Photography – Bold, Slow and Intentional

Princess Leia entered into our life and turned it to a new page

Our family life never felt the same after Liam, our blond Maine Coon cat, had been returned to his first adopted family in Lexington in the summer of 2024. We returned him so that we can downsize from a 4-bedroom house in Campbellsville, KY, to a 2-bedroom apartment in Bowling Green where J1 was attending the Gatton Academy for gifted students in math and science and where D opened his financial planning office serviced by Commonwealth. We also wanted Liam to be united with his first adoptive “mother” and with the other cats living in her house. He had been restless, trying to leave the house on several occasions, and had shown a longing for being around more creatures like him towards the end of his stay with us. In Lexington, he ended up being reunited with his brother and old friends, which made us happy although we were sad about not having him with us.

During that gap year in Bowling Green without Liam, we were extremely busy going through many kinds of transition. We were also in the midst of the preparation for our big move east. D especially was under tremendous stress due to the threat of lawsuit from the evil Edward Jones Investments while simultaneously working extra hard to retain good clients so that we would have income. I and especially D suppressed any nostalgic emotion we might have had about Liam or our previous stable existence in our cottage on High Street.

Liam’s absence was finally and acutely felt after we have settled into our townhouse in Smithfield, Rhode Island. D felt it the most, I believe, because he always feels very attached to pets whereas I am more attached to people in general. I did not grow up with pets in my original family in Vietnam, which conditions me not to feel a need for and a strong bond with domestic animals. Liam changed all that as he restored me back to good health and humor during my seasonal illness bout that autumn when he came to us. Not only did he spend time keeping each of us company everyday but his presence, innocence and playfulness contributed immensely to the coziness in our cottage on High Street. We simply adored him–his good looks, charm and sweetness.

Liam’s absence partly led to D’s depression leading partly to the near breakup of our marriage. As our relationship was on the mend in May, we adopted Leia. Three days after she entered our house in Smithfield, our life together turned to another page, a fresh new page showing “writings” of renewal and new domestic joys. Thanks to Leia, this new chapter of our life, when both our kids are much older and we are officially in middle age, promises a return to cozy conviviality in our home and hearts. Although Leia is not as fluffy and innocent as Liam, she is equally playful, cuddly and affectionate with intelligent eyes.

A natural way to soothe the tense nervous system through a heatwave

We had a heatwave that lasted for 2 or 3 days some time this last June. Although most people here have air-conditioned homes and go to work in (sometimes heavily) air-conditioned buildings, I sensed people’s collective stressful anticipation and suffering of the excessively hot temperatures outside. I myself was most uncomfortable physically regardless of the existence of air-conditioning. Our home felt stuffy to someone like me who is not used to living in spaces constantly shut in and pumped with forced artificial air.

To help soothe my nervous system, since I’m hyper-sensitive to the collective stress and anxiety in my environment, and to ease my feeling of being shut in during those oppressive days, I decided to bring nature indoor. I would go down to our garden early every single morning to enjoy the fresher, cooler morning air and to cut hydrangea blooms for display in strategic spots in our home. The hydrangea blossoms were arranged and displayed where I would be most likely to not only look at them while passing but to gaze at and contemplate them as well. Something about the freshness and unspoiled beauty of nature that would always act as healing balm on my strained nervous system and weary soul.

Our late-spring indoor garden

Repotting these flowers in our home was tiring but gave me so much joy. I suppose this time I succeeded in exerting myself physically for beauty’s sake without damaging my health. It was a tremendous “win” that boosted my spirit, enhanced the look of our house and invigorated the feel in our home. I believe that, through many physical and emotional struggles throughout winter and spring, I finally achieved a sustainable sense of renewal by the end of this spring. It is fitting that my eventual triumph would be marked by the presence of flowers which are among my most beloved temporal things.

A spring moon

The faithful moon was my friend and witness through my tough winter and spring seasons filled with troubles and heartbreaks earlier this year. Just contemplating the moon would instantly soothe my weary soul.

Spring blooms

I have been obsessed with weather news lately. My own experiences living my life and observing the shifting moods of other people according to weather events have led me to believe that human beings’ emotions and behaviors are more fundamentally affected by climatic elements than we are aware of or are willing to admit. I started thinking about how weather phenomena affect our bodies, emotions, psyche and life activities 20 and a half years ago in Missouri, USA, when I went to the hospital to give birth to J1. The nurses there told us of a curious phenomenon being that many women would go into labor during snowstorms. I myself notice that there are usually more ambulances rushing on the street whenever there are inclement weather events such as heatwave, thunderstorm or snowstorm.

I especially noticed weather’s effects on people’s health and emotions while living in Kentucky where summer is hot and humid and winter is usually unpredictable. During summer in Kentucky, the atmosphere always feels heavy due to the oppressive high humidity, and the people themselves would look heavier in their bodies as well as feel miserable in their soul. The air would feel thick like transparent soup and the community would suffer a health slump. All my health problems leading to anxiety and depression started during summer 2018 during such a collective health decline. The summer mood of people in Kentucky would always correspond with the weather which would usually be stale and stagnant.

Along the same vein of how weather controls human health, emotions and behaviors, earlier this year, as the winter cold gradually gave way to a warmer spring feel in the air, the heavy burden of my marriage crisis started feeling lighter on my heart and mind. As the trees and flowers started coming back to life, D and I both felt that our relational wounds were on the mend.

As the sunshine became stronger and nature resurrected, we started doing what we do best: walking together hand in hand to witness the beauty of nature around us. We walked together on our lake trail to see the pine trees coming back to life and the saplings pushing their ways upwards through the earth. We took longer walks around our neighborhood and area to notice the budding of wildflowers or the flowering of plants in people’s gardens. In this area, spring showed off such exquisite flowers as peonies, rhododendrons, azaleas, irises and some others.

We especially took a delight in noting the budding and flowering in and around our own little garden.

A recap of winter and spring 2025 – 2026 – one of the most depressing periods of time of my life thus far

Winter 2025 started joyfully with absolutely no foreboding of the heart-breaking unfolding of events that was to come. D and I had fun browsing through the Stillwater Antique Mall to look for Christmas lights, ornaments and decorations. Our favorite finds were the singing dolls. For our Christmas tree, we had one fresh tree cut down at the Lockwood Christmas tree farm in Greenville near home.

We had a typically cold, stormy and snowy New England winter in January, February and March 2026. As befits the gloomy weather and desolate landscape, my emotional life was bleak and tumultuous. D and I had marriage troubles and I worked so hard to try to work out what went wrong and how to save our family from disintegration. It was for me a winter of despair.

Early spring was still very cold and windy, and my life still felt unsettled as I continued to have health and other problems after both D and I had succeeded in saving our marriage. There were some moments, however, when I felt briefly consoled by the beauty of nature. Some evenings were enlivened by stunning sunsets and the faithful moon.

After a traumatic and exhausting winter and early spring, I became depressed and severely anxious. As per my tradition every time I felt physically exhausted and emotionally helpless, I turned to God and consecrated religious people for help. I went to Portsmouth Abbey in April for a retreat. There, so as to uplift my heart to God, I joined the monks at Lauds, Mass, Midday Prayers, Vespers and Compline. To sooth the wounds in my spirit, I sat on a rock at Narragansett Bay for one whole morning. I also visited the cemetery to cry and lament at Father Paschal’s tomb. I tried to commune with God and nature anytime I could during my short stay at Portsmouth Abbey.

We came to Portsmouth Abbey for Mass after spring has reached its peak in floral glory and has imperceptibly begun its descent. At Portsmouth Abbey School, the students had already left for their summer holiday and we had the campus to ourselves for roaming around and taking photos. One of the most glorious spring flowers is indubitably rhododendron, and in nowhere else had we found more massive bushes of rhododendron than at Portsmouth Abbey.

Now spring is gradually giving way to summer. Here are some images of the early morning sun in late spring. I love waking up early in the morning and go down to the verdant lawn and misty lake to inhale the fresh morning air and feel the early morning sunshine on my skin. One time I even spotted an enormous snap turtle under the small Japanese maple tree in the front lawn of our townhouse complex. I saw me watching and started retreating back to the lake. I excitedly followed it down the stairs and even made a video of it going into the lake.

Boston Museum of Fine Arts

We visited the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to celebrate Jacob’s 20th birthday in March.

We found this museum large and richly furnished with many artwork, some of which are masterpieces, and artifacts from major world cultures. One visit would not be enough to browse through the entire collection.

The portraits

The religious artwork

Artwork of varied themes

The artifacts

The miniature house

The statues

The stained-glass panel

The wooden boat model

A Caribbean state of mind

Life moves slower in Guadeloupe than in the United States. Whereas Caribbean food is stronger in flavor, the people seem softer in manner. On the balcony of the guesthouse where we stayed, I experienced a flashback of my childhood in Saigon when time used to feel everlasting and people did not hurry. I also danced in the rain on that balcony, which I had done very often to enjoy myself when I was small in Saigon.

All was not well at first. We traveled to Guadeloupe after a few intensely stressful years in Kentucky, USA, and I took my anxiety with me. This inner anxious reality stopped me from enjoying the idyllic tropical scene unfolding around us that first Sunday evening there. We sat together at a beach restaurant to enjoy ice-cream (intensely delicious ice-cream), and I felt not a shred of joy about the undulating ocean in front of us. Young French holiday makers in skimpy clothes were all around us, talking, smoking, laughing and enjoying each other’s companies. Their relaxation and enjoyment couldn’t appear more foreign to me.

Little by little, I was invaded by an easygoing Caribbean feeling. One evening, as we walked back to our guesthouse from the small grocery store on the main road, after having picked up fallen mangoes on the side of the road for desserts later in our rooms, I looked into the guesthouse and saw our host and his wife cooking dinner together in perfectly silent companionship in their kitchen. Not too far in front of us was the ocean perpetually heaving up and down, and a slight breeze from that primordial body touched mine. At that precise moment, I was overcome by a sense of well-being I had not felt for a very long time. It was as if what was on the outside was being poured into my body and my anxious feelings were being washed out. It was as if I were being embraced by the angels. It was a short yet eternal moment of beauty, serenity and serendipity. Right then and there on the beach road in front of our guesthouse, in my heart and mind, I finally landed on Guadeloupe island.

The Caribbean Sea viewed from my airplane window

The many Caribbean sunset hues

Sea and shore

Some snapshots of us

A typical Caribbean dish

The Caribbean street vibe

These ladies were just standing there under the moon talking and swaying to the music played from the truck.

Why did we move to Rhode Island?

We moved to the state of Rhode Island in the region of New England after 12 years of living in Kentucky. 12 years was enough time for us to feel established economically and socially should we have chosen to stay, and we did feel quite comfortably settled in Kentucky for a good many years, especially when our children were small. During most of our time in Kentucky, we never thought we would ever move to Rhode Island. I had no notion of Rhode Island as a state and very little awareness and knowledge of the region of New England.

The United States is such a large country, its size being that of a continent, so oftentimes it is almost impossible for the busy people here to conceive of the realities outside their cities, states and regions. Unless one travels widely across the country both horizontally and vertically, ordinary Americans are not usually conscious of the largely divergent geographical features, customs and lifestyles existing in the different regions of America. For those who are aware of this diversity in landscape and culture existing in America, this singular feature offers a unique opportunity to relocate according to preferences in employment, climate, culture, lifestyle and cost of living.

A knowledgeable and well-traveled friend of ours, upon learning of our move, commented that it was a “big culture shift.” It indeed is. We made this major move from the Southern region of the United States to New England for many reasons ranging from education, employment, climate, environment and lifestyle to friendship.

Clean environment and clear air

Cleanliness is not one of the priorities for many people in the state of Kentucky. We lived in an apartment complex in Lexington when first moving to Kentucky from Vietnam. Many people living there have dogs and they would take their dogs out once or twice a day. They didn’t bother to clean up after their dogs, and the common grassy area was covered with dog feces. In Campbellsville, after some years of living there, we noticed that not only did people not clean up after their own dogs in parks and on walking trails, they also started littering everywhere from parking lots and parks to highways. It was disheartening for me at the time to see such a low level of civility and environmental awareness in my state of residence.

When we first moved to Kentucky, Spring and Fall were lovely and enjoyable seasons with cool, crisp air and gentle rain. Having just relocated from tropical Saigon, we welcomed the indoor coziness enabled by Winter and felt quite refreshingly excited whenever it snowed. J1 especially loved playing with snow. Summer was typically hot and humid, and winter could be quite cold, snowy and icy. I find the summer there particularly oppressive as the sky would turn hazily grey and the heavy air would cause dizziness and clamminess. As the years passed during our stay in Kentucky, the weather deteriorated into irritating windiness in all seasons, very stiflingly muggy summer and tornado as well as flooding threats during half the year. I happen to be one of those who are deadly terrified by tornadoes. Every time there was a tornado watch or warning, I felt so much anxiety that I could barely function. Therefore, after a few years of living with frequent tornado threats, we contemplated a major move vertically across the country much further away from the tornado regions of Midwest and Southeast.

Convenience of living – smaller is better

I believe that quality of life doesn’t just depend how much money one can earn but also depend on how much unstructured time, both free time and quality time, one can have. Having lived in the United States for over 15 years in total, I have witnessed regular Americans’ excessive love for cars and how driving takes up a lot of time during people’s days. I have decided that the typical American lifestyle centered on cars and driving is not for me. I would prefer to spend more time at home and in nature than in cars. I also would prefer to spend time doing things I enjoy rather than expend most of my energy trying to get from one location to another.

Rhode Island is the smallest state in the country, so it doesn’t take as long to drive within this state as in others with the exception of driving within or through Providence during work hours. However, like many big cities, Providence doesn’t have the quintessentially charming and quaint characteristics of a New England place. Except for some historic and rather high-end areas where locals enjoy fashionable shopping venues, art galleries, trendy eateries, boutique spas and especially European-style bakeries, Providence is a place to put up with for the working-class populace.

Concerning driving, typical Rhode Islanders consider 30 to 45 minutes to be a long time for driving and I would completely agree with that. There are some downsides to being in a geographically small area as public places can become crowded and parking spaces are very few, which requires planning if one wishes to avoid crowds or to find parking. But that is a lesser evil than daily long commutes and prolonged driving time on a regular basis. Extended car time leads to a sedentary lifestyle and unconscious avoidance of actual living with respect to spending calm, quality time in nature, with loved ones and doing enjoyable activities.

Colors of nature

Winter