Lydia's porcelain

"Last October [2012], my dear friend, Lydia invited me to celebrate Thanksgiving with her family in rural Pennsylvania ... It was an honour for me to be part of this annual gathering. A time to give thanks. We were going to be twelve for dinner. Lydia mentioned that she wanted to use paper plates rather than her limoges china. A practical decision. On Thanksgiving morning I awoke early. The house was silent. I walked through the empty rooms thinking about friendship, about family, about children on the brink of adulthood, her aging mother. I discovered the porcelain in the dining room cabinet, an exquisite wedding gift, glistening in its mysterious beauty. I began to consider how we spend the first half of our lives raising our children, working, creating a life, accumulating possessions--and the second half of our lives watching our children define their lives, while we try to simplify ours, and part with many of our precious, possessions"--Artist's statement at the Vamp & Tramp Booksellers' website, viewed on February 17, 2016.