The title phrase is one of many memorable ones deployed by Siri Hustvedt in The Blazing World. In the book, it’s part of a journal entry by the artist at the center of the story, and it swiftly captures the facts and feelings pertinent to her granddaughter’s age. (For this reader, it applies even more crucially to Anker’s.)

All photos taken by the author with the Fujifilm X-T20 and edited in Lightroom. Published with permission from Franek’s family.