Posts Tagged ‘ferry’
fields and ferry crossings
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7-35 September 30, 2013 35 minutes 3.0 km (north of St. Just in Roseland to ferry across River Fal)
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The thirty-fifth day of my virtual bike trip left me scrambling for an image to paint. I biked over miles of country road and although the countryside is lovely, I couldn’t seem to find an image that ‘spoke’ to me. In this end, I chose a tree along the road to Philleigh. Greens are so difficult for me – I couldn’t seem to achieve anywhere near the yellow hue of the greens in the photo …
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inspiration for ‘countryside near Philleigh’ (image from Street View)
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Oct. 3, 2013 ‘countryside near Philleigh’ Jane Tims
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7-36 October 2, 2013 35 minutes 3.0 km (ferry across River Fal to Feock)
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Ferry crossings are always fun. The Ferry across the River Fal didn’t look very different from the crossings here in New Brunswick …
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the blue flat-decked boat is the ferry … and look at the big ship just up river (image from Street View)
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I especially liked the house where the ferry docked on the west side of the river – lots of flowers and stone …
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September 27, 2013 ‘flowers near River Fal’ Jane Tims
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7-37 October 8, 2013 25 minutes 3.0 km (Foeck to Penpol)
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If the thirty-fifth day of my travels was mostly fields, the thirty-seventh was mostly trees. I love the circular ‘tree tunnels’ formed along the Cornwall roads when the hedgerows are pruned. In this interpretation of one of one of those archways, I decided not to paint a single individual leaf …
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inspiration for ‘road tunnel near Penpol’ (image from Street View)
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October 3, 2013 ‘road tunnel near Penpol’ Jane Tims
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Along the way, I often ‘see’ enchanting gateways. I particularly like the gates with stone post like this one near Feock …
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October 4, 2013 ‘gate near Feock’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
crossing the river #2
In the 1970s, when my husband and I had only known each other for about a month, we were stranded for three hours on a ferry that quit half way across the river. The ferryman just shrugged, said he’d be back, and rowed away in the lifeboat.
We were desperate. For an hour, we skipped stones across the water. I don’t believe there was a single stone or pebble or grain of sand left on the ferry deck! We talked, of course, and probably found out how much we had in common. We’ve been together for almost 33 years.
When the ferryman returned, he brought some sandwiches his wife had made for us and the news we would have to wait two more hours for the Coast Guard to come up the river from Saint John to tow us to the shore.
Needless to say, we were eventually rescued. And I have never experienced a ferry breakdown again.
some of these would be excellent for skipping
skipping stones
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collect your stones
select for flat and smooth
stones with knowledge
embedded flight and float
pile your stones
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hold your hand
like this, curl your finger
round the stone, flat curve against
your palm, coddled
cover of a book
you never want to end
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swoop back
arm and index finger
parallel to shore, release
count
the
skips
the way
water
flirts
with edge
of skim
and
sinking
stone
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concentric rings
connect and scatter
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select another stone
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© Jane Tims 2011
crossing the river
In New Brunswick, the Saint John River watershed accounts for more than one-third of the province. It is a majestic river, almost 700 kilometers long, beginning in Maine and Quebec as small tributaries and gradually gaining in width and volume as it flows towards the Bay of Fundy.
One of the best things about living near the Saint John River is its cable ferries.
There are several bridges, of course, but no means of transport across the Saint John River can compare with the mini-voyage experience of crossing the river on a summer day with the wind in your hair and the dazzle of water in your eyes. It is always interesting watching the ferryman packing the cars in like sardines on the busy days. There is usually some interesting local event posted on the bulletin board. And New Brunswick’s river ferries are free to ride!
In 1978, I made several trips on a ferry that was only in operation for a short time. This was the car ferry at Cambridge-Narrows on Washademoak Lake, part of Washademoak River, one of the large tributaries to the Saint John River. It operated for a few months after the covered bridge there was flattened in the Groundhog Gale of February 2, 1976. The new bridge was built shortly afterward in 1978 and only local people remember the ferry.
However, I remember the ferry at Cambridge-Narrows very well. I wrote the poem ‘Lights on the Lake’ one evening as I took the ferry across the Narrows and felt the peacefulness of the small community winding down from the summer season.
For a short history of Cambridge-Narrows and a photograph of the covered bridge after it was destroyed by the Groundhog Gale, see
http://www.imagine-action.ca/IAAppContent/274/BookletVII_Legacy%20of%20HistoryFinal.pdf
Lights on the Lake
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1.
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twilight
fairy bulbs on masts
sunset on sail
amber to trace
the ferry’s quiet crossing
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dusk
leaded porch lights
propane glow
twin headlights
joust along the cottage road
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darkness
strings of lantern
patio voices, clinking and laughter
fires on the beach
sparks stirred toward the sky
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moonlight
waves flirt with stars
Aurora Borealis leaps
fireflies blink
brief messages of love
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2.
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comes an evening at summer’s end crowd and fireflies are gone night storms shuttered windows
darkened doors the charred remains of fires
on the shore
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and through the trees a ruby gleam
a choir practices its song
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© Jane Tims 1978
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