the ways...

a walk along the river last week led me to the ways...

the place where the paddle wheelers were winched on shore to dry dock for the winter months, and the place where they were released back to the river

the place where the new boats were launched, and where the decommissioned ones were brought ashore for the last time

the way of things

"the ways" is a term I have always, always loved

in ship-building terms its the "launching"

so much meaning packed into two simple words

how they looked, back in the day

I love that there are still four timbers remaining, along with much of the infrastructure

as well as remnants of the steel cables, cross-boards, spikes etc.

most of the year they under cover of water or ice but in early spring, when the river levels are low, you can walk right out to them

Thursday was such a day and I spent some time, looking, thinking, considering all the weight that term can carry, literally and figuratively

I love terms like that... ones that have different ways of looking at them... ones that can be used separately though still carry a connection

and oh that weathering!

I happened to have a small notepad with me that day, and a pencil, so I took the opportunity and made a rubbing

I can almost see letters here, a kind of anemic writing of sorts

the question is, what words might be trapped within those boards, that so many boats moved up and down, into and from the water

what stories would they tell?

today I went back and did more...

now to see what I might launch