Chrónos

Times passage often depends on the activity. Today it is slow and quiet. I hear the chirpy sound of an eastern kingbird and the more aggressive call of the belted kingfisher. Each pile of rock is a history lesson into the beginnings of the earth’s crust. The lock Carrie Rose sits at was constructed of local quarried rock in the middle of the 19th century. It is nestled between two large granite outcrops.

Fast moving cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds pass over us from the NW. There is the occasional one with a black underbelly that drizzles a few drop of rain. Canadian weather refers to a day like today as “a mix of sun and cloud”, and today we have beautiful examples of both. The sun soaks the solar panels in photons and the electrons it generates are propelled into the batteries. The generator will not have to be run today.

Boats come and go all day. I am not sure if more went upstream or downstream. I lost count. A rush of water from beneath the lock gates heralds their coming. They glide quietly by us, and pass between the red and green buoys that demarcate the path to the next lock.

Time flows on. Up at 7AM, the locking starts at 9AM, then lunch around 1PM, and espresso and cookies at 2:30. A few projects in between but mainly heavy eyelids. People also come and go. Some picnic, play ball, half-heartedly fish or watch the lock in action. The lockmaster and his crew raise and lower the boats by hand. No pumps here, no electricity just various levers and cranks to open gates and valves.

The sun slowly passes overhead. The air is clean and does nothing to impede its intensity. The only significant noise is a small airplane ferrying parachutist into the blue sky below the clouds.

Time is languid here. The greens are rich. The trees are fine antiques of their species. The lock walls have the patina of many years of heat and cold, wet and dry, sun and shade. It is a friendly environment, at least today. Comforting. It is the first time in two months of cruising that we have let chrónos catch up with us.


19th Century Hi-Tech


At Home


A Rare Bolger Design


Cool enough to bake a pizza


A smoky morning at the bottom of Upper Brewer Lock, Rideau Canal, ON