Saturday, December 6, 2014

A Romance of the Bridge


Watching the river in the early afternoon, one leaf fragment sped by mid-channel as the snow flew down, disappearing as it hit the water.  Clearer water than the past few days flowed under the bridge, while little bits of ice moved at different paces: faster in the central current, slower on the fringes.  I wonder if the expanding reefs of ice coming out from the banks grow in part from capturing pieces passing near.

Right at the edge of the right bank ice - what looks like a an extra frozen slash on the lower right of the photo - appeared a floating pumpkin.  The shape, the basketball-like size, and the characteristic ridges identified it right away.  It seemed to be upside down, with its above water bottom either partially rotten or covered with snow.  It grazed the ice boundary for awhile then was taken up by the main current, heading for Long Island Sound, never capsizing, a well-keeled pumpkin.

As I came off the bridge, I found four 20-something folks, two men, two women.  They were in the road, in the snow, laughing and taking pictures.  I asked them if they wanted me to take a picture of all four of them.  They liked the idea.  I asked if this were a special moment.  Yes, one of the men had just proposed to his girlfriend on the bridge, and she had said, yes.

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