Jennifer Jeffrey, Writer & Editor

Hands That Prepared the Feast

I promised you more hands, and here they are:

These hands belong to my friend Adam, taken while he was hard at work preparing food on Thanksgiving Day.

Have I mentioned how thankful I feel this year? How different it was from 12 months ago - when I was struggling to find a happy place, when all I wanted was to do was work, work, work so that I could be distracted from my sore, sad heart.

But on this day I felt relaxed, at ease. Not in a perfect place, but not in a heartsore place, either.

I have so very much to be grateful for. Among them: health, abundance, family, friends, goodness, light.

Yes: thankful indeed. I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful, too.

And here we are: in the throes of the holiday season. Twinkly lights are appearing on windowsills and door frames everywhere. The mornings are cold and the nights are colder. I hope your heart is warm and happy.

(Psst: I've attached a few more pictures after the jump)

What the Hands Have to Tell Us

 

Hands: palm readers peer into them to divine the future; naturopathic physicians scrutinize them for clues to the health of internal organs; suitors steal glances at them to guess the age of their owners.

For years and years, I've had this idea floating around in the back of my head that it would be interesting to take photos of people's hands. People I know. People I love. People I admire.

But I never got around to it.

Until I met my love, and gave it a 50mm f/1.4 lens as a sign of my deep and abiding affection. Now I'm seeing hands I want to shoot everywhere...

These are my father's hands. We were sitting outside at a cafe in Mill Valley a couple of weeks ago, sipping iced tea on a sunny afternoon. You can see how big his hands are, creased and calloused from years of hefting wood + pruning orchards + remodeling yet another room in the farmhouse.

I'll have more to show you soon.

Oh - and if you and I meet up? for coffee or whatever? - I might ask to take a photo of your hands. Just so you know.