Beauty and Sadness in Unexpected Places

The powerful workhorses of the waterways, the tugs big and small, each proudly reflect their unique beauty. I have a special fondness for the tugs and enjoy watching them smoothly maneouvre their "charges" into place at the hands of their expert captains. The construction of the 2nd Oak Island Bridge over the ICW gave us a unique opportunity to witness bridge building up close and from the water. The creativity of the engineers is evident in the beauty of bridge architecture. That's what makes photographing construction and industry so irresistible to me; the beauty of design on a grand scale. The day we passed through the construction site on the ICW was as cold as the photograph implies. We have to admire the men and women spending their days outside in the cold in various fields of work.

Bridge workers guide the massive 120 ton girder as it's held aloft and slowly moved from barge to land. Sadly, today we found out that the day after we passed, December 3, a girder collapse caused the death of one of the workers. Our thoughts are with the family, as we count our own blessings.