this woman,
my (sasha here) grandmother,
the one and only,
jean ritter,
turns 90
june 30th, 2013.
chi-lin & i have been wanting to
shoot photos of my spirited,
witty, bold, sassy, beautiful,
one-of-a-kind ‘nana’
for quite some time.
during my last visit to CA in february,
we made it happen.
the following is what we captured.
this was shot was taken after
nana suggested doing a
‘hug a tree day’ pose in her front yard.
believe it or not,
she started out the shoot with us feeling very shy,
asking, ‘now, why would anyone want to see photos of me’? &
‘sash, what are you going to do with these’?
as you can see,
she quickly morphed into
quite the lively model…
suggesting poses left & right,
keeping US on our toes.
i’ve always loved nana’s home:
she shared it with my grandfather,
‘papa’ (bill ritter),
for most of their lives.
papa passed away a few years ago,
but nana, after never having lived alone
& having been with papa since the age of 18,
decided she’d like to give solo-living a whirl-
she’s also nearly blind but
insists on walking daily,
& finding routes to the bank, post office & nail salon
that avoid crossing busy streets so she can
maintain these small measures of independence.
my nana also
‘reads’ many books on her big burgundy couch
using a braille institute issued tape player.
my dad & my uncle were raised in this home
& i have many memories of childhood visits
to their backyard
to gorge on oranges fresh from their two huge trees.
nana’s home is simple, light & filled with
mementos from a life lived fully.
the best kind of home in my opinion.
beauty at 90.
makes the heart swell.
until next time…!
LMNOP
