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My Home Life?

My family really is everything to me. I like to visit my Father every year for a week or two if I can (he lives in Boulder, Colorado). For most of my college career, my Mom lived in Laguna, California. This was hard on me, because I only got to visit her every couple of years. In 1996 she moved back to Pennsylvania to Venango County, and I could visit her just about every other weekend while I was still living in State College. Now, of course, I live in Philadelphia. The drive is seven hours, so I only see her every several months. I’m also crazy about my younger sister, Brandi, who was living in Alaska for four years, then in Petersham, Massachusetts, where I got a chance to visit her a couple of times on the farm where she was living and working. Now she resides outside of Asheville, North Carolina, and I have not had the opportunity to get down there yet. She is the coolest sister, and a fantastic mother.

It all started when we were kids...

This is my sister, Brandi, and myself when we were about four and five years old, respectively. We lived in a house on Mercer Road in Franklin, PA. It was a white trash neighborhood. Our parents bought the house because it was very affordable (due to the lousy neighborhood) but still within the "best" elementary school district in the neighborhood, Sandycreek Elementary (where all the doctor’s kids went). We had a huge yard. Like me, my parents are not all that into lawn maintenance, so we lined the entire border of the yard with hemlock, spruce, fir, and pine; we also had a huge garden; and we forested about an acre of what was left, leaving only the small portion of front yard lawn right in front of the house (what you see in this picture) and a big open lawn in the backyard for playing football, soccer, and anything else you could imagine. It was a magical childhood.

Here I am with my Mom and Dad and both sisters in the swimming pool in the retirement village where my Grandmother lives. This was probably taken around 1980 or so, so we’re all extremely young and adorable. That’s me hanging off of my Dad’s shoulders; I was always the water-baby, and have been swimming since I was about six months old.

This is my youngest sister Katya when she was only about three years old, playing with one of the puppies. Our dog Furball used to give us about one litter every year. I believe this was the New Year’s litter, born on January 1. The doghouse was not so much a doghouse as a sweet apartment under the porch. It was always stocked with hay, and there was always a warm doggie body (if not more), so that even on a cold winter’s day it made a safe haven for a child seeking refuge. It was a wonderful hide-out anytime one of us felt like running away, but not too far.

This is Katya when she was about five or six years old, still in Franklin, Pennsylvania. This was shot in autumn, with the leaves at their peak colors. October was always a spectacular display in my hometown. What Franklin lacked in attractive people it made up for in autumn foliage! And what a cutie Katya is! Hard to believe she’s grown up to be a post-adolescent delinquent who makes occasional appearances on the Howard Stern show.

This is my father, Bill. He’s a pretty cool guy with a fun sense of humor. During the summer we like to hike around the Boulder, Colorado, area, where he lives. I’m hoping that sometime next year we can actually maybe do an extended hike through the Rockies. Also in this picture is his girlfriend Carol and her daughter Hannah. This picture is several years old... Hannah is rapidly approaching the dreaded teenage years, and meanwhile the rest of us are wondering, "Will he ever propose to Carol?" Carol introduced me to sushi (which I now love) and also got me hooked on iced cappucinos. Well, there are worse habits to take up!

This is my Mummy, Susette, with her six-year boyfriend in Laguna, California, James, as well as Katya, here pictured as an eighteen-year-old sex bomb. Mom is no longer with James, but they are still close friends and write one another. James and I also write periodically. He’s a very intelligent, talented guy with a nice laid-back personality (how else could he have tolerated us for so long?).

This is my sister Brandi in high school. We used to model for a photographer friend of ours, and this is one of his pieces. Good composition, lighting, color... not to mention a very eager model (even after she gave up being trendy and went totally granola, she still loves to find her way into the lens... we’re all hams in this family!).

Here is Brandi with her baby, Aurora, in Alaska (just outside of Portage). Also in the photo is Mum and Fred, Mum’s husband. This was in September, 1996, just three months before their wedding. We’re standing on a deck over a stream filled with migrating salmon.

This is another shot from when Mom and I went up to Alaska to visit Brandi and Aurora. This is the flower garden outside of the bake shop in Girdwood where Brandi worked. The flowers are really incredible, sometimes as big as a small child’s head!

See more family photos!