grace purchased the small home in Clairemont with the vision of raising a family in the beautiful town on San Diego. Over the next 50 years they did have the family they dreamed of having 3 boys and 2 girls – Christopher, Geary, Michael Leslie, Lisa and Denise.
I had the chance to meet with Lisa on various occasions and she filled me in on the history of the house and shared with me many stories about what happened there as they grew up. As she told me the stories, I thought back to my own childhood home and realized that selling the home must have been a very emotional experience. It was not just a house to them, but a place where almost all of their best memories happened. I felt honored that they would entrust us with something so special. Having viewed many of the homes that Tu was interested in, I had a chance to view lots of homes with very little soul or character – flips where sometimes unscrupulous buyers would buy properties cheap from distressed homeowners, do a few cosmetic changes and then try to sell the property for tens and thousands more than they bought it for. I think that is what made this house incrementally more special to me. It was a diamond amidst the rough housing market. Lisa told me the story of the garden and how her father came home from work each night and trimmed the trees and roses, how her mother had carefully selected clippings of special plants from places she had visited and planted them in their garden. Each plant held special meaning in this garden and things that would not grow anywhere else in San Diego defied the odds and grew in this backyard. Maybe the plants and tree’s grew not only on sun, soil and water but on love. Lisa mentioned to me that she began the renovations over 6 months ago and that it was an outlet for her after she lost her partner. I realized that this renovation on her families property was not about money but love. It was a labor of love for her father, her mother, her family and loved ones and for the memory of her childhood. This was about bringing the home to its most beautiful state before saying goodbye. Well it was quite touching and made me realize that this home must be taken care of and protected to protect the legacy of so much that has happened before.
The day before the closing – Lisa’s father came by the house to drop off a gift for Tu. It was a Buddha statue from a ruined temple in Vietnam. The statue was beautiful and we placed it in the center of the garden. It was the perfect place for the statue. The whole garden seemed to come together after this perfect and thoughtful gift. Later that day, I looked out in the garden and saw two hummingbirds playing and flying from tree to tree. As I watched outside, I thought to myself that this truly was a magical house.
http://www.frankiefoto.com/Photography/The-Magic-House/21655974_ss6tNJ
William Fitzsimmons tonight
I went to see William Fitzsimmons in San Diego again tonight. I have been a big fan of his music since he released an album called the Sparrow and the Crow and I felt it was a pretty influential album on the folk music scene. If you have ever seen William Fitzsimmons you know that he is known for his 1890’s beard style and soft singing style. Actually both of his parents were deaf and that is why he says that he learned to sing softly. Since there were never loud noises in the house he learned to play very quietly. William Fitzsimmons is a true artist and always sings his songs differently each time he plays them. Sometimes this can be a hit or miss strategy but in the case of his singing and style it is always beautiful. As an added bonus we got to see Chris, Vanessa, Tierney and Landry tonight at the event. It was a really great show and a great night.
Darla’s First Birthday
When you get older, years begin to blend into each other – one after the next and you can quickly find yourself amazed at how quickly time flew by. I think 2011 was no exception. It seems like just yesterday I was taking pictures of a newborn and tiny baby named Darla just a few days as her parents took her home from the hospital. That was last March and just this last weekend I had a chance to attend her first birthday party. It really felt like I had just gone through a time warp from 2011 and ended up in 2012 suddenly. It was an amazing day and one thing is for certain – the last year has been a lifetime for Darla while it was only a blink for me.
Darla is an amazing and very different baby. You know it the instant you walk into the room and see her. She is always smiling and laughing and watching everything around her and always eating, grabbing for or thinking about food of some kind. The Doctors say she is in the 85th percentile for babies her age and Darla seems motivated to reach that 99th percentile. Besides making a quite entertaining baby eating machine, Darla is always trying to hug everyone or share her food with them. It is the cutest thing to watch a baby that is so social and friendly to everyone around her. When I step back and look at the photos I take of Darla I am struck by the sense that she has already discovered that the most important thing in life is the close people in your life. She seems to have learned that at such a young age and it took me close to 40 years to discover what she has already found in less than 1. Needless to say she is the focal point of every family event.
Darla’s birthday was up in Los Angeles at Elizabeth’s (my sister) and Greg (her husbands) home. One of the most unusual things about the party is that there were probably about 10 other babies that had just turned 1 or soon would there. It was a one year old baby birthday bash. Darla provided the main attraction of the day eating a BabyCakes cupcake in the messiest and cutest fashion that you could ever ask for. Take a look at the pictures and be amazed at all the cuteness.
http://www.frankiefoto.com/Portraits/Darlas-First-Birthday/21834559_nPBp8w
