LAKE ISSYK-KUL, KYRGYZSTAN

Kyrgyzstan, in Central Asia, has been well known since the times of the legendary Silk Road. It’s a land of monumental scale, characterized by the deep blues and purples of distant mountains, snow-capped peaks, and the vast sand-colored horizon. Looking at the mountain heights and endless steppes, I understand how the immensity of this land has forged the Kyrgyz nomadic character and spirit and influenced their art and culture.

On the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul, at the base of the Tien Shan Mountains, I spend the night at a yurt encampment set up temporarily for the summer months and marvel at the starry night sky.

Artisans in Kyrgyzstan are famous for their felt-making traditions. Sitting in a yurt one afternoon, I spend time with the women as they make shyrdak (patchwork) rugs—singing, laughing, and sewing together. The colorful felt creations are a harmonious blend of rich, warm reds, oranges, and purples with accents of magenta, colors that reflect the Kyrgyz culture and their everyday world.

NEWPORT, PENNSYLVANIA

I have vivid memories of my grandmother’s farm in central Pennsylvania—summer days lush with green vegetation and humid summer heat. There, as a child, I spent time with my family in “Sharon’s Orchard,” which was planted during the Depression, first as an apple orchard and then later with peaches. Sitting on the front porch with my grandmother, mother, and aunts, I helped prepare applesauce and peach preserves for the winter months ahead. Elberta, Hale Haven, and Belle of Georgia peaches were some of my grandmother’s favorite varieties, along with Cortland and Jonathan apples.

Now, on cold and snowy nights, I can pull out a container of peach preserves and drift through memories of long, green summer days; images of ripe orange, red, pink, and yellow peaches; old farm baskets and crates to measure out a bushel, half a bushel, or a peck; and walks through the orchard’s craggy trees, heavy with ripe peaches, set against the green, brown, and tan Pennsylvania land.