Notes from a messy desk….
When did you last take a Saskatchewan ferry ride? Or spend an afternoon picking berries among the pines and poplars? It’s been too many years for me. This might be the summer to replenish the soul with some nature time featuring ferries and berries.
Because Prince Albert is the gateway to multiple lakes and the activities they offer, it’s easy to overlook other types of summer excursions. I mention ferries because I love their long history, and the fact that they’re still around, a valued part of our provincial road system. My swimming skills peaked at the level of beginner, so I’m not wild about being in deep water, but enjoy bobbing or gliding on the waves, and a ferry ride is just the ticket — without having to buy a ticket. Unlike a highway drive, riding a ferry slows you down, inviting a breath of nature in. It gives you permission to relax, unwind, experience the river’s sights, sounds and smells; to forget any nagging have-to’s for a while.
The river hill descent when approaching the ferry dock provides an opportunity to admire the view, and at the same time pray that your brakes hold. Next, you get to sit back and wait, possibly in a line-up of other cars and trucks, taking in the rusting leaves, river’s banks and those living skies your licence plate talks about, until the ferry is ready to board. If it’s on the opposite shore, you can watch it cross the river, then observe as the vehicles are let off, one by one. Maybe I’m easily entertained (okay, no maybe about it), but I find the procedure interesting, and a relief for highway fatigued eyes.
Once your vehicle is on the craft, parked and shut off for the crossing’s duration, the ferry’s mechanical workings make their own kind of music. Without competition from the automobile engines we’re so accustomed to, your ears might pick up the call of birds above, or the lapping of waves below. You could opt to sit inside your car for the whole crossing, but why not step out and stretch, lean on the ferry’s railing, peer into the river’s surprising swiftness, and allow the ceaseless prairie breeze to crate a beautiful mess of your hair? Ahh.
If you play your cards right, ferry excursions can lead to good berry picking spots down gravelled country roads and forest trails of dirt or sand, with bonus sightings of birds and/or other wildlife. I hear tell that some people actually make pies and preserves with the fruits of their labour. You people rock! I inevitably come home from the berry patch with teeth stained reddish purple from eating the bounty raw. And, to my credit, a respectable amount of berries in a pail, to prove I did some productive “work”, not having spent the entire time snapping photos, wondering about the difference between toadstools and mushrooms, attempting to harvest and chew spruce gum (yuck!) and breaking new trails because the feel of walking on moss is neat-o man.
I try to “pick clean” like my elders taught me, so there aren’t too many leaves or creepy crawlies riding home in my pail. Once cleaned and washed, the berries make a great dessert, even if all that’s involved is sugar and/or cream to taste. Yum!
Or perhaps they’ll get turned into juice, or wait – how about wine – the better to toast summer with? Cheers to Saskatchewan ferries and berries!
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