October 9, 2014

Fort community garden. Photo by Lois A. McNulty

Things are changing rapidly around here.

I am leaving home; I am leaving the Fort.

As I wait for Ann to come pick me up, I stand in the front yard and drink it all in. It’s about 5:30; she’ll be here in a few minutes. I anticipate a fun evening with her, an escape from the sadness that has entered my life.

Photo by Laurel Tarantino

It’s about an hour away from sunset, still warm from a beautiful October day full of sunshine. The asters blooming in my garden are full of activity with hundreds of bees lazily going about their business. If you get close you can hear them, happy in their labors in the warmth of the sun.

Out on the breakwater, the waves make their way over it. I’m surprised by this. I know the tide is way up but there hasn’t been a storm. I guess it’s just a natural swell sending the water up and over. Lucky me- it’s so pretty to watch.

I’m surprised how quiet it is- almost as though it were planned just for me, giving me that private kind of moment to appreciate my love for this place. Something just jumped and slapped the water. Must have been a good-sized fish to make such a loud noise, breaking up the tranquility, or adding to it.

It causes me to look out over the harbor more thoroughly. Perhaps I’ll see more. What I do see is about thirty Snow Egrets coming in for the night to land in the tress of Ten Pound – a familiar sight I’ve been watching for years. Soon they’ll be gone for the winter. I will miss them.

I’m so surprised to see only one boat coming in, in a body of water so vast. Again I think selfishly, it is because it is “my moment,” a much-needed moment. As the boat comes past the red nun buoy, the sounds of stays hitting the masts of sailboats moored between Rocky Neck and Ten Pound catches my ears and focuses my attention in that direction. Must be about thirty sailboats over there. Funny how some sounds are so distinct to an area. I look back to see if the boat will pass by me heading in, but it’s just off the corner by the playground. There are seagulls bobbing behind it. I see now that it’s my friend Vito baiting traps. No wonder the gulls are following him. There’s a lobster trap balanced on the stern of his boat which is “side to” to me now. A brave gull lands on top of the trap. I am totally amazed that his wing span exceeds it. Vito’s standing not three feet away from him, probably grabbing a bait bag. I think to myself, “That gull, if stood on edge, one wing tip to the sky, the other to the ground, would be about as tall as Vito.” Do I get my camera out? No, this will be one for my mind’s eye. Those special pictures you keep with you and revisit any time you want.

Photo by Lois A. McNulty

And here comes Ann. I’m so glad to have something to tell her over dinner. It was such a short while waiting for her, but so completely full. She’ll “get it” too. I love that my friends understand how I love to see and share it. As we drive around the Fort, she tells me how it’s her first time seeing the ruins of where the Birdseye stood. Yes, things are changing rapidly around here. The writing is on the street- the graffiti of the Dig Safe markings for what is to come.