Figure 1 – From the Colonial Inn looking onto Monument Square, Concord, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2017.

Winter is a fact of life in New England, and New Englanders embrace it. Here in December, we are on the near side of the Christmas holidays and there is a raw novelty to winter’s bite.  Everything is decked out in vivid color and light. We eschew gaudy light displays and favor, instead, the traditional candle in each window. This, of course, is meant to draw and welcome the pilgrim home.

No place epitomizes Massachusetts more, this time of year, than Concord. It is where our journey as a nation began on a chilly, windy April morning. To those who would threaten or democracy, I echo again the wordss of Edward R, Murrow: “We are not descended of fearful men.” We went today for a pre-Christmas luncheon  with a dear friend. And in the spirit of New England, I had my once in every two years or so New England Clam Chowder – pronounced, of course, as chowda. The Inn dates back to 1716 – so if building could talk, it could tell of that morning.

I brought my camera along for inspiration, as there was the annual gingerbread house competition among local businesses. Why do I feel like I am living in a Hallmark Channel movie? As I stepped onto the Inn’s porch, I took the image of Figure 1 showing Monument Square and Routes 4/2a to Lexington, “the Battle Road.” The church that you can just make out is “Holy Family Parish,” which lies along side “The Old Burial Ground,” built on a glacial drumlin. I guess, that in a sense this photograph displays the two diametrically opposed solstices and their attendant holidays, Christmas and the Fourth of July.

Canon T2i with EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens at 35 mm (unusual for me), ISO 1600 (ever set for birding), Aperture Priority AE Mode 1/640th sec at f/8.0 with no exposure compensation.