My Trinity Icon
Every weekend I’m in Greenport I thank God we were able to buy a house here. I love the village, but most of all I love the nature that surrounds us. Close to the ocean, we are also graced with farmlands and vineyards. It reminds me of a mix of Vermont and Cape Cod.
The closest I have come to a contemplative lifestyle are the weekend walks on the beach. We soak in the sun and the sounds of the gulls and tide rolling over the pebbles on the shore.
We often walk by little shrines people have built of rocks and shells. I understand why they are there.
We snuggle next to each other on a rock or against a driftwood log and watch the sea and the sailboats. We daydream. Every time we say we wish we didn’t have to go.
Fall has started, and it brings its own rhythm. We get out the bird feeders and put away the terra cotta pots and saints of summer.
It’s like prayer time going back and forth with my old battered green wheelbarrow to bring maple and apple wood to the house to stack near the fireplace. It will soon be cold enough for our first fire. Those nights bring their own day dreams, watching the fire burn down to embers.
The leaves have started to fall, but we’ll need a big fall storm to really shake them down.
My “Trinity” icon – one of those iconic fall leaves – reminds me daily of God’s presence in nature. 
Trinity was painted by James Napoleon, who did a series called “Leaves of Autumn.” I bought it last year during his show in Greenport.
The North Fork of Long Island is blessed by a very special light. The sunlight shining on Long Island Sound and Peconic Bay combines to illuminate the fields, vineyards and sky of the land in-between.
Napoleon captures this light in his paintings, and how it illuminates everything and everyone.
