The living room windows of Linda's fifth floor waterfront apartment on Fells Point, Baltimore, offer a terrific vista of the constantly changing harborscape. Because I'm rarely able to visit, I seldom see the spectacular sunrises, sunsets, and cloud formations that she finds so endlessly fascinating. But what interests me even more is the old Domino Sugar plant and the huge bulk carriers that are often loading or unloading alongside. And this morning, for the first time, I got to watch one of these monsters being maneuvered into position.
While we sat sipping our hot coffee, a steel leviathan glided across the frigid water, dominating the harbor, accompanied by a pair of tugboats. End to end, it completely filled my field of vision. Then the tugs went to work, jockeying into position and strenuously swinging this monster around in almost a complete rotation. The water churned in green and white trails of turbulence behind them as they nudged it up against the loading dock. It happened amazingly fast, giving me only enough time for the quickest of scribbles through the open window, wintry air penetrating the room. Then it was done and the tugs disappeared.
Today is my birthday, number 59. But watching that scene was such an unexpected treat that I could have been 9 years old, just an enthralled young farm boy, mouth agape in wonder at the everyday business of a working industrial harbor on a splendid winter morning.
bulk freighter and tugboats, Fells Point Harbor, Baltimore, 11 x 7-3/4, Derwent Inktense pencils