Dear Friends,

Well, it’s safe to say that winter is upon us. Although we’ve had very little snow to speak of so far, we had winds gusting over 60mph and lots of rain overnight on Wednesday. My beloved 37’ live-aboard tripod, RAVEN, is out of the water now so, like most skippers, I sleep far better knowing that I needn’t worry about her out there, thrashing around in the dark.

In the iPhone picture above you’ll see her, just before her winter wrap goes on, parked directly under the gallery, her bow pointing directly at Owl’s Head lighthouse, that speck of light 5.5 nautical miles away, perfectly due south.

Tempest

The thought of Owl’s Head Light puts me in mind of a personal-favorite image of mine, made a few years back at the tail end of a ferocious two-day nor’easter. What I most like about Tempest is the embedded symbolism of the flag and the light itself. To me, both as a mariner and as a romantic, lighthouses are the personification of unwavering vigilance, literally of the hope of refuge in times of great turmoil or consuming darkness.

Similarly, the storm-whipped flag gives hope and promise, but flags are fragile…they require tending and attention. The American flag is the visual embodiment of our remarkable 248 year-old republic. The turmoil in this photograph reminds me of Benjamin Franklin’s observation about the fragility of our revolutionary nation, our extraordinary experiment in democracy, wherein he opined that we would do well “…if you can keep it.”

Indeed.

Still There

This further has me thinking of an image I made upcountry from here on the coast. Still There depicts a small section of a large barn, one whole side of which was painted as our great star-spangled banner (see State of the Union). This all wraps back around to the notion of turmoil…of siege…and my heartfelt belief in the absolute necessity of caring, of determination, of perseverance, of engagement in the face of turmoil and darkness.

I really struggled in finding a title for Still There; titles are very important to me and I especially wanted this one to be just right. As sometimes happens, the perfect title found me as I was thinking about our national anthem. There in the first stanza it was, the turmoil, “…the rocket’s red glare, the bomb bursting in air,” giving “proof through the night that our flag was still there.”

No one can deny the existence of significant turmoil in the United States (and elsewhere) these days and it was simply with all of this in mind that I share these images, redolent of turmoil but also containing some measure of enduring hope, and promise of safe harbor in their visual and spiritual DNA.

Anyway, if you are still with me, thank you for your indulgence!

I’ll sign off on this Sunday morning by gently reminding you, dear friends, that our holiday and year-end specials are still in effect…you can find them here.

all cheers,

Peter