Who Would Have Thought So Many Widow's Walks, Darlings???????????

                                                 "The lady comes to the gate
                                                   Dressed in lavender and leather
                                                   Looking north to the sea she finds the weather fine

                                                   She hears the steeple bells
                                                   Ringing through the orchard all the way from town
                                                   She watches seagulls fly
                                                   Silver on the ocean stitching through the waves
                                                   The edges of the sky."
                                                   ----"Albatross," Judy Collins





                                 Having now gotten accustomed to my morning excursions, girls, I delight in taking a look at what is all around me. The route I take is very scenic, thanks to the steps and beautiful houses, which, along with my beloved Monsieur, make me eternally grateful I am back in Bay Ridge.  The route I take is very scenic, between the houses, the steps, and the bay view along Shore Road, which can be seen, even from the park, where I walk the circle.

                                   Many of the homes along Shore Road, overlooking the bay, are old and lovely.  So, it should not have come as a surprise to me, to discover so many of the houses are designed, whether for usage or simply ornamentation, with widow's walks.

                                       Some of these houses were built in another era, when Shore Road was even more deserted than it sometimes seems at this time of morning, which must have been a time when widow's walks were needed.  A widow's walk is a railed rooftop platform area, very pretty, but designed for wives of seafarers of an earlier time, to keep an eye both on the impending arrival of their husbands from the sea, or,
in the case of a horrible storm, the fate of those husbands--hence the term.  The wife of a seafarer, like that of a policeman today, always lives under the specter that widowhood might come a' calling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                       I know, I know, the whole thing is so Sena Jeter Naslund.  The widow's walk is referenced in her much hyped, at the time (1999--Good God, is it really fourteen years????), and overrated novel, "Ahab's Wife," which references the widow's walk, and attempts a "Moby Dick" redux by concentrating on the least memorable aspect of the Melville novel--the title character of Nauslund's novel, who is mentioned, dismissively, in a single sentence.  Like building gold out of string, as in "Rumpelstiltskin."

                                       And both "Moby Dick" and "Rumpelstiltskin" are superior literary works!!!!!!!!!!

                                       But I love seeing the widow's walks when I go by in the morning.  When I reach the bay, I stop, look out and stare,  In my head, I hear Judy Collins, singing "Albatross."

                                         Don't go walking 'cause you're a widow, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!