Goodbye Winter

It's a glorious day and the windows are wide open. Spring is here which, after the real winter we had, feels just that much more delicious.

A real winter. I'm not the only one I've heard referring to it that way.

A real winter is something I enjoyed a lot this year. I spent my first 23 years in New York and New England, and some days this winter I felt that long ago sense of home. The cold was a familiar cold.

I was also reminded how beautiful a snowy manhole cover can be.

She's My Heart

Sitting on this beautiful love seat seemed ideal for a grandmother named Lovie Vanilla Hart King. Everybody calls Lovie, Lovie, including the woman sitting beside her in this portrait, Davita Galloway, who is Lovie's very devoted (and very stylish) granddaughter.

I've been working with Davita lately and one day in my studio she spotted a photograph of my greatgrandmother, Ada Alden. That sparked a long conversation about how important these two older women are in our lives.

"My grandma is my heart," Davita said, and you could feel how deep and true that was just by the way she said it.

I knew immediately that I needed to make a family portrait.

Last Friday when I went to Mrs. King's house to photograph her with Davita, I kept thinking what Davita had said. I asked Davita to sit next to her 91-year-old grandma and think about the phrase, "She is my heart."

Tuesday Afternoons

This is the Carol Winder, the woman next door who has brightened my life since I first arrived in Winston-Salem 15 years ago. I still remember the day I met her. I was busy unpacking when the doorbell rang. I went to the backdoor and there stood Carol holding a plate of homemade oatmeal cookies. Talk about Southern hospitality.

Carol turns 95 this month. 95! Getting around isn't easy anymore, but she stays busy knitting, reading, visiting with family and friends, and watching cooking shows.

Every Tuesday afternoon I get to see Carol when I go pick up the fresh milk and bread that her beautiful daughter brings me from a local food coop. Every Tuesday afternoon Carol's sitting on the couch, the big windows behind her, a smile on her face. Every Tuesday afternoon I am reminded how lucky I am to have such great neighbors.