i am not so good about sharing pictures of me anywhere. i have been trying to be better about it this year, at least on facebook.

it’s partly because people pictures are not my forte. it’s partly because i don’t take pictures of myself. it’s partly because – as is probably true of many people – i am too hard on myself and do not really like pictures of me. happily, i notice that as i grow older and wiser and kinder, i am less and less critical of myself in all ways, including in pictures.

just for fun, i thought i would share some today. i do know that it’s nice to see more of the person behind the blog and offerings. both photos were taken by my sister helen. (you can click on them to see the larger size.)

i picked these ones because the stories behind them made me laugh.

in the first photo, we were playing at being models. my sisters margaret and helen and i went to walk along a lake superior beach one afternoon because it was too chilly to swim. while we were walking, we passed my camera back and forth. at one point, we decided to play the model game. first, helen took pictures while margaret and i modeled. then, margaret took pictures while helen and i modeled. poor helen was getting very frustrated because she wanted us to keep a straight face – unsmiling – but margaret couldn’t do it without either laughing or looking strange. finally, helen gave in and let margaret smile. i liked those ones the best.

in the second photo, helen was trying to prove a point. i have tried to take a few photos of her from that same angle. i think i read somewhere that it’s a good one. whenever she could tell that that was the angle i was aiming for, she’d complain and make me stop. this was her attempt to show me why it didn’t work. unfortunately for her, i didn’t mind the photo so her plan was foiled.

(as a side note, modeling is hard work. the second photo was from another set where helen was making me model for her. she’d take a picture and then holler, “change your pose!” after maybe two poses, i had run out of ideas and could only do something random and awkward. it was pretty funny.)

(as another side note, this post was inspired by liz lamoreux’s latest adventures in creative self-care newsletter. are you signed up?)