Today’s TMB (“take me back”) time-travel-via-snapshots are courtesy of Alisa Endsley and Kevin O’Keefe. Captured from the Essex-Charlotte ferry on December 24, 2022, they remind me to celebrate a victorious conclusion to the virtually endless rehab of Rosslyn’s boathouse gangway. Initiated in the summer / fall of 2021 and finally finished about two years later, this smallish project passed through multiple participants before achieving the goal. And so today I commemorate the boathouse gangway rehab — interrupted, resumed, completed — from the celebratory side of setbacks and reboots.
I sometimes joke that our standard operating procedure at Rosslyn is start-and-stop (or two steps forward, one step back…) And there is some truth to it. Seasonality, weather variability, the intrinsic nature of historic rehabilitation, and the occasional OPUD all contribute. The town planning board has earned mention as well (though recently they’ve really turned that reputation around.) And, the truth be told, Susan and my practice of GC-ing our construction projects is likely prime mover.
Thank you, Alisa and Kevin for documenting darker days, several speed bumps on our journey toward a visually indistinguishable, but structurally superior boathouse gangway. Passed is the waiting and wrestling, the anxiety and aggravation. Faded are the mishaps and mixups, the redos and reboots. What endures is a timeless monument, as stunning as sturdy. Also enduring perhaps is a lingering suspicion that our start-and-stop modus operandi — two steps forward, one step back — isn’t a bug, but a feature.
Optimist: Someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster, it’s a cha-cha. — Robert Brault
At Rosslyn, we dance!
What a difference a couple of years makes! A special thanks is due Peter, Supi, Tony, Glen, Brandon, and Pam for adopting this orphaned project, undoing the damage of the defeated OPUD, and transforming a setback into a success. Hurrah to the boathouse gangway rehab interrupted, resumed, completed… at last!
What do you think?