The public is cordially invited to my first photo show, “Portraits of My Life,” to be held at the Redux Art Gallery, Dorset, Vt. (802 867-4211). January 9, 3 to 6 p.m., kicking off the new Redux Gallery Annex. The public is invited, naturally, and Izzy will be there. He is fittingly the poster boy for the show, which includes nearly 20 of my photographs, and boy, it was not easy to pick them out.I will give several talks about my photography, depending on who gets there and when.

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I’ve just finished a wonderful novel, “The Act of Disappearing,” by Ivy Pochoda, from St. Martin’s Press. A beautiful, haunting, elegiac book about identity, magic and loss. And love, also. It’s the story of magician Toby Warring and the woman who loves and marries him, Mel Snow, set against the backdrop of Las Vegas and Amsterdam.The writing was as magical as the story. A brilliant debut, hopefully the first of many. If I could write like that, I would.

Finished a biography of Michelangelo, as tortured as he was brilliant, lived 90 mostly lonely years.

Both books made me think about the importance of love, and how easy it is to lose it. And to live without it. I’ve heard love fades, if you don’t nourish it. Some people say it’s harder for women to find love than for men. I don’t know about that. I think love comes when you open yourself up to it, and if you don’t, it really doesn’t matter how many men or women there are, or what the polls and odds say.