When we were in Monterey California a few weeks ago we visited the famed Cannery Row. The connection to the American author John Steinbeck was made visible all throughout the Row. I had meant to re-read some Steinbeck before I went but it was one of the items left unchecked off on the TO DO list!.
I picked up a copy of one of his lesser known books "Cannery Row" while there and have just finished it. It is an odd little book but I so enjoyed the quality of the writing and am re-enthused to read some more classic literature now.
The evocative writing in "Cannery Row" came to me as I walked along the Boardwalk in my home village of Steveston on the weekend. It was low tide and the muddy flats were revealed under the canneries and boat lofts that dot our part of the Fraser River close to it's mouth into the straight of Georgia.
With Steinbeck ringing in my ears I could almost hear the long ago voices of the Japanese fishermen and the women canning.......Unlike Steinbeck quoted in the first photo above, I feel a sort of melancholy in the low tide where the detritus of the river is revealed and the margins bared.....the squelching, muddy, stinky edges disappearing into the flowing river......it's not the pretty time of the river.
I enjoyed focusing on the low tide as I walked a familiar, often trod path.....and I enjoyed a rare moment to take some photos in this crazy busy week.
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