The quality of timelessness is something I gravitate to in my photography: I’m always happy to find a scene that appears to be one from the distant past, and/or a locale far far away. Perhaps it’s the universality I seek, or the presumed simplicity of a different era.
This one, a dock with two lights, conjures up medieval Japan and/or an Akira Kurosawa film, one of my all time favorite movie directors, going back to undergraduate days and a Kurosawa film festival. My favorite of his is still probably The Seven Samurai.
That’s the mouth of the CT River on the left, emptying into the Long Island Sound. The Borough of Fenwick, a rather upscale part of Old Saybrook, stands in the middle distance, anchored by the Lynde Point Lighthouse, barely visible at its left edge.
About a month ago, our jade plant began budding, after a good 4-5 months of outdoor living. It’s the second time I’ve seen a jade plant in flower; the first was in a greenhouse, in March (!!!) at High Meadows Farm in Putney, VT. The soft look of the photo is a function of a cold lens coming into a warm house, and fogging up a bit.
The community of Benedictine monks at the Weston Priory in Weston, VT, gather for a predawn Vigil Prayer Service that officially starts their day. I wouldn’t be surprised if at least some were up much earlier, given the extent of prayer in their lives.
A few of the photographs I took on this visit ended up in the book by the ethnomusicologist Maria S. Guarino, entitled “Listen With the Ear of the Heart“, on the music and monastery life at the Priory. She’s a great writer, and for anyone interested in engaging further with the rhythms and spirit of Priory life, the book is well worth a read.
Taken out in our backyard in Ivoryton, when the small forest of blue spruce trees I planted some ten years previous had grown to an average height of seven-eight feet. Now they’re probably triple that size.
*Here’s a nice version of the Christmas carol, also known as O Tannenbaum; it’s based on an old German folk song.
