okay, so i probably should have titled this post “mountain fairy” — singular. (other than natalie, i don’t exactly foresee the members of this family dawning tutus or fairy wings any time soon.. well, at least not jack or candi.) on the other hand, more unexpected things have happened. like the day, soon after my dear friend (dr.) david graduated from pharmacy school, that we suddenly learned he and candi had packed their kids and a u-haul and were already halfway to blue ridge, ga. at first, the news didn’t strike us as unusual. a u-haul is commonly required for weekend trips with two kids. then we learned david had taken a position as a drug dealer to the backwoods hill-dwellers of that region. (as a front, he also heads up the most picturesque little drugstore in downtown blue ridge.)

we were stunned! not that david had chosen a “winter’s bone” lifestyle of mountain drug trafficking. but that he and candi — two of my best pals since elementary school — were uprooting and leaving us forever. well, thankfully, forever didn’t last too long. eileen and i finally got to visit them at their beautiful new home in smalltown, usa. their condo was decorated in candi’s eclectic style of colorful curiosities, which we adore. although moving from a vibrant university town to a more rural setting takes some adjustment, candi was already finding ways to get out of the house, meet new people, and essentially paint the town red. little natalie and jack were of course flourishing under her creative care and david’s merciless authoritarian rule. i think jack had grown four times his size since the last time we saw him. we have really watched this family grow through our camera lenses. (a family wedding, family portraits, maternity then a baby’s arrival!) for the first time, our own little jasmine even came along on this shoot with us to catch up with her long-lost playmates. we’re so glad that a little distance between our families can’t keep us apart after all. thanks for showing us around blue ridge, you guys! we miss you. but you can definitely expect to see us again soon!

natalie belts out a much-loved chorus about a tractor.. or a backhoe, or something. undoubtedly taught to her by her grandpa “wild bill.”

now eileen is laughing at me, because i can’t stop laughing at this series of images. as if having been rudely awakened from her forest fairy fantasies, natalie looks completely exasperated by her tag-along, goof-off little brother. “why did he have to learn to walk!?”

outside david’s drugstore: is he getting natalie in on the shady family business so early..??

i’m really happy how this next family portrait came out! the fashionable family right there on main street, smalltown, usa. the sign for david’s drugstore behind them. to me, it’s the perfect environmental portrait — telling the story of this extraordinary phase in their family’s life. love it! (and, of course, jack singing show tunes.)