My Mind is Going

I used to pride myself on a solid memory. When I wrote Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary, I pulled a lot of events that Roland Axam experienced from those of my own or of those I knew when I lived in South Korea.

To this date, when my buddy Russ and I get together and talk about old times from 1998, he is surprised that I can recall events with clarity.

When I look at photographs, I'm almost immediately pulled back to that time when I stood with my camera, capturing the memory. I remember the circumstances surrounding the image. I remember the weather, my mood, and who was with me.

For good or otherwise, I can remember smells.

There are a couple of photos that I shot, in 1996, when DW and I were on vacation, celebrating our second wedding anniversary, and we took a trip out east, to Nova Scotia, PEI, and parts of New Brunswick, that when I look at, I draw an almost total blank.

A year or so ago, I digitized one of those slide images and cleaned it up, and it's become one of my favourite photos that I have taken. Only, I don't remember where I shot it.

The other day, I found another slide image, taken of the same harbour, and again I couldn't summon the location.

This failure in memory has become one of my own Where In The World photo challenges that I, myself, cannot solve.

Last night, I stared at both images, and the small town of Alma, New Brunswick, came to mind, though the background in the first image doesn't sync with my memory of the area. Along Hwy 114, as you drive eastward from Fundy National Park, you cross a small bridge and into Alma. The bridge crosses a small channel of water where fishing boats took harbour and would rise and fall with the tide levels of the Bay of Fundy.

I had taken photos of the boats at high tide, and meant to return to the same spot for low tide, but didn't make it back in time. DW and I had explored trails in the park and had missed seeing the boats on the drained bay floor.

Looking at these photos, the background doesn't jive with me. I went to Google Maps and looked at the bridge on Hwy 114, but it doesn't strike me as the same.

My mind is going. I've lost this memory.

And so I appeal to any readers who may know Alma, NB. Could these photos have been taken in that harbour? If not, do you recognize the area?

My memory is not what it once was. Don't even talk to me about my short-term memory.