Closing time

September 13, 2009 | Filed Under Black and White, General | Leave a Comment 

I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer’s dream, in the chill of a wintry light. - Bob Dylan

Gatineau dusk

September 11, 2009 | Filed Under General | Leave a Comment 

The sun goes down, the day goes down, and with it another billion fragments of time and space. On a hill by the Ottawa River at 8:04 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2009, this was one of them.

The covered bridge at Wakefield

September 4, 2009 | Filed Under General | Leave a Comment 

Every time I pass through a covered bridge I feel as though I am stepping back in time. This bridge over the Gatineau River at Wakefield, Quebec, opened on Oct. 4, 1998, replacing the historic Gendron Bridge, which was built in 1915 and was destroyed by fire in 1984. Its flash of bright red, framed by evergreen shores, blue skies and water, is a West Quebec landmark, nestled in t he Gatineau Hills north of Ottawa. A century ago, when most bridges were built of wood, covered bridges were common. Unprotected bridges could rot in a decade while those with roof could last 70 or 80 years, sometimes more. Today the vast majority of covered bridges have vanished, though they still exist – mainly in rural areas of North America. Vermont has more than 100, the most per capita of any state or province. The longest covered bridge in the world is in Canada. Located at Hartland, New Brunswick, it stretches 1,282 feet (391 metres) across the St. John River.