Ryan + Carrie

Several years ago I was strolling through a Portland park with an infant-Audrey strapped to my chest in one of those ridiculously long fabric harnesses. Her great walnut eyes were peeking out from beneath the rim of her little white bonnet and her arms and legs dangled loosely like a stuffed monkey that has been put on display in the shop window of a toy store. Suddenly a woman came up to me and tsk-ed. Literally, tsk-ed as though I had done something wrong! I turned around to see if I had unknowingly dropped a bit of trash along the sidewalk. I looked at her with inquiring eyes, but she didn't crack a smile. Instead she gave a short, sharp little nod and said, "That is too cute. It should be illegal."

I feel the same sentiment wash over me every time I look at these pictures - and it is compounded by a cool rush of relief and sisterly pride that the man featured in them is now, officially, as of two o'clock in the afternoon on September the 24th, RJA, Esquire. Extraordinaire. And his bride-to-be? Well, she's just extraordinary. Purely and simply.

Thank.You.

It was the moment before they ducked their glowing faces into the gleaming white car and waved goodbye. I stood barefoot on the paved road, my camera resting on some forgotten table or chair, just smiling and smiling. A thousand thanks go to Betsy, for her gorgeous touch!

A Living Work of Art

I hope it will not be perceived, in the eyes of the artist, my aunt, as an act of impertinence that I am displaying one of her unfinished pictures, but the portrait's subject - my grandmother, Frances Stallone Anfuso - is so lovely, the rendering so beautiful, so colorful, and so inspired, that I cannot help myself! It was pure dumb luck that I happened to visit her on the afternoon that she was painting it...

Wedding Snapshots

An Evening to Remember

The wedding fete is over, but the memory of my sister, dressed in white, walking across a lawn full of flowers, remains foremost in my mind. We are happy to be recuperating in a little rented beach house on Cedar Lane in Manzanita, surrounded by hydrangeas (thank you, Kate) and a quantity of blank canvas panels. I plan to spend the next six days reading, writing, and painting while the girls collect seashells and dip their toes into the gloriously frigid waters of the Pacific ocean.

A Shower for Kate