Neil says the heron’s cry may be the sound of the dinosaur. Early this morning the orange tabby and I watch the heron fish at low tide. Tabby watches intently, ears erect. The heron cries - a sound that splits the morning and maybe time. I sip coffee. The cat crouches in fear perhaps, faint recollection, echo of memory, the pterodactyl and tiger, & neanderthal with coffee.
Sunglasses
I have a hard time passing up the free pile at the end of our dock without at least taking a look. My daughter teases me about all the sunglasses I have. But every pair has been found. Sometimes in the free pile. Sometimes in a shopping cart, sometimes in the trash. That's pretty much my standard for acquiring sunglasses- not how they look on me, or if they are men's or women's, but whether or not they are free. And it's a good thing, too. Apparently, I'm hard on shades. I break them. I've even been known to lose them. At least I think I've lost them . . . hmmm, has someone been thinning the herd?
Dock Alert
Dock Alert on Issaquah is code for party, a tradition started by my friend Jim. A dock alert might begin as an email or a note on the bulletin board. Or just a couple of chairs, some beer, wine and chips. Next thing you know, others stop by and stay. Sometimes a guitar appears. Or an iPod with speakers. Someone orders pizza. The dock alert may stay small, may grow large; it may last a short while, it may go into the night. It's a dock thing. A casual community happening. A love of life. A spirit on the waterfront that, with little or no planning, but with smiles and goodwill and shared refreshments becomes an organic festive party; reminding us all that we came to the docks for beauty, but we stay for community.
"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Shackle, Thimble, Line
These are the line lines that secure us in our berth. At low tide the lines appear out of the water, kelp and mussel shells dangling from their greenish strands. Some might find them unsightly, preferring that they stay under the surface at high tide. But I find them rather beautiful —their design, their simple strength and technology, their patterns as they cross one another, and their vital role in holding us fast to the pilings that mark our berth which we call home.
Loafing
"I’ve set aside time today,
same as every day,
for doing nothing at all."
- Raymond Carver, from 'Loafing'
Pierre likes Carver, too.
waking up
Sun on the roof deck
heart coffee & chocolate cake
the morning in its youth
poetry and cats
sunglasses and tai chi
the bay shimmering
light moving
on the side of a houseboat
these reflections with no
questions inquisitions or
cameras
just me in this moment
with the old cat
whose shadow silhouette
I see and would
photograph if my camera were
here so instead I simply
enjoy this mild state
of stunning astonishment
"The face of the water, in time, became a wonderful book - a book that was a dead language to the uneducated passenger, but which told its mind to me without reserve, delivering its most cherished secrets as dearly as if it uttered them with a voice. And it was not a book to be read once and thrown aside, for it had a new story to tell every day." Mark Twain, Life on The Mississippi
"Just A Minute"
I rose early, as I do, with special assistance from one of the cats. Apparently I didn't get the memo that breakfast had been moved up to 5 am. Well okay. After seeing to my duties I made the coffee, went up to the roof deck and inhaled sea air, beheld the sunrise, practiced tai chi. Phyllis was up when I returned. We sat in the living room drinking coffee together, settling into the morning. 'I like this 'she said, handing me a book of poetry, Mary Oliver's Why I Wake Early, opened to a poem, "Just a minute" said a voice . . . I loved the moment, the coffee, the poem, its last line: 'For the rest I would keep you wondering.'
