The 100 Day Project, Day 59. Mike and I made several drives to Niagara Falls during the pandemic — it became one of our reliable escapes, close enough for a day trip and always worth the drive. I wrote about our Valentine's Day visit in the last post. This one was late summer of 2020, for a picnic and a long walk through the trails.

The 100 Day Project, Day 58. During the pandemic, Mike and I took long drives to survive. On Valentine's Day in 2021 we took the two-lane highways from Rochester to Niagara Falls. As is our tradition on long drives, we stopped for lattes on the way out of town, sipping and sighing as the miles swept by.

The 100 Day Project, Day 57. I love winter. I love the cold, the snow, the way a landscape transforms overnight into something entirely new. Western New York winters are long and gray and demanding — but they are also, if you pay attention, extraordinarily beautiful.

The 100 Day Project, Day 56. On Day 1 of this project I shared Wave Longing — a photograph made on a trip to Los Angeles with my friends Lisa and Mel. What I didn't mention then is how we three came to be such close friends in the first place. The answer, in large part, is Plush.

The 100 Day Project, Day 55. As soon as we could after the pandemic, Mike and I took a long trip, three weeks across the western U.S., stopping in Tucson, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Hawaii to visit family and friends. We called it our "Hugs and Hikes" tour.

The 100 Day Project, Day 54. Tucson has a way of doing this to you. You turn a corner and find a 1963 Imperial LeBaron in Mayan Gold — fins, whitewall tires, cream white details — parked in front of a vintage motel, looking like it just rolled off the assembly line and decided to stay. And then you notice the vintage black-and-white television sitting on the hood, showing a young Paul McCartney, and you think — yes. This is exactly right. This makes complete sense.

The 100 Day Project, Day 53. I love house museums. Not for the grandeur or the historical significance, though both have their place. I love them for the objects. You can learn more about a person from what sits on their shelves than from almost any biography.

The 100 Day Project, Day 52. She has no name. She is described in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's records as "a woman related to an artist" — possibly. The museum's documentation tells us a great deal about Frémin's career, his technique, his later work for the Spanish royal court. It tells us almost nothing about her. The woman whose face has been preserved in marble for over three centuries does not merit a name on the label. This is not unusual. It is, in fact, the rule.

The 100 Day Project, Day 51. Tonight I'm back in Philadelphia. Mike and I lived here for five years after grad school, while I was trying to build a career in museums. I spent a lot of time at the Philadelphia Museum of Art — learning the collection, hoping eventually to work there. I never did get that job.

The 100 Day Project, Day 50. Halfway. I am officially fifty days into this project — and about twenty days behind the participants who have managed to post every single day. I knew when I started that my life doesn't always allow for that kind of consistency. I decided to participate anyway, giving myself grace to show up however and whenever I am able. I have no regrets about that decision.

The 100 Day Project, Day 49. Mike and I travel as much as possible. When we married in 2014 we kept the wedding small intentionally — so we could take an extensive honeymoon. Nearly three weeks across Europe by train. Geneva to Italy, France, and England, ending in Scotland.

The 100 Day Project, Day 48 — Winning Tickets. If I ever win the lottery, I'm buying a Skeeball machine for my home. Full stop. Growing up, my mom would take my sisters and me to Chuck E. Cheese for our birthday parties. Skeeball was the only game I played on those outings — every single time, without exception.

The 100 Day Project, Day 47. Mike and I go camping as often as the demands of life allow. We tend to turn our trips into road trips — moving through new regions, staying a night or two in each place, stopping at as many national historic sites and landmarks as we have time for.

The 100 Day Project, Day 47. In 2007 I moved to Tucson — the gem of Arizona, tucked into the Sonoran Desert. A rich artist's town, home of the University of Arizona, and one of the most visually stunning landscapes I have ever lived in.

The 100 Day Project, Day 45. I love being on water. Doesn't matter much the vehicle. Sailboat, ferry, kayak, canoe. The water is the thing. I made this photograph on a sunset sail around the island of Vinalhaven in Maine.

The 100 Day Project, Day 44. The shore of Lake Ontario is 15 minutes from my front door. We go walking along the pier there, no matter the season. There’s a lighthouse at the end of the pier that we aim saunter toward and from. In the summer we have ice cream cones from the local beloved Abbott’s custard.

The 100 Day Project, Day 43. There's a magical place here in Rochester — tucked inside a dodgy building near Lake Ontario, where musicians have made pilgrimages for decades to browse guitars, amps, and everything in between. Welcome to the House of Guitars.

The 100 Day Project, Day 42. Participating in the 100 Day Project is helping me reconnect with photographs that have been sitting in my archive for years. I’m finding so much joy in unearthing these gems; many of them I am seeing in print for the very first time.

The 100 Day Project, Day 41. This photograph was made inside an aquarium at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, just outside of Tucson — in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. Finding an aquarium in a desert is unexpected, a small miracle.

The 100 Day Project, Day 40. I did not set out to make a metaphor. I was driving to Bisbee, Arizona — a funky little arts town tucked into the hills near the Mexican border. Mike was driving and I, camera in hand as always, was photographing through the windows, playing with abstractions and movement