Meet Sally (left) and Patti (right). Patti and Sally come from Philadelphia. I met Patti in March when I went to Princeton. She’s one of our company’s treasures and she’s now one of my favourite women in the whole world.

I spent quite a lot of the week in the USA with this amazing woman. I was just instinctively drawn to her for whatever reason and she to me. When I came back, I found myself working with her for the first time. We continued to get on really well and found ourselves liking each-other’s company enormously. I said ‘If you are ever in the UK, you will ALWAYS be welcome in my home’. So, here she is, in my home, with her sister, Sally.

When I went to pick them up from the hotel they’d been staying at, I met Sally for the first time. This woman too radiates ‘good things’. She had lavender woven into her hair and philadelphus (mock orange) in her button holes and within moments we were discussing plants and birds. She’s quite simply amazing.

Later, as we drove, we got onto the subject of ‘the lurker’ and Sally proudly declared she could get a Beetle engine out in thirty two minutes. She’s a Beetle owner of old and has owned campers too so this weekend when I’ve invited two women to stay who are total strangers to DM, suddenly become friends and he’s got all his books out and is showing them drag racing memorabilia within moments of arriving at the house.

Sally whispered in my ear ‘would you mind if I offer to help get the engine out of the Beetle to fix that oil leak?’ and I said ‘no, whatever you like’. I can’t believe how well these two people have just fitted into our home and life as though they have known us forever.

We spent a pleasurable hour or so ambling around in the kitchen while I cooked around them and then, immediately after supper we sat down to do these portraits. There are so many wonderful photos from these two women who didn’t mind having a camera pointed at them in the slightest. I will be posting a few more later. I love this one, even though it’s classically ‘all wrong’(eyes shut) because there is just so much joy and love radiating out from them. It’s completely clear they adore one-another and I doubt I’ve ever laughed so much in my entire life.

Taking the photos was great but the rest of the evening was even better. We were all howling with laughter and telling stories. What a fantastic night. I have a sneaky feeling this weekend will be so much fun.