Old Glory, Boombridge

There are some shots I love taking each and every year, and this afternoon, as Winter Storm Helena was at her glorious peak, I was cross-country skiing up our country road and going past one of my photographic landmarks. It was far too snowy to risk taking my less-than-weatherproof dSLR outside on this trek, but the all-weather little Fuji has long been up to the task of traveling with me through monsoons and blizzards. As what I hope is a hopeful metaphor running counter to what I fear is the growing tide of hopelessness, "Old Glory" in a nearby field was still waving gloriously in the white gale sweeping up the coast. May this time-honored symbol of the "land of the free" continue bringing that reminder to the president-elect—not elected by me or a majority of Americans, but so it goes, sometimes—and tell the Donald that he is not, in fact, the Don. He might want to spread that word on Capitol Hill.