History Under The Bridge

The Bridging The Gap photo challenge hosted by Alice officially ended yesterday but I found this wonderful blue bridge and a sternwheeler that I wanted to share. These were taken the same day as yesterday's post. They were taken at a Sternwheelers Museum in Marietta, Ohio. Some people thought the flatboat (wooden barge) in yesterday's post was an old building. In my mind it reminded me of a wooden ark. The museum sits on the Ohio River. You can see the big 'M' on the bridge for Marietta.

The W. P. Snyder Jr., is the last steam- powered, stern-wheeled towboat in the United States.
The boat was built for the Carnegie Steel Company and she was launched in 1918 as the W.H. CLINGERMAN. During the boat's working life, she primarily pushed barges loaded with coal on the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers. She was retired in 1954 and, as was the fate of her kind, she would have probably been scrapped. In 1955, however, the Sons and Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen and the Ohio Historical Society concluded that one example of a steam towboat should be preserved. The boat was donated to the society.

Care to walk the gangplank my friends? You can. There are tours during the summer months.

As you visually walk across the gangplank do you see that little door to your left? You do. Good. This week Jientje is hosting a photo challenge called "Opening Doors." It begins tomorrow and runs through Saturday. Check out her blog for all the details.

St. Mary's Catholic Church

Marietta, Ohio

April 2008

Sunday Blessings Everyone

Bridging The Gap and Raven's Wordzzle

Bridging The Gap between the old.....

....and the new.

The old wooden flatboats used to carry cargo down the river and now heavy steel barges do the job.

Last Wednesday afternoon in rainy weather we were out looking for hoses for a garden tractor and any new bridges for this meme when we came across the Sternwheeler Museum in Marietta, Ohio. Even though it was raining I had to take a look around. I liked the footbridge taking us from the sidewalk to the flatboat. A little further up the river I found the barge anchored in front of yet another bridge connecting Ohio and West Virginia. It was wonderful to find both of these in one day.

I have enjoyed the bridge meme with Alice and want to thank her for being our host this week. Although today is the official last day of the meme; you will see at least one more bridge from me on Tuesday.

Be sure to click on the icon at the beginning of the post to visit Alice and the other participants.

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Each weekend Raven hosts her Wordzzle Challenge where she gives us words to put in a complete paragraph.

This week I decided to try the mini challenge of five words and eh ten word challenge. The words from Raven are the blue words in my paragraphs below.

Be sure to click on the icon and go over to Raven's and check out her and other participants Wordzzle - she is GOOD and so are they!
Here's my offering for the mini challenge:

Elizabeth sat at her potter’s wheel trying hard to throw out at least something resembling a reproduction of a Native American bowl. The TV in the corner was running through a movie CD of PBS Special Moments. Out of the corner of her eye Elizabeth could just make out an opera singer with a toothy grin and what appeared to be very swollen ankles. The eye shadow, rouge, and lipstick worn by the rather hefty guest looked like it had been applied from a palette of oil paints rather than a makeup case. As her hands manipulated the clay Lizzy’s voice erupted in a high pitched soprano…"Be very quiet, I’m molding clay, I must be patient, I cannot play…." Doubling over in laughter at herself the clay fell in a lump. She’d have to start all over. It was a good thing she actually made money making pottery. Singing was NOT her forte!

Here's my offering for the ten word challenge:

It was four months until Christmas but his Grandma didn’t have to be a psychic to know what Billy wanted to find under the tree come that December morning. He had written his list on a small piece of paper as legibly as he could:

Dear Santa,

I want a pogo stick, an ant farm and a little baby turtle. And can you please bring Grammy a new surge protector for her computer? I’ve been very good.

Thank you, Billy.

He had asked his Grandpa to put the letter in a little tin box that was kept in the wall safe behind the painting in the living room. It would be safe there until it was time to mail it to the North Pole.

Grammy assured herself that neither the arthritis in her knees from the ravages of time nor the threat of pneumonia in the coldest of weather would keep her from seeing that Billy got what he wanted this Christmas. She would see to it with everything she had. It would not; would NOT, be her Waterloo!