Custom Made M&M Pillows

I made these large M&M pillows for a friend who loved eating M&M's. The fabric was a fake fur, stuffed with foam. The pillow on the right was meant to be a dark chocolate M&M and the one on the left a light chocolate one. My friend was totally surprised by the gift and placed the pillows on his couch, where they remained for many years.

Another time I made a large fake fur pretzel with sewn-on synthetic diamonds to resemble a salted pretzel. I made it for a friend who was a pretzel lover. I sewed onto the top a tiny identical pretzel representing a baby pretzel. I enjoy making whimsical specialized gifts for my friends.

Provincetown at low tide

I lived in Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts from 1970 through 1989. I spent many hours on the Harbor at low tide photographing the patterns the receding tides made on the sand. Some of these patterns reminded me of other worldly configurations. My favorite place to photograph was towards the tip of the Cape at "New Beach," where the tide was especially low and the sand patterns went on into the horizon. This photo shows one of many patterns. My bare foot is seen in the bottom right-hand corner of the photo.

View of 911 aftermath



Photo from a terrace on Manhattan's upper west side several hours after the attack, the black smoke still rising and fouling the air for miles

I was in my office in midtown Manhattan when we learned that terrorist planes came crashing into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. We were ordered to evacuate our building, and I hurried out with one of my co-workers. The streets filled with people fleeing, trying to find ways to get home. Vehicles were not allowed on bridges or through tunnels, and subways had stopped running. Many began the long trek to outer boroughs by foot over the bridges. I live in Queens and was terrified to risk crossing the bridge. My co-worker invited me to stay at her family’s apartment on the upper west side until I felt able to return home. When we got to her apartment, we looked out the windows at the black smoke billowing high above what used to be the World Trade Center. No phones, land or cell, were working, and my family and friends were unable to get through to find out whether I was o.k. It would be many hours until they could reach me. Towards evening, when no further attacks had occurred and subways began running again, I made the decision to return home. I wanted to be at home when phone service was available again. Taking the subway back home made me feel as though I was going through a war zone. I don’t recall ever being as terrified as I was when I finally risked that subway ride back home.