I’ve always had a fascination with gates. Seven or eight years ago I designed and published a neck piece created with a chainmaille technique and Swarovski crystal and named it ‘Beyond the Gate.’ The inspiration was a garden gate found on the grounds of the Dornoch Castle Hotel in Sutherland, Scotland. To this day I find myself unable to resist stopping and often photographing any structures that I happen upon. I’m always tempted to enter, but rarely do.
The skies have been quite grey for the past number of days and full of the promise of snow and honestly not the best for using my phone to take photographs. It has been snowing on and off for most of the day here. I enjoyed my walk this morning and met with a few neighbours along the way to exchange New Year greetings. It is still so very disconcerting to have to remain on opposite sides of the road as we speak…but needs must and we all respect the times we are in just now.
This gate is almost at the furthest point on one of my most traveled paths. It’s always very quiet on the dock even in the height of summer. On the odd occasion I’ll see a couple of people fishing or perhaps a pair of courting geese when they return in the Spring. I will almost always stop and take a peek. We are on the sunset side of the lake and on summer evenings this gate frames some of the most glorious sunsets I’ve ever been blessed to witness.