Sunday, September 19, 2021

Summer's Swan Song

 

Summer is definitely beginning to wane as indicated by some early color seen on the Charles River in Sherborn, MA on Wednesday morning.

Started my last full week of summer last Sunday on the Concord River where the early morning sun backlit the Monument Street bridge...


The inscription at Egg Rock looked a bit like a 1950's era movie title...


On Wednesday I paddled the stretch of the Charles River between the Natick Dam and the CSX RR bridge within sight of King Philip's Lookout.

The Charles along Broadmoor...


Looking into Indian brook...


The red footbridge before reaching the Natick Dam...


A warning sign posted at the takeout/launch site next to the dam...


A good amount of energy at the dam especially in the fish ladder...


Up at the other end of my paddling trip was energy of another form...

...as 2 CSX locomotives powered train B731 across the river returning from Readville and heading to Framingham.


Friday was the start of the OARS organization's 3 day annual river(s) cleanup.  In keeping with COVID concerns they have several ways for folks to participate.  On Friday morning my wife and I chose to participate in OARS' Team Up Clean Up self-guided program and worked on the impounded area above the Powdermill Dam.


Wrapped up the week on Saturday by joining fellow paddlers Erik, Bill, and Conrad for an out and back paddle on the Quinebaug River Canoe Trail in East Brimfield and Holland, MA.  

The day started out  cloudy with Conrad paddling past some colorful swamp maples...


At the Curtis Island Rest Stop we went ashore...
...for a breakfast break.  According to the Lake Siog Pass Trail Guide Curtis Island is named for Ephraim Curtis who experienced a stressful visit to the spot back in the very early days of the conflict called King Philip's War.  
  
After a short portage into Holland Pond (aka Lake Siog) an eagle watched over our turnaround point...

The sun finally emerged on our trip downriver (Erik and Bill)...
...and it wasn't long before this wood turtle was seen basking in it...



Trash for the week:
Sunday's...

Wednesday's...


Friday's (as part of OARS Team Up Clean Up)...
...which included another 55 "nip" bottles.

Saturday's...



The week had a couple of unusual finds.  The first was an "Old Mr Boston" bottle alongside the Concord River...

...which has a dapper top-hatted gent embossed on one side while an image of the Massachusetts State House appears on the other.  I believe the bottle may date to 1935.  The company made a variety of liquors and also published the Old Mr. Boston De Luxe Official Bartender's Guide for many years following the end of prohibition.  I learned from the glassbottlemarks.com website that Old Mr. Boston was made in Boston by Ben-Burk Inc and post-prohibition they were assigned the User Permit  R-174 indicating they were a "rectifier" of spirits.  This bit of knowledge may help me in finally identifying another half-pint bottle embossed with a ship's wheel found in the Charles River back in 2014...

 
Both bottles appear to be from the same bottle maker (possibly Whitall-Tatum) and are embossed with the same User Permit R-174. 

However the most unusual find of the week was a little black box containing a pair of earrings...
...inside a shipping envelope found floating in the Assabet River.



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