Birling down a-down the white water.

A couple of weeks ago Bruce and I were browsing Youtube and happened across the National Film Board of Canada's 1979 animated short "Logdriver's Waltz". It used to air on television in the 80s. Bruce recognized it instantly. I wouldn't say I remember the thing per se, but there are a few bits that strike me as quite familiar, so I'm sure I saw it too.

It's an absolutely charming short in any event. The video can be viewed online here.

The film features a folk song of the same title written by Canadian Albert Wade Hemsworth, in celebration of the log driving profession. He likens the log drivers to dancers in the song, for the skill and agility the occupation required.

For he goes birling down a-down the white water
That's where the log driver learns to step lightly
It's birling down, a-down white water
A log driver's waltz pleases girls completely.

Soo... running across this video really set me off. Having grown up in a small Canadian community driven for more than a century by the forestry industry, I suddenly found myself quite obsessed, looking up as much information and photographs of the old profession that I could find.

And what a fascinating profession indeed! Before trucks and railroads, large sawmills were built at the lower reaches of rivers. This was quite intentional, of course - how better to get the logs out of the woods and to the sawmill than to float them down the river!

Often times, logs would become jammed or stuck and needed to be guided along the way. Men called "log drivers" would run from one log to another, ensuring their successful journey downstream. As you can probably imagine, this took loads of strength, skill, and agility. It was dangerous, too. Many log drivers were killed by falling and being crushed between the heavy logs.

Well all this inspired me. Naturally!!


I'd been trying to figure out what to paint on the canvas Bruce got me for Valentine's Day since... well... Valentine's Day. So I used a photo I found online as a model, some acrylics, and went to town. It's found a home on the wall above my computer desk in the living room. Not sure if that's where it will stay.... for a little while though at least, I'm sure.


Yep.

The Log Driver's waltz pleases Smel completely! :)