My mom is NOT an adventurous woman. She always wore sunscreen at the beach, avoided heavy traffic, and was glad to have Dad in charge on vacations, because she couldn’t imagine trying to find her way around a strange city by herself. Better safe than sorry was a common adage around our house.

So what possessed my mom to learn not one, but two new professions at the age of seventy-plus? She was so focused on doing something she loved that she was never daunted by the enormity of the challenge.

Mom was a stay-at-home mom while raising Margaret, Arthur and me. Once we were grown and gone, she looked for something new and useful to do. An avid gardener, she found a job at Winterthur Museum, serving first as a garden tour guide, and then as a book researcher for Ruth Lord’s, Henry F. du Pont and Winterthur : A Daughter`s Portrait.

I think Mom found a kindred spirit in Henry F. duPont who wanted Winterthur, his family estate, to be a place of beauty. Mom worked on a much smaller scale to make our home a place you would want to come to. While growing up, I frequently teased her, "Aren’t you supposed to watch the road?" when she drove through our neighborhood. "I’m watching that too," she’d respond. But I get ideas as I see what other people have done with their houses. Henry duPont dedicated many years to carefully making Winterthur, a place that people would want to visit, before deciding that it should become a museum.

And then Mom was asked to put together an informational booklet on the plants and trees that grow in Winterthur’s gardens. Plant specifics about each plant, its ideal growing environment, hardiness, maximum size, pruning needs, etc. Winterthur wanted to help visitors, inspired by Henry duPont’s dramatic, colorful plantings, to achieve some of the same effects in their own gardens.

It was the perfect job for Mom, who loved the constantly changing beauty of Winterthur’s landscape, but has an inherently practical nature. "I believed the accumulated wisdom of one of America’s most artistically talented and dedicated horticulturists should be made available to the home gardener," she said. And so she threw herself into collecting information and describing the design patterns and work that went into creating Winterthur.

Soon the boss decided this warranted a book, not a booklet. A professional photographer was contacted. But the photographer did not love the topic as my mother did. He also did not appreciate Mom’s suggestions on what to include in the photos, or what angle might be most striking. He came only a few times.

One February day, Mom saw plants beginning to bloom. Knowing how briefly blossoms are at their peak, she worried that this first hint of spring might be missed. So she borrowed Dad’s digital camera and took pictures, figuring it didn’t matter how many tries it took. Maybe her pictures wouldn’t be quite the same level as the professional’s, but at least the plants would be included in the book. She was pleasantly surprised that it was easy to get some fairly good photos. And so all through that year, she continued taking pictures of the constantly unfolding beauty in the gardens. Her years as a garden guide meant that she knew the gardens and where plants would be blossoming. She wanted to share the beauty which she saw each day with others.

I don’t know at what point it became clear to everyone that ALL of the pictures in the book would be taken by my mother. It didn’t really sink in with me until I held the book in my hands.

"You took ALL these pictures?" I asked. "They’re stunning."

"Oh, I’m so glad to hear you say that," she responded. "And remember, you all got me started in digital photography."

"You mean when we bought Dad the camera?"

"Yes, I was lucky. Things just fell into my lap with this book. One of my favorite photos of the whole book came because, as I drove into Winterthur one fall day, I glanced out to the side and saw the sun was causing a golden tree to be reflected in the water." My mom paused, "One of the thoughts I like best is that you never know what nice thing is going to happen to you after you reach the age of 70!"

It makes me smile. It’s as though she forgets that SHE made the book happen. No one tossed the completed, useful, gorgeous garden book in her lap. Mom followed her passion to places that surprised even her biggest fans.

My mom is Ruth N. Joyce, author and photographer of The Winterthur Guide to Color in Your Garden, available on Amazon.com, and through Winterthur Museum.