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A Christmas angel

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
In Alamogordo we are fortunate to have an establishment known as Center of Protective Environment (COPE). It provides services to the victims of domestic violence and services aimed at preventing and guarding against such outrages. It operates a secure "safe house" for persons who do not feel safe in their own homes. It provides many types of counseling services and legal assistance.

Carla is a key member of the Board of Directors of this organization.

This past week COPE held its annual Christmas party for the staff and the members of the board.

Here we see Carla just as we were about to rush off to the party:

Carla_Q05876-03-S800h.jpg


Douglas A. Kerr: Carla, my Christmas angel

She is resplendent in a striking chapeau made for her by an eminent Asian hat designer specializing (among other things) in serving members of the Red Hat Society.

Please excuse the rather agricultural background. We are a bit tighter for space here than in Texas (you know, everything in Texas is bigger - here our whole state is only a little bit bigger than Poland!) and have no space for a proper portrait studio. We make do with the space between my desk in my office and the folding doors of my clothes closet just opposite. The plan it to fit a proper pull-down background, but that hasn't happened yet for various reasons (mostly procrastination). And we have to decide what kind of proper lighting installation to deploy.

Best regards,

Doug
 

Tom dinning

Registrant*
That's some hat, Doug, and some woman to wear it.

Christine and I are with her all the way in her efforts to deal with victims of domestic violence.

As for the 'studio', I'm not allowed a lot of space anymore. New house rules.

I have a small space near a window and a blank, neutral coloured wall where people can stand.
I use it when I am forced to do formal portraits.

Otherwise, au naturale is my recommended style. I'm teaching Nevayah the in's and out's of candidacy at the moment. She seemed to think the lighting in the loo was suitable for my portrait. I must remember to lock the door when she's about.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
In Alamogordo we are fortunate to have an establishment known as Center of Protective Environment (COPE). It provides services to the victims of domestic violence and services aimed at preventing and guarding against such outrages. It operates a secure "safe house" for persons who do not feel safe in their own homes. It provides many types of counseling services and legal assistance.

Carla is a key member of the Board of Directors of this organization.


Wonderful organization, Doug. I am so impressed and proud of you both.



This past week COPE held its annual Christmas party for the staff and the members of the board.

Here we see Carla just as we were about to rush off to the party:

Carla_Q05876-03-S800h.jpg


Douglas A. Kerr: Carla, my Christmas angel

She is resplendent in a striking chapeau made for her by an eminent Asian hat designer specializing (among other things) in serving members of the Red Hat Society.

Please excuse the rather agricultural background. We are a bit tighter for space here than in Texas (you know, everything in Texas is bigger - here our whole state is only a little bit bigger than Poland!) and have no space for a proper portrait studio. We make do with the space between my desk in my office and the folding doors of my clothes closet just opposite. The plan it to fit a proper pull-down background, but that hasn't happened yet for various reasons (mostly procrastination). And we have to decide what kind of proper lighting installation to deploy.

Best regards,

Doug


Can't give you any name of a woman who looks better in a superb hat, even in Ascot!

Asher
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Asher,

Wonderful organization, Doug. I am so impressed and proud of you both.

Thank you so much. Actually, I don't do anything - it is all Carla!

Can't give you any name of a woman who looks better in a superb hat, even in Ascot!

Thank you so much. She has actually done quite a bit to foster the wearing of hats here in Alamogordo (a practical desert town not generally known for its attention to "style"). Often someone (perhaps a young woman) will comment on one of Carla's hats, and go on to say that she has often thought that wearing a hat would be a nice thing to do, but had just never begun to do so. Carla would encourage her to henceforth do just that.

Tomorrow, as a member of the Friends of The Alamogordo Public Library, Carla will help dedicate a statue at the library in honor of long-time Alamogordo resident Millicent Shyne (née Petrov), who died earlier this year at the age of 101.

Millicent was instrumental in establishing the Alamogordo Public Library many years ago.

Like Carla, Millicent was never able to finish high school. But, like Carla, she had learned to read at a very early age, and she believed that this ability, and its exercise, was the key to success for anyone. She is quoted as having said that "all you need for an education is a library card".

It is said that she insisted that Hershey's chocolate is better than Godiva, and (like Carla) she loved anything purple.

The circles of life are amazing!

Thanks again for your kind words.

Best regards,

Doug
 

Peter Dexter

Well-known member
That is an excellent portrait of her, white hair, white skin and those wonderful reds. I really like seeing older women who still wear their hair long.
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Peter,

That is an excellent portrait of her, white hair, white skin and those wonderful reds. I really like seeing older women who still wear their hair long.

Thank you so much.

When I met Carla, she dyed her hair red and wore it generally in a fairly short cut.

Shortly after we moved to New Mexico, she said that she did not want to have her hair dyed any more. She was concerned that the process was dangerous, and of course she had it done professionally so there was an ongoing cost involved (and our move to New Mexico was largely part of a plan to cut operating cost!).

So she said she was going to let her hair grow out and see what it was really like. She was concerned that its then natural color might be something "dreadful".

It turned out that its natural color by then was the beautiful silver-white you see in this portrait.

And to take full advantage of this wondrous "discovery", she decided to let it grow quite long.

That is in fact rather common for women in New Mexico; we describe it as part of the "mountain girl culture". We of course live at what is called here in connection with meteorological forecasts "the lower elevations"; the elevation at my desktop is "only" 4575 ft MSL.​

I like it, and I'm glad you do too.

Carla, by the way, is 78 years old. She is part Cherokee, and is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation (thus holding dual citizenship).

We have been married for over 17 years. We had both been widowed, and met in church (is that corny or what!).

She is extraordinarily talented. She has written three published books and two plays that have been performed.

And of course she is able to keep on the rails a sometimes grumpy old Scots-German telephone engineer!

Best regards,

Doug
 
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