This, I miss

Today is a rarely golden sun-day, but for some reason it is making me reminisce about the Riverway in Boston. This path winds along a river near where I used to live, curving round a tree-rimmed pond, and ending up in the Arnold Arboretum. It’s punctuated by benches, curved bridges, and trees of many varieties. On sunny afternoons in June, this is a magical rollerblade, and strangely unpopulated when compared to the Esplanade. Even in the most city-dust days, I could find the smell of green things here, and pockets of the New England seasonal smell I loved so much when living in Vermont. Each month has a special flavor, and it wouldn’t seem like a proper spring or autumn until I had smelled seasonal indicators.

This path is magical though. In the midst of a humming city this is a string of countryside peace. Whenever I had forgotten why I chose to live where I did, a country girl in the middle of the city, I’d go out there and stand on the Jamaica Pond boathouse and it all seemed obvious again. It didn’t matter the month, it didn’t matter what had happened the rest of the day- on the Riverway it was all ok again. Since I can’t swim as mindlessly or gracefully as I can rollerblade, that feeling has not come to me as unfailingly in the pool yet, but hopefully it will soon. I also suspect that what I am really missing is days of light and sunshine after I look over the photos I selected to illustrate the places are the most sun-saturated of the choices I had. It’s easy to forget that it doesn’t look like that all the time there in Boston. I hear that they’re actually getting snow there now, but in my mind’s eye it is always June there now.

I suppose this is an odd entry to be posting after I spent last week describing my efforts to get out of Boston, but I think I take it as a reminder to always appreciate where I am, whatever the time, because I never know what I will remember about a place or time later. And so with that, I will turn my eyes to the amazing layered sunset sky outside the window. The light may be short here, but it certainly manages to be spectacular while it is around.

Ship Sighting: Víkingur is finally gone! This boat has been in for repairs since the beginning of December, and actually left for a day or two, then reappeared in the drydock. Maybe I shouldn’t speak so quickly... it could be gone for yet another test run and will be back again. That can’t be a cheap thing to keep doing though, to reel this enormous boat out into the water and then haul it back out just for a one-day spin.

On the comings-and-goings list is Egbert Wagenborg. I’m sure I’ve seen this one before and probably mentioned it already because I love the name. It’s just the kind of sturdy-yet-clumsy name a cargo ship should have (hopefully I haven’t got any readers named Egbert!).