Friday, September 16, 2011

Tragedy on the Sea Wall

Inspired by Cyberdave's Vancouver Sketches, I headed to the Seawall a few days ago to sketch.  Yogi and I have been running along this route every morning lately.  It's absolutely stunning, littered with great sketching spots.

The day after I sketched this, we headed out for our run.  7am.  We had the seawall almost to ourselves to ourselves.  I saw a paddle boarder drifting along slowly, fairly close to the wall. Then I noticed a Coast Guard vessel, also drifting slowly in toward the wall.  As the two of them converged on a point, my consciousness snapped into focus and I realized what I was looking at.  The paddler had spotted a body, and was leading the Coast Guard ship in for pick up.  Yogi and I stood.  It felt dismissive to turn our backs and walk away, and wrong to stand and stare.  We drifted awkwardly together with the couple of other people on the wall, all of us holding our hearts and shaking our heads as a woman was pulled up onto the boat.  Nothing has appeared in the news.  So sad.  I'm carrying a thought for her, whoever she was, with me today.

3 comments:

Serena Lewis said...

A heartfelt post with a beautiful sketch. How awful though for the poor lady......I feel so sad inside for her and I wasn't even there.

David Fletcher said...

Wonderful sketch Carol.. I don't think I have viewed this are from that angle.
How sad and awful seeing such a sight of the person in False Creek.

hap said...

Thanks for posting again Sketchalina! Sad to admit there is often sadness in beautiful surroundings. Still without sadness we seldom appreciate joy.