Most people see my former girlfriend as a sweet, quiet, creative, animal-loving spirit who patiently puts up with her deranged husband, taking photos of her all the time and putting them up on the blog. Sometimes Maria is willing to have her photo taken, sometimes she doesn’t like it.

Maria is not a public person, and although she loves writing on her blog, there are times when she wants to crawl into her studio and vanish.

She does not like a lot of attention, and this week, all kinds of people have been wishing her a happy birthday and asking her if she is feeling well. This is causing her introverted strain to rear up and wish to be left alone. When she is in such a mood, which is often, she lets me know by sticking her tongue out at my camera. I have a vast gallery of such photographs, I call them “The Two Sides Of Maria,” and this time, she gave me permission (mostly to put this one up. Let’s call it a portrait. Might make a nice book one day.