If you live on a small island
\nyou need a boat and two docks:
\none here and one for those
\nreluctant trips ashore.<\/p>\n
For years our island dock
\nwas a narrow nervous thread
\nof plywood on pipes.<\/p>\n
Finally upper management
\ndeclared she was tired of
\nwalking the plank to reach
\nthe boat, or inversely,
\nthe shore.<\/p>\n
Consultations, planning sessions
\nby telephone and spiraling
\nprotests later, a contract was awarded
\nand I commenced construction
\nof a huge L-shaped deck
\nover the water, and although
\nplans for the dock-end boutique
\nwere shelved, it was, as they say
\nsatisfactory.<\/p>\n
Now, the winter’s ice in the river
\ncould take a structure that size
\nfor a spring vacation near Montreal.
\nThat means we have to take the dock out
\nevery September and erect it
\nevery June.<\/p>\n
If the term
\nmoving heaven and earth
\nmeans anything
\nit may refer to
\nupping and downing
\nthat dock.<\/p>\n
The first time we did it,
\nthere were six of us.
\nThe last two times
\nthere were one and a half
\n(one being one of my sons,
\nthe half being yours truly.)<\/p>\n
We did it again today
\nFathers’ day
\n(or in the local family vernacular,
\n“Wonderful Sons Day”)
\nand I must say
\nwe get slicker
\nand more wonderful
\nevery time.<\/p>\n
Amen.<\/p>\n
[print_link]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you live on a small island you need a boat and two docks: one here and one for those reluctant trips ashore. For years our island dock was a narrow nervous thread of plywood on pipes. Finally upper management … Continue reading