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Where will the next door lead you?

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Where will the next door lead you?

A journey of doors.

Kathryn A. LeRoy
Sep 3, 2022
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Where will the next door lead you?

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A two story yellow-stoned Engish house with a glass-paneled door and a garden.; a large tree frames the scen on the right
The Russell House, Broadway, England © Kathryn LeRoy

Hello friends,

Do you ever think about doors?

Along with my many obsessions, I’ve acquired a fascination with doors.

I know all about screen doors. I sat behind them staring at the grassy pasture and cedar trees beyond the faded picket fence of grandma’s porch.

More than once, these words rang through my ears as I encountered a door.

“Don’t slam the door.”

“Close the door. You’re letting out the cold air.”

“Who left that door open?”

All those ordinary doors live in my memory. With my Brownie Starflash camera in hand, I never stopped to photograph the everyday doors that framed my life.

“The ache for home lives in all of us the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” —Maya Angelou

Some doors creak. Others close us in. But the doors that open life to new adventures arouse my curiosity.

I started photographing doors on our trip to Italy in 2000. Those magnificent, ancient doors amazed me. The ones in my life lacked the character and intrigue that I discovered in the aged portals of Milan, Venice, Rome, and Florence.

The massive carved steel doors of the Duomo in Milan Italy; a woman stands to the left of the doors illustrating their size in comparison to her
The Duomo in Milan, Italy © Kathryn LeRoy

The history behind those doors held stories and secrets, and I wanted in on the mystery.

Intricate carvings on these massive entryways invited, warned, or comforted those who chose or dared to walk through.

Gray steel doors with four panels and ornate door knockers on each of the bottom two panels, the brick of the structure frames the door
Mainz, Germany © Kathryn LeRoy
A double copper door in Cochem, Germany. One side has a relief of a pilgrim and the other side a message in German, “lead a god-fearing walk of life during the time of your pilgrimage.”
Cochem, Germany © Kathryn LeRoy

“In the unverse, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.” —William Blake

Vivid colors entice visitors to step in. What will you find? As we waited to enter the British Museum, this nineteenth-century bookstore called to me.

The Jarndyce Book Store in London England, a hunter green wooden building with a deep red door
London, England © Kathryn LeRoy

Ancient walls collapsed over the centuries leaving remnants of doorways. We can only imagine this time and place. How many lives changed because of these doors?

A doorway in the ancient Hailles Abbey in England. Only fragments of the structure remain including this one archway and door looking out at the Cotswold landscape
Hailles Abbey, England © Kathryn LeRoy

I’ll probably keep looking for captivating doors. They remind me that I always have a choice to walk through them—in or out.

“Often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.” —Helen Keller

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico © Kathryn LeRoy

Never forget the doors of remembrance that remind us of who we are, where we’ve been, and define our future.

I found another lover of doors,  Dan Antion, who loves the craftsmanship of wooden doors. Dan celebrates them every Thursday.

Enjoy a musical tribute to doors by Credence Clearwater Revival’s Lookin’ Out My Back Door, or sing along with Love Is an Open Door.

“There's a difference between fear and paralysis. And I've learned that I don't have to "grow up" to be open to opportunity, to be willing to step through doors without being pushed. I just have to be brave. I just have to be slightly braver than I am scared.” ― Victoria Schwab

A white wooden fron door with two small windows near the top and the number 51 between the panes, a letter drop is centered on the lower third of the door. Pink, purple, and white petunias flank the door in floor pots adhered to the wall of the yellow-stoned house
Winchcombe, England © Kathryn LeRoy

Find a little wonder this week as you open and close the doors in your world.

With gratitude,

Kathryn


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Where will the next door lead you?

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Genie Dillon
Sep 3, 2022Liked by Kathryn A. LeRoy

Hi Kathryn - really loved your message about doors and the photos are incredible! It made me think about the concept of doors — even those that are not really there but are an entrance to another step or path or opportunity. Just like an open gate or archway or path in the forest - they are also like an entrance or door to another place in our life’s journey. Even a patient in the hospital is possibly at the entrance of a doorway not visible yet real for how their life moves on. Very thought provoking. Thank you for encouraging boundless thoughts - ah, a door to reflection and realization of the doors in our mind. How beautiful! Genie

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Tree Langdon
Writes Words In Motion
Sep 4, 2022Liked by Kathryn A. LeRoy

I Loved the doors in Europe as well! So much history and possibility in these portals, especially the ruins. Thanks for the memories.

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