ladies bells

An old rope covered in moss at the waterfront, found at the end of a small formerly off-limits pier. There's still a chain link fence to block access, except now there's no lock on the gate and it stands ajar. It's where an old rusty boat used to sit in the water. An old ice cutter, perhaps?

some wild sage grows beside the old railway ties in the area where not much grows due to, I think, a heavy creosote soaking about 60 years ago. There are no trees there. Only grasses, wildflowers and a few shrubs. After all these years. Maybe it was agent orange or his cousin, agent red alert, that killed the ground. For development. For progress at the waterfront.

A slab on the ground in the same dead zone. Just beyond it is a new sign: No Trespassing. Area under video surveillance.

A small paper birch with a skirt of pearly whites. On the hill underside of the overpass.

Ladies bells bent from the strong winds at night. In the morning, the ladies were all spent, having battled the winds and the rain all night long. The ladies bells grace the underbrush along McVicar's Creek path.

The tangled roots of a cedar and a birch on the banks of McVicar's Creek, with an edging of old rusty red pine needles.