At the Beach House

After the day that was yesterday in all its surreal quality, taking in as it did some of life's great milestones, today Callum and I simply headed off to the Beach House, skirting through the mountains on a picturesque detour before descending to the Pacific Coast Highway. The sun was beautifully warm as we lathered ourselves in factor 50.

"Catherine", I heard and smiled as I was thinking Callum would think it funny someone was calling my name.

"Callum", I then heard and I turned around to see my Swedish friend Joanna and her boy Pablo, one of Callum's besties swimming. We swam a little together and then the boys enjoyed each other's company again. It's been a while.

And when they left and Callum's toes I stroked, he fell into a deep slumber clothed in my red dress. I sat for a while, virtually chatting to Karen (Little Moments) and Trudi (Scrumptious), then slipped into the perfectly warm pool just by where Callum slept. A little boy walked up to him sleeping and smiled, then brought his friend over to do the same, fascinated as they were by the patches of clothes and towels I'd used to fully shade him, then pointing him out to their mother. This went on for a wee while, each time, seemingly having more details to discover in the sleeping child that was my Callum. I mused on how beautifully relaxing a day I was having. This was our first swim since last Autumn, and I was sorry for that as I utterly adore swimming and the whole experience with my baby. Swimming with Callum, we began to sing the Hallelujah chorus as it was fresh in our heads from Church yesterday and Callum's face just beamed with happiness as I swished him through the water. I could feel my cheeks ache from smiling and laughing. If I only could have bottled up those moments for eternity, utterly divine.

And tonight, I'm preparing to capture the Aqualillies, the country's leading water ballet entertainment company, tomorrow. This is a big set of hair and makeup artists and I'll be creating images for their Meet the Lillie's glam publicity shots. It's a tough life sometimes. And I just can't wait!

In other news, I'm pretty much booked to be over in the UK in early August, shooting mini sessions in London on the weekend of 4th. Please do give me a shout if you're interested!

PS I can assure you, Callum's lips are untouched in every way other than the colors applied across the image when converting from RAW. They're just so red!