“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 615 (Sunday)

Coggshall!

One group’s ordinary Sunday playing Pokemon GO in the park is another group’s family unplugged day in the same park. For my family, as it was for several others, it was a family photo day, although there were many of the Sunday Pokemon Go folks wandering about.

The plan was to meet  in Coggshall Park, the 250 acre gem of Fitchburg. The objective was to take photos of my niece Shannon and her beau Britt for their Christmas cards. Photos with her immediate family were also planned. 

There were photos in the gazebo with the stone house in the distance and then on the other side of it with the woods in the background. We walked around to the opposite side of Mirror Lake over by the benches across from the gazebo. There were photos on the steps of the Stone House and up on the porch. It was a little chilly, but not completely awful. The red roof of the gazebo is very faded from the sun beating on it constantly, but the most disturbing element of the whole time was the very bright white sky. We called this particular sky "nuclear white" in my old photography class, but schedules are tight, the younger folks are in town from Vegas for only a week, and this was the day, so there would be no waiting for a blue sky.

And then they were engaged.

After the other sites, we returned to the gazebo to get a couple more shots we missed because other people were waiting for the space while we were in it. Plus, there was one more big secret event to happen there, because one family’s Sunday of photos was also a day for a major life event. When Britt took a knee, produced a diamond ring, and proposed, there were happy tears. 

The official act had already been cleared and blessed by the parents, and carefully mapped in advance. At the conclusion of the proposal, there was cheering from high up on the rock at the top of the hill where Shannon’s two besties had been hidden amongst the trees, observing and recording.

It was a great afternoon. Exciting times!