swinging across

Our town sits alongside a river. 

There is another, smaller town on the other side, as is often the case.  These communities are good neighbors (unless the kids are playing against each other in school sports that day.)  People who work in either town might live in the other town. There are four bridges that span the river within a very short distance of one another.  Two are for cars.  One is a train bridge, which also has a deck for daring drivers to steer their cars under the tracks and across the river--a two-way bridge with room for only one-way traffic at a time.  The logistics are tricky and it is my favorite bridge to cross by car.  But my all-time favorite is this one. 

It is just for people.

If you are standing, perhaps trying to take photos, and someone else starts to jog across, you can forget about a good shot until they are on the other side.  But pausing to enjoy the swing and the jiggle is a pleasure all its own.  When my son was still small enough to sit behind me on the bike in a kids' seat, we used to make great fun barreling across to visit Cindy and Katie on the other side.
(Bumpety bumpety bump.)

The bridge was originally built in the early 1890s to enable mill workers who lived on the other side of the river to get to work here.

The mill, like so many, is now home to shops and offices and restaurants instead of textiles, shoes and artists' brushes. 

 But the bridge is still well used today, not only for getting from 

here to there, 

 but to enjoy its graceful beauty...

and to watch the water... 

listen for the birds, and see the sky change...

and just to be still for a bit.