I take pictures. A lot of pictures, actually. Some of them I even quite like.

I particularly love taking photos of people. Small people especially. But I’ll take photos of just about anything. In fact, I can’t help myself. It’s a compulsion. I’m kind of a hoarder, but I don’t have much stuff. I hoard images. There are so many amazing things to see; I don’t just want to keep them, I want to share them.

I’m American. I’ve lived on three continents. I have four sons: one was born in South Africa, two in Vermont, and one in Western Australia. I have a degree in packaging engineering, and I’ve worked at that in the States, South Africa and Australia.  I’ve also made cheese for a dairy; owned my own small commercial bakery, making gourmet fruitcakes in a variety of flavors, mostly for sale to retail catalogs; I opened a craft shop and specialized in knitting; I owned a butcher shop and a post office. I build furniture, I knit, I love pottery, and I love making just about anything (except sewing. I hate sewing. I want to love it, but fabric hates me, so I hate it right back.) I wrote a book once, and got rejected by some of the best editors in the industry. I cooked dinner for Dom DeLuise, in my house. I used to barrel race. I want to learn to fly. I’m good at a few things, not great at anything, I love a lot of things.

There’s a lot of ugly stuff in my life; you don’t get to this age without baggage. But I’m healthy. My children are healthy. They are also beautiful, smart, talented and kind. I’m in love with them. There is good in every day, and a lot of times there’s even great. I cry, but I also smile a lot, and I laugh a lot, too. There are a few outstandingly amazingly awesome people in my life, and they are the ones who matter; all the others are just the blur in the background. You know that blur: the one that makes the image in the foreground pop all the more.

You get one life. I choose to enjoy every damn minute I can. I hope my photos bring you some of that joy, too.