Nellie, The Iron Horse

Nellie is beautiful in every season: whether she's caught in a snow drift or has soft green grass under her bronzed hooves. She's a familiar figure as I make my way up and down Lonsdale.

Nellie's a retired work horse. She used to haul supplies up the steep hill that is Lower Lonsdale, bringing building materials to the residential and commercial buildings of North Vancouver. She's a firm favourite with the residents of Lower Lonsdale. We can always find her with her head lowered ready for that much needed drink from the water trough in Victoria Park.

In summer when the lawn is mowed, we fill her trough with cut grass as well as her hollow bronzed head so that she is sure not to go hungry. After a good snowfall, we dress her in and make her a snow horse. She looks particularly lovely with a snow-filled torso.

Her water trough is a good place to leave your commerative red poppy on Remembrance Day. Nellie worked at the time of the Great War, so says her trough - dated 1915.

Her sculptors marked her hoof prints in stainless steel in the sidewalk. I hear the clip clop of her hooves whenever I walk by. Nellie's stillness is a whisper of serenity in the busyness that is life on Lonsdale.