Anyone who knows me knows I love dogs. So when I saw Johannah walking five dogs across frozen Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin, I took off running to catch up with her. I hoped she would allow me to photograph her, but at the very least, I wanted to pet the pups. Luckily, she and the dogs were open to both.

"I catch myself getting grumpy about all the little things I'm missing with covid, but when I think about it—wow, I've had the last two and a half months with my family here in Madison, and I was connected with friends when I was home in Philly,” Johannah says. "As much of a nightmare as it is, it could be so much worse."

When I caught up with her, she was on a walk with her stepmom and sister's dogs. She usually takes them to a dog park, but that day she'd just happened to opt for the lake. Johannah lives in Philadelphia, but she’s been here on an extended stay with her family in Madison. She will be going back to Philly in a few weeks. She said she’s looking forward to being back to her bed and hopes her housemates have kept up with the 50 houseplants she left behind.

She says her mom is sad she will be leaving soon, but they've had a lot of nice downtime—playing cribbage on a board her grandfather made, doing crosswords together, and even crosscountry skiing.

Oh, and lest I forget, the dogs' names are Nova, Luna, Sheeta, Holiday Napkins (there's a story there, she assured me), and Toby—the lone boy dog.