[Photos by Smilla]

Smilla ran into Helga,”The Queen of Charm” again the other day. Although I haven’t been to Cologne to meet her, I have developed a great appreciation of her style and personality through Smilla’s words and photos. Smilla’s writes of the meeting,

“A few minutes later I ran into the Hat-lady; Helga, with the bracelets again, and today she had her diary with pictures with her and a dog. She makes wonderful photos from roses of herself in a mirror,she is unbelievable.We plan to meet in her apartment, and she will show me her paintings . I saw some one of them in the photos and they look quite interesting.The dog belongs to a shop around, and she feels sorry for him, so she asked if she should take him for a walk sometimes. Mulan is 9 months old and a wild one, but she handles this so easy. So yesterday we went for a little walk together, and again I witnessed how easy she gets along with other people; she is definitely an attraction, band she talks to people very naturally.”

I can’t wait to see Smilla’s shots of Helga’s apartment!

Here are a few more pictures from a day I spent with Debra. She dressed me up for a photo as well. Debra lives her life inspired by the color and texture of the world around her. She has been making neck pieces made from found metal since the 1970s, one of which you can see in the photo of me above. She collects zippers and scraps of old sweaters, tea bags, and old pencils and wraps them and shapes them into beautiful delicate treasures! Not only does she embrace aging with a wonderful attitude, but also her creative spirit with a desire to collaborate and share her positive energy with others!