Peter Ralston: Images From Maine #212

Dear Friends,

Today, four quiet images from our harbor. Taken together, they remind me that it’s cold and beautiful out there, but it’s the second one that whispers most powerfully to me; it speaks of the warmth and light we need…that which we find within.

Alone, BRENDA LEE

And this has me thinking that no matter what or where our homes are, we must consider our countless blessings. Even as – perhaps especially as – we revel in family and festivities, we must think of all those who do not, nor cannot, enjoy privileges and blessings all too often taken for granted.

So, after the busiest summer we’ve ever had, and a very busy month or so leading up to this moment just before the holidays, it’s now time for us to leave the studio, close the gallery, take a deep breath and turn to the hands-down greatest warmth and sanctuary of all…family.

The Harbor, Sea Smoke

Speaking of light – if not yet warmth – yesterday was Winter Solstice so do keep in mind that now we daily regain light…blessed light. On Friday I spoke with my extraordinary friend, acclaimed author Mary Pipher, and she very kindly allowed me to once again share with you her radiant essay, Finding Light in Winter….herewith:

The mornings are dark, the late afternoons are dusky, and before we finish making dinner, the daylight is gone. As we approach the darkest days of the year, we’re confronted with the darkness of wars [and more].

I am in the last decades of life, and sometimes I feel that my country and our species are also nearing end times. The despair I feel about the world would ruin me if I did not know how to find light. Whatever is happening in the world, whatever is happening in our personal lives, we can find light.

This time of year, we must look for it. I am up for sunrise and outside for sunset. I watch the moon rise and traverse the sky. I light candles early in the evening and sit by the fire to read. And I walk outside under the blue-silver sky of the Nebraska winter. If there is snow, it sparkles, sometimes like a blanket of diamonds, other times reflecting the orange and lavender glow of a winter sunset.

For other kinds of light, we can turn to our friends and family. We also have the light of young children.

And, we will always have the light of memory…deep inside us are the memories of all the people we’ve ever loved.

Every day I remind myself that all over the world most people want peace. They want a safe place for their families, and they want to be good and do good. The world is filled with helpers. It is only the great darkness of this moment that can make it hard to see them.

No matter how dark the days, we can find light in our own hearts, and we can be one another’s light. We can beam light out to everyone we meet. We can let others know we are present for them, that we will try to understand.

We cannot stop all the destruction, but we can light candles for one another.

Thank you, Mary……sharing this today is our holiday gift to our gallery family. Thank you Mary, thank you one and all.

You are our gallery family, and Terri, Sandee and I are deeply grateful to each and every one of you. Your thoughtfulness and kindness of spirit has been expressed – and received – in so many different ways this year and I want you to know that all of it has buoyed us through a wonderful – if, at times, fraught – year.