Everything is right with the universe once more.
Nothing cures my work day week blues and blahs like being out on the water for an hour. $15 buys a lot of sanity.
I always was a water baby. From my first time as a toddler in a wading pool in our back yard (I remember it seemed enormous!) fully immersed up to my knees, to summers slumming in pools, rivers and on beaches, to vacations where every motel had to have a pool (or I just was not staying!) and on to camping, motorboats, canoes, kayaks, sailboats and now paddleboards, I just had to be near water. Even if that meant sitting on a rock, feet dangling in the water, minnows nibbling my toes. I spent one glorious summer doing just that, sitting next to the river on the rocks watching the water go slowly past me. Oh to do that again!
I’ve held a fascination for water as long as I can remember, the smallest trickle of water will get my attention; rain, melting snow, water in a ditch, spring runoff over rocks, a puddle on the street, lawn sprinklers (oh the rainbows!). I waited hours to watch a geyser finally erupt, and can be mesmerized by waterfalls.
I love boats (the quiet type!), where I glide over an underwater world unfolding beneath me; undulating weeds, smooth multicoloured rocks, soft glittering sand, silver flashes of minnow schools and the occasional crayfish. On the surface there is a dance of water striders and whirligigs. When I discover a stranded non-water bug, I am happy to scoop him up, let him dry on the end of my paddleboard and return him to land.
Today as I sat on the paddleboard I was greeted by a curious snapping turtle and an elegant black swan. They checked me out, I said hello and continued on. A busy muskrat let me know not to come to close to her nest as she swam by, slapping her tail at me as she dove.
I was investigated by dragonflies, mayflies and deer flies. Swooped over by barn swallows, Honked at by geese and ignored by ducks.
Trees swept over my head along the shoreline. I caught glimpses of bright yellow finches in the foliage and drifted uneasily under a dead tree heavy with black cormorants. A hummingbird made a brief appearance and disappeared into the daisies.
Isn’t this a beautiful place?
I am so lucky. I am so blessed.
Today did me a lot of good.
