Father and Son

Crane Beach, MA (June 26, 2005)

Italian parents are notoriously over-protective of their children. I remember going to the riviera Adriatica in the middle of July and having to wear a sleeveless shirt, just in case I would get a cold air draft... or, simultaneously, too much sun. And of course I could not even touch the shallow Adriatic water for at least 4 hours after lunch, to make sure everything I ate was thoroughly digested, in order to avoid fatal cramps and the inevitable drowning that would follow.

Playing in the rain

My understanding is that parenting in other countries may be different. When I was a graduate student in Cambridge, MA, one of my officemates was a father of three from Finland. I remember being kind of shocked when, in the middle of Massachusetts winter, he told me that he was bringing his kid to play in the frozen rain, as a measure for preventing them from getting the cold. My young italian self would have probably died at just the idea; I guess natural selection may play a role in all this. Anyway, the father in the large photo above was probably in-between the Italian and Finnish extremes: he did bring his kid to the Crane beach to play in the rain, but at least it was a rather warm day at the end of June. The kid survived.

I shot the the two photos above, as well as the panorama below, the same day as the photos in the previous post. Crane beach is very scenic in stormy days. Of course being so close to the water during thunderstorms can be hazardous, but fortunately that day, while the rain was intense, there was no lightning. We sheltered under one unoccupied lifeguard chair, taking pictures of the people frolicking in the water: the one cold ocean below, and the warm drops falling from above.

Crane Beach, MA (June 26, 2005)