I’m attempting something that is new for me. It’s a digital photography version of 3D assemblage art. I’m not sure if it’s done yet, or what it means. That’s typical of me. Some images reveal themselves to me as I work on them. As I add things, I often end up taking them away or moving them until it feels right when I look at it. This image has been on my “easel” for at least a month or more. I don’t know if it’s done or what it needs next so maybe you have some suggestions? Is it done?

It was initially inspired by the paintings of local Mequon, WI artist Michael Santini. Also influenced by the Sphinx Gate in the movie Neverending Story.

I am always drawn to actual 3D assemblage artwork, but I know nothing about the process and mindset of the artists. Seems that there is a gathering of found objects to start and then looking for objects that will go together aesthetically.

Last night I was thinking about the symbolism that may be working in my subconscious to bring certain objects to mind and reject others. The Internet is full of people attaching meaning to objects, dream dictionaries, superstitions, ancient symbols, and cultural traditions of objects conveying stories. Or sometimes a cigar is just a cigar!

The objects I gathered for my image and what they might symbolize to me:

• blue jay heads - Cyanocitta is like my nickname Cyn, citta chatterer, loud talker

• tiger faces - strength, courage, protection, focus

• silver spoon handles - sustenance, care, energy and limits (Spoon Theory)

• stained glass - sacred light

• flower - awakening, temporary nature of life

• two-headed snake - internal conflict, hard decisions

• monarch butterfly wings - transformation, personal growth, resilience

• red ball - anger, assertiveness, vitality, energy, power

• gold vines - grace, prosperity, dance, stories

• gold spot and ring - enlightenment, inner self

• sand - passage of time, impermanence, letting go

• white dress - women’s solidarity, sum of all colors, wisdom

• gateway - security, protection

Making this list was an interesting exercise. I’m not one to put meaning on a red cardinal in the tree or a penny on the sidewalk, but I do recognize what feels like me to my core.

What I didn’t figure out is what type of flower that is in the stained glass. And why did I attach spoon handles together and get rid of the spoon part? Why are the tiger faces wearing the end of the spoon handle like a fancy hat? Why don’t I have feet as I stand guard at the gate? Is that two-headed snake up-skirting me?!

The men in white coats may be coming to get me.

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The above link will take you to a podcast by Sandy Maxx of Milwaukee’s TMJ radio. It’s a long podcast but I’m only asking you to listen to the first 15 minutes because that’s when they’re talking about my Seeing Dementia series hanging at the Aquae Nguvu* Gallery alongside Terry Keller Nickolaus’s Chasing Moments paintings on dementia. Sandy Maxx is interviewing the gallery owner, Tony Nickalls.

*Pronounced: Ah-kway EN goo-voo

The part that stunned me was that they said how important this exhibition is in the art community according to two members of the staff at the Milwaukee Art Museum! I’m humbled and honored.

My experience at this gallery has been an exceptional one. I have sold a framed print of Masters in Memory Care #2 that shows Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol having lunch together at a modern memory care facility. Neither can remember what their masterpieces were, but they are acting on what gives them creative joy.

I was at the gallery this last Friday evening and Saturday afternoon for Milwaukee’s Gallery Night & Day, July 17 & 18. The foot traffic was busy both days! Many people looked at my photographs, turned to me, and told me their story of dementia in their life. Some were in tears over a particular scene, and some found the freedom to smile and laugh at the humor I included occasionally. I connected with strangers over our common experience of caregiving for a loved one.

The reactions to Tracy’s paintings were the same. Tears, recognition, and awe at her painting technique. Tracy and I are both working from the experience of taking care of our mothers. This coming Saturday, July 25 at 1:00, we will be at the gallery again for an Artist Talk. There will be a guest speaker from the Alzheimer’s Association to open the talk for us, speaking about what Alzheimer's disease is and what the Association's mission and vision are.

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My goal was to dress up like a little girl surrounded by my favorite toys, blowing a big bubble with bubble gum. The camera remote was in my right hand and I was all alone in the house. That meant I had to pose and then run over to the camera to see what it looked like. Over and over and over, making small changes each time. I firmly believed back then that it wasn’t my photo if I had someone else at the camera coaching me on my pose and clicking the shutter. I ended up picking the best pose and then Photoshopping in the best bubble.

I had a dream that a man came into my home and wouldn’t leave. I was really angry and decided to scare him by stuffing him into the microwave. I didn’t plan to turn it on, I only wanted to scare him so he’d leave. I set this up by stuffing a red shirt and jeans into the microwave, stuffing the pantlegs with rags and such, and adding boots. My husband helped with the camera while I posed. Patriarchy Cook-Off has been one of my most popular images to this day!

The scene was going to be a circus-type acrobat riding an eggbeater on a rope strung high across a canyon. I’ve had people tell me why this can’t be possible, seriously. They say eggbeaters only have one pedal and no wheels. But look! Here I am!

And they said it couldn’t be done…ha!

When the photo above was shot, I had only a vague idea about what scene I would make. I knew I wanted to change my head into a birdcage and perhaps put a bird on my finger. After that? I had no clue. I ended up with the photograph below.

Most viewers are both intrigued and baffled by this image. I start my explanation with blue symbolizing security and safety to me. This woman’s mind is like a blue birdcage that holds everything she was taught by her parents and society to be safe in life. Follow the rules and don’t take risks. Do what you’re told. But she has this thought, symbolized by the goldfinch, that doesn’t fit the mold. The yellow bird that wants to be free to fly away. Should she let it go and find out what happens or should she put it back in the cage and follow the rules?

On the same theme of choosing safety of the known over the chance of new discoveries that come with risk, I made another image fashioned after the old tapestry created sometime between 1495 and 1505 called Unicorn in Captivity.

The unicorn has a chain, but it isn’t actually attached to the tree. That is what always puzzled me as a kid looking at the tapestry. Why doesn’t the unicorn jump over the fence and run away?

In September 2020, there was the risk of Covid if we ventured outside of the safety of home. This was the perfect climate to take on this subject. With my mask on, I went to Home Depot to buy some wood. I asked my husband to build a fence around our baby beech tree that looks similar to the one on the tapestry. I put on an ivory-colored dress, grabbed my wooden recorder to serve as a horn, and wound a necklace around my wrist to symbolize the unicorn’s chain.

After 60+poses, I finally had one I could use. With Photoshop, I began to mask out everything but me, the fence, and the tree with every single leaf. Every.single.leaf. For days and weeks. Nose to the monitor. Hand clenched on mouse. Finally, I slipped in an image of a rug that seemed similar to the vibe of the tapestry into the background.

It’s no surprise that the push and pull of being risky or not has shown up in my art. It takes bravery to create images that aren’t mainstream pretty, to create crazy stuff from inside my head, and then proudly stand there, know I did my best, love what I made, and let opposing opinions be damned.

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You think my final scenes are weird and wild? I have so many photos like the one above, showing me capturing a pose for compositing into a scene I’m creating. This was back during the pandemic. I was down in my basement studio flirting with a recipe for disaster. I wanted to look like something was holding me in the air by my shirt. I used a hanger to hold up the shirt, and a remote in my right hand to click the shutter.

As I look at this final product, I realize how much I’ve learned in the past six years in Photoshop and how much better that software is now. I could easily remove the tip of the sink on the left as well as that basket. I now want to add faint reflections in the tile of the big hand and my little self to make it look more realistic.

Wearing my mother of the groom dress and holding up the bedroom lamp, I draped a bedsheet around me which was held up by the banister. I couldn’t get it to stay nicely draped. The remote for the camera is in my left hand, operated by my thumb. I was scrunching my toes because I was afraid of losing my balance and falling down the stairs and crashing into the camera and tripod. It was another recipe for disaster!

I Photoshopped the bedsheet to flow down to the pedestal. I hid my scrunched toes with my dress. The dramatic clouds and moon in the sky were from a photograph I took while out walking in Wisconsin, or maybe in my backyard? The flame on the torch is from flames in our fireplace.

Oh, you recognize the dress? Yes, thanks to photography I’ve been able to wear that dress at least three times! This pose was an attempt to look like a spy. I found that nasty looking roast injector at a vintage store. Since this scene was going to be approximately WWII era, I wanted to shorten the dress. I hiked it above my knees and got a separate pose of my legs. A little Photoshopping took that band-aid off my calf.

The background of this shot was taken at the Jazz Estate vintage bar in Milwaukee with my husband sitting at the bar in his suit and hat from our daughter’s wedding. Apparently, weddings are the only time we dress up! He does not smoke so I put a rolled-up piece of paper in his hand and added incense smoke later. The skull, wig and hat were different shots that I composited on to me.

The photograph of Headless Me hanging various heads of mine on a clothesline got a lot of attention! For the shoot, I hung heavy shoes on the line to simulate how the clothesline would look with heads hanging on it. I posed with wet hair loose or in braids, and different expressions. Thankfully my husband was willing to help so I didn’t get stuck out there! I also laid down with my head in the laundry basket different ways and packed the inside with a black jacket so the sun didn’t shine through.

I perched on the stand of a drafting table, box fan propped on a footstool blowing my hair, wearing fun socks and tennis shoes with Zentangle designs drawn on them by me a few years prior. I was aiming to create a typical pharmaceutical ad of two people of a certain age riding an exercise bicycle together through the countryside.

I had a good start with the costume and a library book for the Tooth Fairy. The skirt, wig, wand and crown were borrowed from friends. I bought the wings because making them myself was not happening! It turned out that some of the best details were added in post-production such as a jar of teeth, a jar of quarters, more library books, a tooth-shaped coffee mug, an official Tooth Fairy diploma for Dentella Floss, and dental office wallpaper. And yes, Dentella has Blue Tooth.

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Thank you to Kevin Hansen for capturing all the photos for this article.

Last night was the opening of a joint exhibition for my Seeing Dementia series and paintings by Tracy Keller Nickolaus entitled Chasing Moments. We have both been working, through our creativity, on our emotional connections to loved ones with dementia, sharing our stories and theirs. There is so much we have in common. The most amazing part is that we met for the first time last night!

Tony Nickalls, owner of Aquae Nguvu Gallery, had the idea to combine our work in one exhibition. I had heard of Tracy and have wanted to meet her for quite a while, so I was very excited by this opportunity. Finally, there she was in person.

Tony did an excellent job of curating and hanging our work. He was still hard at work with the last details shortly before the 5:00 opening. Kevin and I helped with putting gallery labels on the walls and assisting Annie the caterer with opening and arranging the food.

Tracy’s paintings are much larger than my photographs, but Tony hung everything in a way that kept the size difference from being too noticeable. To give you an idea of Tony’s challenge, the portrait of mine below is 25” tall. There is some distortion with the camera lens.

In the photo above, I’m looking into the eyes of a husband and wife. The husband is waiting for his wife to go to sleep before he leaves the memory care facility for the night. It amazed me how Tracy was able to capture the alertness of his gaze and give a more vacant inward stare to his wife. The emotions are there.

Despite the deeply emotional work that Tracy and I put into our images, there is always room for light-hearted laughter! Side note: I love all the textures and patterns in this photo.

Near the end of the night, Marjorie told me that she had purchased one of my paintings! Tony let her put the red dot on the gallery tag herself. She bought Masters in Memory Care #2, the one with Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol having lunch together at a modern memory care facility. That was my first exhibition sale.

What an exciting night!

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Let me say this first. This scene is not real. I created it. My gentle husband is not an abuser.

The injuries are real, but they are a result of me tripping on the sidewalk in NYC. I wrote about it on April 30 and all the gruesome details are there. Today I want to talk about how I took advantage of those real wounds to create a staged self-portrait about domestic abuse.

Amusingly enough, several friends saw pictures of my black eye and scraped face and thought they were make-up! They thought I was working on a new portrait. They saw the inspiration before I did. I walked around NYC for 5 days looked beat-up which gave me plenty of time to think about what strangers assume and why. I knew people were wondering if my husband hit me, maybe even broke my arm, he’s a beast, that poor woman, why is she walking behind him all the time, so submissive. [I walk behind him because it is nearly impossible to catch up to his fast pace and long legs! -Cindy]

But why? Why is that usually the first assumption? Why not wonder first if I fell or was in a car accident? Look at statistics, violence of men on women is so much more common than the reverse, although the reverse does happen. Each year, approximately 500,000 women are physically assaulted or raped by an intimate partner compared to 100,000 men.* If every victim reported their assaults rather than hiding it, the numbers would rise.

*Bureau of Justice Statistics - U.S. Department of Justice, August 2025

If you saw a man walking down the street with a black eye, scraped face and broken elbow…what would be your first assumption? Male to male fight? Bar fight? Car or motorcycle accident? Probably not that he was beaten by the woman walking with him.

In the scene above there several clues to this woman’s situation. Society says to women that they will be safe and happy if they find a man, settle down, go to church, and have babies. If you’re good, you will be taken care of and protected. If things don’t work out right, you must be doing something wrong. Be better, try harder, quit messing up.

The bed is tidy. She keeps it that way. It is a symbol of their relationship and their love. The crucifix hangs there above the bed. God is watching. Jesus sacrificed himself for you. Sacrifice your life for the good of the home. It’s the least you can do. Keep your mouth shut about the fights. He needs to keep his job. The only thing you have to do is understand all that he does for the family, do your part, do it right. Don’t interfere. Don’t talk to anyone. If he has to discipline you, then you asked for it.

She sits as far as she can at the end of the bed, away from the wedding portrait, the crucifix, and the pillows. She’s bruised again. He lost his temper. She messed up again somehow and she has to keep it all a secret. The house is clean. The lawn is mowed. The gardens are weeded and watered. The neighbors don’t know as long as the windows are shut, and the shades are pulled down. She must remain grateful.

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We flew to Laguardia from Milwaukee (after a 2.75-hour delay), rented a car and drove in the dark up the winding roads of Hudson Valley to Beacon, NY. Our hotel room was in Fishkill, NY, only 15 minutes away from our son, daughter-in-law and our precious granddaughter who has just turned one. We visited most of the day on Sunday. Monday was the day I was most excited for! I would babysit Lily all day while her mother gardened with Kevin in the backyard, and Mike got some work done upstairs.

Lily and I played with all her toys, tossed a ball back and forth, I read her books, sang songs to her, fed her a bottle before her nap, and took her for a walk at the park and into downtown Beacon.

Beacon is a cozy and beautiful town. It feels so perfect and protected from the craziness of the world beyond. An ideal oasis. We should have stayed there and never left. Hindsight is 20/20.

We returned the rental and took a taxi to our hotel in NYC on 5th & 35th to drop off our bag (kept on our heavy backpacks, remember that) and took a walk around. We grabbed some lunch at Mad Dog & Beans Mexican Cantina. Delicious!

Two blocks from there, my shoe found a raised lump of cement and sent me flying forward. I tried to break my fall with my outstretched right hand. All my weight plus the backpack was too much for my elbow, so it broke. The rest of my fall was broken by my face on the sidewalk. My memory of what happened after that is a bit hazy. A small crowd gathered to offer me tissues, a chair, and to call 911. An ambulance took me to Bellevue Hospital.

Bellevue is the oldest hospital in America. Their roots trace back to 1736 when a six-bed infirmary opened on the second floor of the New York City Almshouse. This was just four years after the birth of George Washington and 40 years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

From 2:00 to 9:00, I was tended to, checked for signs of a concussion, taken for a CT scan of my head and x-rays of my arm. Those x-rays were excruciating and I ended up crying a bit while breathing like a mother in labor through the pain. The Emergency Dept was so busy that they had us lined up along the halls and walkways everywhere. The last two hours were the longest wait as my attending doctor waited for the osteo specialist to tell him whether I needed a splint or a sling. Simple question, I thought. Finally, the answer came through to give me a sling and send me home.

Black eye, broken elbow, bruised hands and wrists, scraped nose/cheeks/chin, split and puffy lip, and bruised knees. No lost teeth! That was good.

We continued our vacation plans on Wednesday with a tour of the NY Library Reading Room and the Polonsky Exhibition of the New York Library’s Treasures. It included the original Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore and Kanga. That was followed by a walk to Grand Central Station to see photographs in the food court by Rob Stephenson, great documenter of NYC Neighborhoods. I didn’t have my camera along, so I took a one-handed attempt at video of his exhibit with my phone.

Then we walked through Central Park (stopped for a hotdog) to the Guggenheim. We saw these collections:

https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/carol-bove
https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/collection-in-focus-robert-rauschenberg-life-cant-be-stopped
https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/collection-in-focus-modern-european-currents
https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/thannhauser-collection
https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/gabriele-munter

I thought Gabriele Munter’s self-portrait looked like me with all the injuries on my face. She wore it better.

By this time, I needed to go back to the hotel to rest. Later dinner was at a noisy Irish Pub. I enjoyed the chicken pot pie and Kevin had the Shepherd’s Pie. Neither of us liked the noise which eventually was added to by Trivia Night. We would have like hearing Trivia and nothing else. Not an option.

Thursday, we started with the International Center for Photography which was smaller than I had anticipated but good. We stopped at a cafe for a quick “lunch on a stool facing the wall” before finding my favorite stop on this trip: The Tenement Museum. I have been wanting to see this museum for years, ever since I first heard about it. It was absolutely worth it! Our tour focused on the family of Joseph and Rachel Moore in Apt 4A.

“…Black New Yorkers who made their home in Lower Manhattan’s tenements in the 1860s and 1870s. Joseph Moore moves from New Jersey to Manhattan in 1857, his wife Rachel from Kingston, New York in the same decade. They lived in a rear tenement in today’s SoHo neighborhood, in a building with both Irish and African American New Yorkers. Years in the making, the Joseph and Rachel Moore exhibit traces Joseph’s history from his free Black community of Belvidere, New Jersey, through his family’s migration to New York City, and the community he and his wife Rachel built in their neighborhoods and workplaces.”

It was a long walk back to our hotel, so we stopped on the way at what appeared on the outside to be an Irish bar but was nothing of the sort on the inside. Just a dive. At the hotel we searched for a place to eat dinner. The BBQ place was too noisy, so we kept walking and decided on Hyderabadi Zaiqa. The minute I walked in the door I knew I was in the right place. Looove the smell of spices in an Indian restaurant!

Friday, I was eagerly looking forward to meeting my friend and photography colleague Susan Gordon in person for the first time! We took an online class together taught by the incredible Aline Smithson. A few women from the class have continued to stay in touch regarding our photography, several times a year. Susan and I grabbed the chance to meet when we found ourselves in NYC at the same time. The AIPAD Photography Show 2026 was on at the Armory. It’s like the Mecca for photogs!

It wasn’t hard for her to spot me with my sling and black eye. We hugged and marveled at how special it was to have this time together in such a photography-soaked place. We saw as much as we could while still trying to talk to each other.

Kevin and I spent the rest of the afternoon together having a sandwich, walked to Madison Square Park to sit in the sunshine and people watch. Later we somehow ended up at another noisy sports bar. I suspect there is no such thing as a casual bar with food, drinks and quiet. What were we thinking?! Kevin was pretty sick with a cold by this time, and my injuries were wearing me out. We just wanted to go home.

Saturday afternoon, we flew home. My ear clogged up during the flight and a cold settled deep in my chest. We were a mess when we walked in the door of Home Sweet Home.

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“Artistic Representations of Aging is an annual event hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Helen Bader Office of Applied Gerontology that highlights resilience in the older adult community through photography, film and music.

This year’s event spotlights the work of award-winning Wisconsin photographers Cindy Hansen and Guntis Lauzums. Local harpist Ann Lobotzke and UWM student Diego Medrano will provide music for guests.” - UWM Helen Bader Office of Applied Gerontology

It was an honor to be invited back again this year to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to show my latest photography work on Resilience in Aging and speak about it. I also sold six more copies of my Seeing Dementia zine.

In my speech, I mentioned how being invited back inspired this latest series. It was such fun to play with positive interpretations of resilience, compared to the difficult and emotional work of my Seeing Dementia series. I ended my speech by saying that I have just entered retirement, so I have all day to play with my camera and produce so much more. I warned them to "Be prepared!" They laughed.

The evening also included a premier Milwaukee screening of a film about three artists who were/are highly creative and successful as they aged. All three mentioned how they were as children and how their artistic selves were evident and supported back then. They also discussed the differences they experience now at this age, a sense of freedom to indulge in their art, and to keep creating for the rest of their lives. I found it inspirational and motivational.

The film was followed by a virtual panel discussion with the filmmaker, the co-director and cinematographer, and one of the artists, writer Betsy Cox from Tennessee. There were fantastic, thought-provoking questions from the audience and answers from the panel. After the panel signed off, the leaders of this event asked questions of the audience which sparked more ideas and more questions. I loved being in the middle of that and mulling over everything that was said.

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Week 52, the last week starting today, the theme is to pick my favorite photograph that I made during this 52-Week Challenge. I chose this one from Week 24: Night Photography.

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This simplistic little scene of me in the Fisher Price A-Frame House, having umbrella drinks with the armless mom figure, somehow evolved over two years. I was learning a lot about Photoshop during those years.

The whole idea started by scrounging around the basement’s playroom looking for possibilities. My husband brought every Fisher Price toy he had as a kid into our home back in 2004. We created a playroom in the basement for our friends’ kids and, maybe someday, grandkids. The A-Frame appeared to be made for photographing a scene because the whole side of the house raises up and exposes both floors.

20-some shots later, I had the final pose for me but definitely not for the house.

The perspective of the house didn’t match the perspective of my pose. With my limited Photoshop skills, I tried to make them fit together. Force them! Just like square pegs in round holes, I either needed a bigger hammer or go back to the drawing board. I put it on the back burner.

A year later, December 2021, I tried shooting the house again.

Better angle on the perspective! She needed her own drink with a bent straw, because she has no arms, poor thing.

I took a picture of the dog and Photoshopped it at her “feet” if she had any. There was no reflection under the dog like there was for the chairs and table. I figured out how to make one all by myself. I copied the bottom half of the dog, rotated it upside-down, and positioned it exactly under the dog. Then I lowered the opacity of this layer to 25%. Oh my god, it worked! I didn’t expect that. Go me!

This woman needed a family portrait on the wall in her kitchen, so I made one. I photographed the group in a circle, some standing on Lincoln Logs to be taller. I stretched out the legs of the sister to hide what she was standing on in the final shot.

I photographed a frame of some artwork by my father-in-law and used it to frame the Fisher Price family.

The final step was to paint in shadows in the appropriate places to match the lighting on the family portrait hanging on the wall, me in the chair, and the dog in front of the table. Before printing it in 2022, I tweaked the brightness and the richness of the colors while smoothing some of the noise.

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In the spirit of public libraries, this new publication is FREE to everyone always!

Please click on the link above and subscribe. Thank you!

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re·sil·ience (rəˈzilēən(t)s) noun

1. the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

Resilience in aging is the capacity for older adults to adapt and recover well from adversity, stress, trauma, or significant challenges (technology, health, politics) encountered during later life, in order to maintain or regain physical, mental, and social functioning, ultimately leading to a higher quality of life and successful aging.

Humor and playfulness are wonderful medicine for the brain and the heart. It raises our spirits and makes socializing fun. As we age, we care less about what anyone thinks of us which motivates us to takes risks of looking or sounding silly. Speaking for myself, anyway, being ridiculous is the best part of my day!

I will admit that I laugh even when I’m alone. Bad singing in the car, remembering a joke and laughing out loud to the empty house, doing something lame or goofy and laughing at myself. But getting a laugh from someone else is the frosting on the cake. It’s pretty rare for a day to go by without me finding a way to make someone else smile or laugh. It’s my superpower.

Dressing up as a clown is something I’ve done before, and I won a prize for it at my office’s 2019 Halloween party in the costume competition. When younger, I used to be embarrassed or anxious when I wore a costume at work for Halloween. What if nobody else does and I look like a fool?! After I turned 60+, I no longer cared if I was one of the few.

After the four previous portraits of Resilience in Aging, I was having trouble coming up with another. None of my ideas sparked joy or meaning until I finally remembered my clown make-up. That’s it!

I gathered colorful, crazy clothing and scarves, brought out my jack-in-the-box prop, lamented the loss of my frizzy blonde wig that I gave back to Goodwill, and pulled out all my face paint the has been in the back of the bottom drawer in the bathroom for 6 years. Like my skin, it’s not quite as smooth and slick. My hand isn’t as steady as it used to be. I kept trying until it looked good enough. A bit messy but who cares? Granny is doing this for laughs!

I worked on gathering other props from other photographs like the stage, curtains, a dog with a bowtie popping out of my jack-in-the-box, a cat with a jester hat balancing on a big orange polka-dot ball, a bouquet of balloons, and a vaudeville-type sign to announce Granny the Clown. She could be in a community talent show.

I composited together parts of the scene, shifted them around, cleaned them up, and painted in the shadows. I spent a few days fixing some spots that didn’t show up until I enlarged it to 16 x 20. I printed it out and was very happy with the richness of color!

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re·sil·ience (rəˈzilēən(t)s) noun

1. the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

Resilience in aging is the capacity for older adults to adapt and recover well from adversity, stress, trauma, or significant challenges (technology, health, politics) encountered during later life, in order to maintain or regain physical, mental, and social functioning, ultimately leading to a higher quality of life and successful aging.

The thought occurred to me that when older folks learn something new, it is good medicine for their brain functioning and their spirit. Resilience shines with music! Instead of learning a gentle instrument, it is way more amusing to portray a “little old lady” blasting away on a trumpet.

I put out the word to my local peeps in Facebook recently that I was looking for a trumpet to borrow for a photo shoot. My friend and fellow photographer Carl Hartt offered his cornet which turned out to be a perfect size for me.

I dusted off an old green chair from our basement storage and put it in my studio on the oriental rug along with the cornet case. There was no music stand, no music, and no room to convey a place for this woman to practice. A brochure in the case showed me how to hold it. I wanted to purse my lips on the mouthpiece and puff out my cheeks like Dizzy Gillespie. I crossed my eyes to show how hard I was blowing. I like those little gags in my portraits to reward those who take the time to look at everything I added to the scene.

Next, I took my lights and tripod up to the family room to use our fireplace as the back wall of her practice room. The stereo is there too which adds more music to this space. I changed the carpet below the rug and the paint color on the wall in Photoshop, to look a little classier than our worn-out carpeting and plain white walls. I took the door out and put a fiddle leaf fig tree there instead. I found a photo of a music stand and fashioned a brochure “How to Play the Cornet” for her.

Last, I painted in some shadows where necessary. A few clone fixes were needed because I try to be closer to perfect if I can. I spent about 20 hours on this photograph by taking two days off from work.

Side note: the stone lithograph above the fireplace was drawn and printed by my father-in-law Harold E Hansen on his own turn-of-the-century press.

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**Those of you good with numbers may notice that I skipped Week 39. The theme was Lens Flare, and I failed in all my attempts. Sunbursts I can do, but true lens flare…no.

*See the completed portrait and explanation here: Resilience in Aging #2

If you are interested, here are links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

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re·sil·ience (rəˈzilēən(t)s) noun

1. the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

Resilience in aging is the capacity for older adults to adapt and recover well from adversity, stress, trauma, or significant challenges (technology, health, politics) encountered during later life, in order to maintain or regain physical, mental, and social functioning, ultimately leading to a higher quality of life and successful aging.

Recently I shared a portrait I created with the topic of resilience in personal relationships as we age here, called Waiting for the Perfect Man.

Next, I created a portrait on the topic of resilience with technology here, which hasn’t gotten a title yet. I need to work on that.

This week I have come up with Dancing! As we age, we need to keep moving, celebrating, dancing, and singing. Dress up, get out, socialize and moooove!

I started this shoot by putting on a gray wig, a loud dress I got from Goodwill along with a red hat, and going down to my basement studio. Then I asked my husband to put on one of his Hawaiian shirts and dance for my camera. I pulled out a boombox that I had about 35 years ago, cleaned it off and set it down in my studio. Great way to get the exact perspective that I needed. Since I live in Wisconsin and it is a fiercely cold 2026, I opted for a free stock photo of summer by the shore. I tweaked the boardwalk and the shoreline. Perhaps these two are a couple of Florida snowbirds at their winter seaside home, dancing on the deck to Led Zep or the Violent Femmes.

Other examples I could work on? Resilience with:

• Transportation

• Health

• Socializing

• Food

• Money

• Family

• Other?

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Last night we had our first experience with a Hygge (“hooga”) Party.

It’s a Danish custom “…about taking time away from the daily rush to be together with people you care about - or even by yourself - to relax and enjoy life's quieter pleasures. Typically, the setting is at home or another quiet location, or perhaps a picnic during the summer months. It usually involves sharing a meal and wine or beer, or hot chocolate and a bowl of candy if children are included. There is no agenda. You celebrate the small joys of life, or maybe discuss deeper topics. It is an opportunity to unwind and take things slow.” —denmark.dk

This party checked all the boxes: old and new friends, a few children, conversations, laughter, music, hot chocolate, wine, beer, games, a fire to gather around, and a hill for sledding. We dined on a baked potato bar, meatballs, vegetables, desserts and candies.

Kevin and I played an arcade-style Star Wars pinball machine (digital), and learned how bad we are at that and the tabletop shuffleboard. Enjoyed the games anyway while listening to music on vinyl of Bowie and Led Zep’s Physical Graffiti.

Before leaving, we stopped by the patio fire pit to chat. Despite leaving my hat and gloves in the car, I wanted to sled down the hill. It’s been years and I always love doing that. It is as fun as I remember! If I had the hat and gloves, I would have gone down several times. In the short video above, I’m at 41 secs. I fell came off my sled, got back on, and went the rest of the way. I followed the instructions to lean to the right and stick out my right arm to steer to the right to avoid the trees.

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re·sil·ience (rəˈzilēən(t)s) noun

1. the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

Resilience in aging is the capacity for older adults to adapt and recover well from adversity, stress, trauma, or significant challenges (technology, health, politics) encountered during later life, in order to maintain or regain physical, mental, and social functioning, ultimately leading to a higher quality of life and successful aging.

My latest staged self-portrait shows a woman replacing the power supply in her PC. She’s not calling the Geek Squad or her nephew. She’s figuring it out because she can! Part of keeping her brain in top shape is to research, learn, and figure it out.

She does her own taxes, figured out the Social Security and Medicare maze of paperwork, and successfully drives to places she’s never been before. Those things are harder than taking technology by the horns, looking up the instructions and following them.

And if she fails, she can take a deep breath, a nice walk, and try again.

Plan B is to know when to ask for help.

Find some young person in their 50’s and make them feel useful!

PS: That paneled room does not exist. I created it in Photoshop after taking the photo of myself in my studio. The quilting was a wall hanging made by my mother. The wooden T.S. Eliot sign was given to me at a friend’s 50th birthday party.

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re·sil·ience (rəˈzilēən(t)s) noun

1. the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

Resilience in aging is the capacity for older adults to adapt and recover well from adversity, stress, trauma, or significant challenges (technology, health, politics) encountered during later life, in order to maintain or regain physical, mental, and social functioning, ultimately leading to a higher quality of life and successful aging.

In my new photograph above, this woman has never been in any hurry to find a man, to marry, have kids, and do everything else that society says she “should.” She won’t settle for a man who is looking for someone to replace his mother or be a maid. The old house and the peace sign indicate she has lived here for decades.

Fact: The perfect man does not exist. The perfect woman doesn’t exist.

I put her in a wedding dress to convey the idea that she is waiting for the perfect man to marry, and the wait is endless. This bothers me as the creator because I feel like I compromised my beliefs by making it seem as if that’s the ultimate goal for women. It is not. Speaking for myself, my goal is to be the best, most creative, and kindest person I am able to be and to live a fulfilling life. Marriage has nothing to do with that.

Side note: upon seeing this portrait some friends and family worried that something is wrong with my marriage to Kevin. Everything is fine, no worries!

Yes, this is a staged self-portrait. I’m in character as an old lady, scrunching up my face to look as old as possible. The pose was taken in my studio in 2020, playing dress-up with my 1980 wedding dress and veil. I desaturated my hair with Photoshop to turn it gray. That cane is my dad’s. The house is one I photographed from the sidewalk several years ago. The chairs on the porch were empty. I composited me into an empty porch chair.

Next (week?) I will have a new photograph in this series in which an older woman is replacing the power supply in her computer. Resilience over rapidly changing technology!

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On New Year’s Day 2025, the skeleton I received as a photo prop gift from my husband for Christmas 2024, was found napping in the bed.

My daughter gave me a special spoon crafted by a blacksmith to use in my morning tea ritual. I have reusable muslin drawstring tea bags, pottery mugs, a variety of teas, local raw honey, and (new this Christmas) a tea bag squeezer, so I don’t burn my fingers.

In February, I completed my second Forgiveness portrait, starring my friend Pat as the forgiving grandma and Hazel, the daughter of another friend, as the remorseful granddaughter. Hazy did the actual paining on my studio wall and had a blast doing it! The painted wall, carpet, and door you see are actually there in my studio. I brought the plant down from the living room so I wouldn’t have to photoshop all the leaves and shadows. The wall on the left, the artwork, and the furniture (except the rocker) was all shot in the living room and composited into the scene. The paints, rags and markers were added in later. I used different parts of different poses of the two people to complete the pose I wanted. I call that “Frankensteining” them together. I painted in the shadows.

Later in February I traveled to New York to attend my daughter-in-law’s baby shower for our first grandbaby. When waiting for a train in Grand Central, I was approached by Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York. Biggest thrill of my life!! He interviewed me, took several photographs, and then helped me catch my train. I wrote about it after his post went live on Instagram and Facebook, and my life changed: May 4, 2025.

Our granddaughter was born on March 24. We flew to meet her at the end of April when she was a month old. Her parents were extremely tired, and I was more than happy to hold her for hours at a time!

On May 2, 2025, I was invited to exhibit five of my Seeing Dementia photos and speak about them at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. The Resilience in Aging event was hosted by the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare. Coincidentally, just two hours before my speech, the Humans of New York (HONY) post about me went live and the notifications started pouring in from all over the country. I was already anxious about speaking and now I was overwhelmed by the sudden attention. To this day, I still get the occasional notification when someone comes across the HONY post. Today Instagram shows 86.3K likes but who’s counting?

May 5 - How old is Cindy? This many!! (sixty-six)

Three photography salon friends and I exhibited our work from May through July at the Aquae Nguvu Gallery in downtown Milwaukee. We gave our artist talks on June 7.

In May and October, I organized and ran two portfolio review sessions for the members of the Coalition of Photographic Arts (CoPA) at the East Branch Library in Milwaukee. The professional reviewers: Barbara O’Brien, Paul Calhoun, and Steven Sellars for May; Emma Hintzman, Annemarie Sawkins and John Sobczak for October.

All summer I have been working on two photography projects. One is making portraits of people who are posing as members of The Resistance, holding or sitting with objects that symbolize what matters to them and/or what they are worried about losing as our country takes some serious steps backward from the progress we’ve achieved before the current administration.

The second one is about taking photos of every single Wisconsin Public Library. I’m traveling around the state taking pictures of the outside and inside of each library. I post about them here in my Substack when I can. I include some history and fun facts about each one. This project will go much more quickly when I retire from my paying job in 2026.

I’ve also been running this 52-week Photography Challenge, which started in April 2025 and will end in March 2026. Each week has a different skill to learn as a photographer, and participants post their best shot of the week on Insta & FB tagged with #copa52week. This week’s challenge is “back lit” photos.

CoPA had a juried exhibition entitled Atmosphere at the NAdiaNA Art Gallery from the end of October to mid-December. It is a Middle Eastern woman-owned gallery. My husband Kevin and I are pictured above with owner Nadia Al-khun and her husband Ahmed Obeidat.

On to 2026! Happy New Year!

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If you are interested, here are links to Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

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