Growing with the Flow

Communities come together in times of need and I have seen our community grow immensely in a short period, or maybe more accurately my appreciation of our community grew even more.  This past week has been challenging for many and many are likely still facing challenges in the days to come.  Through these challenges I have witnessed some amazing scenes.  The sights would restore even the most down trodden view on humanity.

I want to share with you a couple of the highlights I saw while trying to do my part.  I want to brag about the community we all call home and provide reasons why we should all be proud.

The first scene was a mother wading through knee high water to get her three kids off the school bus.  She then carried them, one by one, to dry ground.  Traffic waited, in water, while she made the three trips.  The maternal care she showed and the relief she demonstrated as she placed the last child on dry ground moved me and allowed me to push harder through my day.

Firemen are a special breed and we have some of the best volunteer firefighters around right here in our community.  In a time of high stress and continual action, a couple of them calmly aided seniors onto a bus as they evacuated the Lions Villa.  Each fireman was able to smile and infuse a sense of humor to reduce the stress in the entire situation.  As the bus stopped to drop off a couple of the seniors on board, the firemen piggybacked them to dry ground and again humor made the situation more bearable.  I was again left feeling blessed in the midst of chaos.

With homes fully surrounded by water, I could see neighbors gathered on small pieces of dry land, talking and even laughing with one another.  The sound of running pumps and generators prevented me from hearing the laughter but their facial expressions indicated that it was forced simply to help them keep their sanity.  They were leaning on each other as they sat scanning the floating debris and tangled pipes amongst their subdivision.  Their ability to face such a tough situation with a brave face made me realize how small some of my day to day problems really are.

Kids always seem to have a positive attitude and as our future that is a great thing.  As parents struggled with trying to minimize the damage to their homes, I watched kids playing obliviously to the ramifications of what was going on around them.  The link between youth and innocence was driven home as the kids splashed in a puddle at the end of his driveway.

Maybe the biggest testament to how strong our community truly is was how often I saw friends helping friends.  On a normal day, a household would sit lifeless as the home owners went quietly about their day.  Over this week this same home has 4 or more people milling about trying to put it back together.  Some of the people are family members while others are neighbors who are slightly better off.  This happened instantly and likely without even a call.

Witnessing all this made me incredibly proud to call this community home.  I wish every one a smooth road to recovery and can’t wait to see how we grow as we come through this.

Inside Out Covered Bridges

This bridge near Damascus is dated 1914 and has stood prominently over time and sets a tone for its surroundings.

Kings County is known as the covered bridge capital of Canada and most of those bridges are within the Kennebecasis watershed.  Lucky for me I work for the Kennebecasis Watershed Restoration Committee and I get to see these bridges on a regular basis.  To be honest I have probably come to take them for granted.  Recently though I have been looking at them from a different angle, from inside to out.

Over the last month and a half I have been monitoring ice and water conditions in the local rivers.  This often results in stops at the various river crossings, including many of the long standing covered bridges.  As I approach the covered bridges I still acknowledge their strong rural flavor and appreciate how they influence the mood of everything around them.  They have a way of making all the surroundings look like a scene from rural 1920s. 

This bridge sits in the heart of Waterford, NB and provides this area with a perfect rural character that makes the whole place more attractive.

The days I am out it is usually windy and cold so before I get out of my car I zip my coat up and then hustle to the windbreak and shelter offered by the covered bridge.  Once out of the wind I can take some time to observe all that is around me.  Of course the first thing I take in are the ice conditions on the river, after all that is what I'm there for, but part of the job is also photographing the ice.  Usually I will stand at the end of the bridge and snap a picture but if the angle isn't right then I have to find a hole in the sidewall of the bridge and this has led me to appreciate the new angle I have taken on covered bridges.

To look down the river from the inside of a covered bridge is not mind blowing until you really look at how sinewy the whole scene is.  When you are outside the bridge looking at the scene you notice the straight lines of the bridge.  From under the pitched roof of the bridge looking out, you notice how everything flows into the river with graceful curves and rolling lines.  Even the parallel lines formed by the skidoo trail down the middle of the river are curved with the snow covered riverbank. 

This bridge in Bloomfield, NB completes the country setting here and provides a welcome feeling to the landscape.

I set my camera so that the lens peeks out through a small knot hole and it captured the scene below.  I then started looking through the various cracks and holes in the side wall of the bridge.  I had visions of artistic style pictures from here but I'm not talented enough as a photographer to get the image that I wanted.  I had a blast attempting to capture my award winning photo at a number of covered bridges.  If someone were to ask me which bridge is my favorite I would have to say the Hammond River #3 – Smithtown, which is dated 1914.  I also have an affinity for the Trout Creek #5 – Moores Mill dated 1923.  This bridge is pure Canadiana as right at the bridge is an outdoor skating rink in the warm heart of the small hamlet of Waterford.

Rediscovering these standing monuments of history has rekindled my fondness for them and I hope to continue to explore them through my work.  Forgetting them is impossible because they have etched their curves into my mind.  

  NOTE:  This is a copy of the column I had published in the March 29 edition of the Kings County Record.