Thoughts on the Autumn Equinox, An Abandoned Bridge, and Poetry Time!

The autumn equinox was a few days ago. I'm really dreading the Dark Days, the sunless time between November and mid January.

The Dark Days start to become really noticeable in November, when the sun sets before dinnertime, and the nights are 15 hours long.  You get up in the dark and leave work in the dark; and it seems to be cloudy and foggy most of the time. How depressing is that?

It's no surprise that that people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. I wonder how people, let's say up in Alaska cope with it.   There are cities and towns in Alaska, Canada, Siberia, and Scandinavia located north of the Arctic Circle  that get no daylight between late November and sometime in January.  It must be really weird to live in 24 hour darkness.  I wonder how they cope: sun lamps? solariums? megadoses of Vitamin D? Antidepressants?  It's probably all of these combined.

Right now it feels more like late summer, so it isn't too bad. It doesn't hurt to go outside yet, and there's still plenty of light.

Speaking of summer, I haven't written here in a while.  Most of the time I've been out enjoying the sun before it disappears for another winter.

My husband and I went kayaking on the Connecticut River near Northfield, Massachusetts earlier this month and I didn't bring the camera since I like to travel light. The quality of pictures that can be taken with Smartphones never ceases to amaze me, especially when I enlarge them to fit in an 8 1/2 x 11 picture frame, but for this blog, the small version will have to do.

This photo is a bridge in the autumn of its life span (pardon the pun)  since it has been closed to traffic since 1985.  The Powers That Be have not yet figured out whether whether it will be rehabilitated or demolished. It would be a shame to destroy this bridge because it's such a beautiful backdrop.  No one builds structures like this anymore.

Abandoned Bridge, September, 2014 Copyright © 2014 Katley Demetria Brown

Since inquiring minds want to know, I looked it up on Wikipedia , where you can find just about everything. Not only did this bridge have a name (the Schell Bridge), but quite a bit of history as well. The article also mentioned something there about adding it to the National Register of Historic Places. I really hope it doesn't get demolished.  There is something both poignant and scary about going under an abandoned bridge  in a small boat.  My thought was.....what if this thing falls down?

Here is a photo of another bridge that I took on the same trip: the Amtrak Railroad Bridge.  A train crossed the bridge right before I took this picture; it was on its way to Vermont.

Amtrak Railroad Bridge, September 2014 Copyright © 2014 Katley Demetria Brown

If you wonder why I find bridges fascinating, I grew up in New York City, a place surrounded by water and hundreds of bridges. The suspension bridges are especially beautiful at night when the lights are on.

This month's poem is Water Remembers. One day the Schell bridge may become just a memory which is why I wrote about it.  There never seems to be enough money to fix roads and bridges, but there is plenty of money to wage The War on Terror.  One day there will be a tragedy related to a bridge collapse or faulty roads and then I'll be telling the Powers That Be "I told you so."

Water remembers

most people would doubt this

after all it's a substance

that follows the path

of least resistance

it moves and it's alive

the river remembers all

it has heard the melodies

of many civilizations

seen many celebrations

bridges and boats

mountains and cities

and visions of love

along its banks

it has been reincarnated

many times

just like you and me

we carry the memories with us

forever

and see them in our dreams

the river is eternal

and water remembers

If you enjoyed this, there is a post on my other blog, The Alien Diaries, Crossing the River, Part Four about the bridge between Calafat and Vidin, with videos and music.  It is worth a look, especially if you like music from the Balkans. There are many other posts there on a variety of topics, all related in one way or another to Balkan music and dance.

One of my Pinterest boards has pictures of bridges  in Europe and the United States.

Copyright © 2014 Katley Demetria Brown. Site Designed by Katley Demetria Brown. All Rights Reserved.
Water Remembers ©2010 Katley Demetria Brown

Summer is the Season of Escape, Sneaking Past the Lifeguards and Messing Around in Boats

 

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

After a long, hard winter, I really looked forward to summer, now that summer's here I know winter will come before I know it.

If you've been reading and following this blog you know why I hate winter.  Now it's time for you to find out why I like summer. Many years ago Nat King Cole summed it up quite nicely in this song: (Check out the big guy in that beach chair and the skinny dippers!)


During the summer of 2012,  my husband and I visited friends and family in Seaside Heights, New Jersey for several days.

The ocean was so turbulent that the lifeguards wouldn't let anyone in the water past their knees, and all I heard the entire day was the blast of their whistles. The rip current risk was high that day, and they weren't taking any chances.

My husband, a friend, and I decided to hang out on the beach after hours, and jumped into the surf barely five minutes after the lifeguards went off duty. We found out first hand how powerful the ocean was.. Fortunately, we returned to shore safely, after a few scary moments with strong currents threatening to take us out to sea.

The next day I overheard a lifeguard say "I had to perform a rescue at 8:30 this morning."

Hurricane Sandy destroyed the Jersey Shore three months later, and the ocean claimed the roller coaster. The resort has been rebuilt, but the ocean can reclaim it again.

Usually the ocean off the coast of New England is much too cold for swimming until August, when this picture was taken last year.  Unfortunately, the beaches close in early September because the lifeguards go back to school. It's too bad they don't get a few local people to work the beaches until mid September because that is when the water is warmest.  After what happened at Seaside Heights, I'm not tempting fate again, now that I know how the ocean can lay waste to boardwalks and roller coasters.

  T

What I like best about summer are the long, hot days, the balmy breezes, and going outside without being encumbered by heavy clothing. As much as I like the beach, we don't get their often because it's a bit of a drive and gas is expensive. So we go kayaking on the Connecticut River instead.



My husband and I try to get on the river a few times a year.  Last year we didn't go at all because there were tropical rain storms nearly every day in July, and dangerous high water. He likes to watch the birds and the wildlife, I like the exercise, the scenery, and that  I can cool off if it gets too hot.

We both hate it when people leave trash like red (why red?) Solo cups, empty beer bottles and trash for others to clean up.  We like it when we find unopened beer bottles underwater that people have forgotten.  If they haven't been opened they are drinkable. Free beer is always good :)

Taking a small boat on a large river is a mystical experience.  Foggy mornings are the best.  Although there is a bit of a chill from the fog and the water before the sun burns it off, everything is shrouded in a cloud of mystery.   A couple of years ago we paddled on a foggy morning and watched an artist on his boat, deeply engrossed in painting.  I am, however, hesitant about taking electronics (like a tablet for writing) on a kayak, although the cell phones are protected in the dry bag.  There is enough buoyancy in the dry bag that it will float, and we can retrieve our stuff provided the current isn't too fast.

There is also the challenge of wind and current.  The worst is when you're paddling upstream when the wind is against you, but then it's good for muscles on those arms.  Besides, you get a free ride later in the day when you're tired.

The best thing of all is the warm sun and the cool water. Being out on the river is a sensual experience that can excite all five senses.  (even taste).

Summer is the season of escape.  It is the "get out of jail free" card.  It is, most of all, an excuse to get outside.

This month's poem is about playing tag with the Atlantic Ocean. By the way, the ocean always wins.

A Game of Tag

I stand at

the edge of the

Atlantic Ocean

cold, wet sand

between my toes

while crashing waves

of freezing water

rush to shore

approaching me

as the tide comes in.

Do I really want to play

a game of tag

with the Atlantic?

She's a formidable opponent

whose weapons are the

icy water and the undertow.

I am no match against

something so powerful

so beautiful and

so vast that it meets land

somewhere in Spain,

but yet I am tempted

to join her in her

watery playground.

I could get hypothermia,

you know, or a rip current

could drag me away,

never to return.

In the meantime, a rogue wave

hits me with a numbing blast

of salt water,

knocks me down, pulls me in

and it's time to play...

Tag, you're it!

You can also check out my companion blog The Alien Diaries, if you like dance music from the Balkans. It's good summer reading, with lots of music.

Copyright © 2014 Katley Demetria Brown. Site Designed by Katley Demetria Brown. All Rights Reserved. Photos and A Game of Tag © Katley Demetria Brown (with the exception of the video Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer, song by Nat King Cole, 1963)