Occupation: I’m an artist and a photographer. I’ve been painting for 30 years and it slipped into photography the last several years. My focus changed when I met my husband, who is a photographer. I actually had a dream that this was something we could do together.

Family: My husband, Francis Caro. We’re often with my 92-year-old, creative mother who lives in Long Island. We’re very close.

Pets: We have two Abyssinian cats, Bella and Tango. Bella is 2½ years old and Tango is 2 years old. I’ve owned Abyssinian cats for 30 years.

How long have you lived in Newtown? I’ve lived here eight years.

What do you like to do in your free time? Where do I begin? I garden and I enjoy my sisterhood in a local poetry group, Women Priming the Pump. A few of my poems have been published. Lately, exercising for health reasons has eaten into my early morning writing time. I’m a founding member of the Greater Newtown Hadassah Chapter and I used to belong to the wonderful Candlewood Camera Club. I like to cook, too. It’s like painting. I always embellish a recipe using lots of herbs. I also like to look at tag sales and flea markets for pretty material for my mother’s folk art dolls that she makes. And I enjoy reading.

Do you have a favorite artist? I love J.M. William Turner. He was a mid-1800s English painter. I love his impressionistic paintings. His colors are fabulous.

What are you reading now? Right now, I’m reading Surrender on Demand by Varian Fry. He risked his life to save many artists and writers during World War II, including Marc Chagall. Varian Fry used to live in Ridgefield.

Do you have a favorite travel destination? There are four of them: Tuscany, Buenos Aires, Jerusalem, and Provence. They’re really pretty equal. I love the antiquity and charm of those places. They’re colorful and the people are warm and rich in culture. It’s like stepping back in time.

What is the best thing about Newtown? I love the vistas from our home. I really love our library and the foreign films and books on tape you can checkout. It has a lovely ambiance, too. I like good films, so I appreciate the Edmond Town Hall Theatre.

Who do you most admire? Golda Meier. Her accomplishments nurtured a nation. She has a quote that I think is just so true: “Nothing in life just happens. It isn’t enough to believe in something; you have to have the stamina to meet obstacles.”

Do you have a personal philosophy? I believe in Carpe Diem — Seize the Day. It’s important, because it is easy to get involved in the mundane things in life.