It’s Friday, friends, and I’d like to offer you an ever so slightly nostalgic nod to a post I published in September 2022 shortly after receiving a gift from our neighbor, Emma Paladino. I titled the update Melancholy Boathouse, and it featured this black-and-white photograph.
Yesterday I posted this achingly evocative image on the Rosslyn Redux Instagram feed with thanks to our neighbor, Emma, who gifted the vintage photograph postcard to us. It was a gift to her from Michael Peden who, in turn credited his father, Douglas Peden, as the photographer. (Source: Melancholy Boathouse – Rosslyn Redux)
At the time I knew that I’d seen the photograph before, but I couldn’t dredge the memory out of my gray matter. So familiar. Melancholy, yes, but also touching on something sentimental that I couldn’t quite identify.
Half a year later, I’m able to explain the poignance that Douglas Peden’s photo invoked.
I had seen it before. During our earliest visits to Rosslyn, when we were still trying to talk ourselves out of making an offer, when we were still convinced that we couldn’t justify the immense undertaking (and risk)…
Douglas Peden’s Boathouse Photo in Rosslyn Bedroom
The yellow bedroom circa 2004 or 2005. A large format version of that remarkable photograph hung over the fireplace. It took stumbling across it while reviewing old photos to realize why I had recognized it last September.
Douglas Peden’s Boathouse Photo in Rosslyn Bedroom
It made an impression a decade and a half ago.
Douglas Peden’s Boathouse Photo in Rosslyn Bedroom
And it still appeals to me today. Timeless.
What do you think?