a ford in the river 5-3
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houses in Le Gué d’Alleré (image from Street View)
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Maps)
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April 18’s virtual bike ride took me through the town of Le Gué d’Alleré. A ‘gué’ is a place on a river where the water is shallow enough to allow easy passage, in other words, a ford.
The river in Le Gué d’Alleré was so shallow, it had no water at all. I know this river sometimes holds water since there is an image embedded in Street View showing the river full of water!
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river in Le Gué d’Alleré (image from Street View)
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When I was young, we often visited my grandfather’s farm in Nova Scotia. One of the places I remember well was the ford across the stream at the end of his road. The water was shallow at this spot and people from the community would bring their cars to the ford to wash them. It would not have been good for the environment. Soap suds and leaking oil and gasoline would pollute the downstream water, probably harming the aquatic life, including the fish people liked to catch.
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ford
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at the intersection
of the lane and the County Road,
a ford crossed the stream–
flat stones and riffles
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in the shade of serviceberry and maple
we watched as distant cousins
washed their cars,
all suds and Daisies
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then took clean cars
further down the road
(further down the stream),
for an hour of fishing
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Best View: an image from my memory …
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Copyright Jane Tims 2013
nichepoetryandprose 
I love your drawing and story of the car washing, Jane. It reminds me of when I was dating my husband. I went to visit him in his hometown and he was showing me around. We were driving on back country roads, winding around the Amish farms and farmland, when we came to a creek that crossed the road. I thought he would back up, but no. He surprised me and drove right through it. He told me that there was a time when people used it as a car wash. I’m glad they don’t do that anymore as I think you’re right about the pollution.
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Robin
May 21, 2013 at 5:05 pm
Hi Robin. I’m glad I brought back a memory of another time. I have a story for you. When we were dating, my husband and I went for long drives all around the countryside. When we came to a particular fork in the road, I always hoped he would take the right road because I thought it was the long way home. We usually did take that road and I was happy to think he wanted to spend more time together. Years later, I now know that it was a shortcut! Nevertheless, we’ve been together almost 35 years, so I guess it turned out OK. Jane
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jane tims
May 22, 2013 at 7:13 pm
Hi Jane, I was just wondering how it is going with your novel that you worked on during the winter? Did you finish it? I apologize for not following more closely…. it seems I get overwhelmed with all the blog posts in my inbox and haven’t been able to keep up these days…. just wondering? greetings and blessings, Leigh
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SingingBones
May 13, 2013 at 6:07 pm
Hi Leigh. I am still working on it. It’s my main writing project right now. I am on Draft 5 and have made a lot of progress. Once I completed the basic story, I began to add some detail, mostly to give each of the characters some more identity. I am going to start doing a few posts on my novel again, to bring everyone up to date. Thanks for asking! Jane
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jane tims
May 14, 2013 at 7:17 am
Draft 5!? it really is an incredible amount of work to write a novel, isn’t it…. well I wish you the best as you continue on the story, it sounds like an interesting storyline…. and is there a story within the story? those are my favorite plots these days…
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SingingBones
May 14, 2013 at 4:30 pm
Hi Leigh. Yes, there are subplots. I went to a workshop lately where I learned that subplots should be done in three ‘bumps’ distributed within the main story. You have inspired me to do some posts to update my novel progress … first one on Wednesday. Thanks!!! Jane
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jane tims
May 14, 2013 at 10:36 pm
I suspect the car wash area remains or at least it was about 5 years ago or so. It is a vivid memory … the lane though is different as it has been made into a real road. In those days it was not so wide or well graveled.
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stan spavold
May 13, 2013 at 12:57 pm
Hi. I had so much fun with the drawing as I had only memories to go on. Interesting that the ford has lasted into modern times. Thanks for the comment, as always!!!! Jane
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jane tims
May 13, 2013 at 4:20 pm
Nice drawing and poem Jane!
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JD
May 13, 2013 at 10:19 am
Hi Denis. Thanks! The drawing will be included with my Grandfather’s Farm manuscript of poems. Jane
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jane tims
May 13, 2013 at 12:41 pm