Thursday, March 15, 2012

A Little Time Aground


Since my visit to Quaboag and a subsequent sinus procedure, my boat and I’ve been aground, like a couple of fishes out of water, so to speak.  Yesterday, while outside for a bit, I found myself looking upon the waters that were flowing from the nearby hills...


Pictured are the waters of Nashoba Brook shortly after being joined by Nagog Brook in Acton.  These two Native American names brought to mind another interestingly named brook that I recently encountered in a book.  Ever hear of Naromiyocknowhusunkatankshunk Brook in Sherman, Connecticut?    I ran across it in The Indians of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Valleys by Samuel Orcutt 1882 and said to myself “bet that name is long gone”.  Imagine my surprise in finding that, athough the original name was changed in the past, it was restored in 2001 and is the current name in use today.  So, what does it mean you ask: “water flowing from the hills”, of course.   What else?

Nashoba Brook/Icehouse Pond

So, for a little while longer, as Mr. Dylan once said  “…I’ll just sit down on this bank of sand and watch the river flow”...
Nashoba Brook/Icehouse Pond

3 comments:

BERNIE said...

Ill just sit down on the sand and watch the river flow. Sounds like lowered expectations-downscaling, relocalizing. Might be some good could come from all of us doing more of such. Can we re-organize society expectations, our economy, our communities to have more time to enjoy our social fabric and nature? Can we create smaller- scale productive farmlands, walkable communities with viable mass transit like passenger trains, in urban environments? Lets sit on the sand and start a social movement. A little dry dock might help us all to appreaciate all that we have.

Al said...

Bernie, That all makes sense to me.
My wife and I just drove into Boston and back. Oddly, to drive in and park cost all of $10. If we had taken the train, it would have cost $24. There's something wrong with that scenario. It should be the opposite!

Andrew said...

We take the train to North Station once in a while on a weekend to visit the Museum of Science. We do it because our two young boys love the train and we want to support mass transit, not because it's so convenient or cost effective. Now they plan on cancelling weekend commuter rail service. Rather than doing this, they should come up with a creative solution. One idea would be to eliminate parking fees during the weekend. The West Concord lot is almost empty on weekends. They should also run periodic express trains on weekends that only stop at stations with large lots and accessibility - Fitchburg, West Concord, Brandeis, Porter, North Station. If we could get to North Station in 20-30 minutes instead of 40-50, it would be a huge incentive.