Abby and I spent much of the day in Duncan, Oklahoma. We drove the two hours over there to pick up our motor home, which we left behind after staying in it the weekend of the family reunion.

We had a nice visit with the host of the reunion, Judy Taff, the youngest of Abby’s nine aunts and uncles. Judy is an emotional woman, an outdoors woman, deeply and humbly religious, a hard worker even when she plays, and completely natural and uninhibited. She is one of those people who is so comfortable with herself that she never freezes or poses when I photograph her (unless I request it), and that itself is remarkably refreshing.

She and Abby talked for hours as I walked the dogs, took pictures, made a few movies clips, hiked Judy’s trails in the woods, and even took a short nap with the dogs in the RV. The afternoon was breezy and warm, and we were all comfortable outside on one of Judy’s ornately adorned patios, with wind chimes singing all around. They talked about sewing and quilting, about kids and old folks, about good times and bad. Abby and Judy both lost spouses to cancer, and they remember it together.