Shuttered Up

Earlier in the week I cross-country skied by this old house that sits above the Stowe, VT valley. It has 180 degree views and because at home, I see my neighbors' homes, just 10 feet away on both sides, I took an interest in this old, weathered, clapboard house.

There was something else about it that caught my attention. It was the contrasting colors of the turquoise blue shutters and the red, weathered narrow clapboard of the outside walls. I made a mental note to comeback later on a day when it was sunny.

So here it is. A shot made in winter, on a +10 degree February day when nearly everyone feels the "shuttered up" feeling of little daylight, little warmth and lots of snow - at least for us folks that live in the Border States (States that Border Canada).

I was drawn to the simplicity of the wooden shutters covering a small, single, window. The clasp of the lock is in place but no lock is there to secure it. It says to me - possibility - it can be opened. It's a metaphor for all those times when we think there's an impossible task to accomplish, a heart that seems closed or when Dorothy walked all the way to Oz and the Wizard initially turned her away.

Because there's no lock, the shutters can be opened and the sun can shine into this old house. With no lock a heart can be opened. With no lock we can see beyond our limitations that were never there to begin with. All the possibilities I see and feel with a shuttered up, blue window on a red, clapboard house!