It's mostly cloudy, windy and cold enough to snow, because it did. The thick dark clouds put a steel blue color on the bay. When the sun pops under at just the right angle, it spotlights the ducks and leaves the water dark. I head out through the east channel next to the burial island. There is still a few extra inches of water in the lake, so I paddle along the edge of the marsh, because you can't do that once the lily pads have come up in the spring. I see a dead beaver back 10 feet in the cattails. Scavengers have just started to nibble on it, so it has probably been less than a week. I cross the bay. I don't see the eagles and I do not find the last two swans - they are probably back up near Skagit Bay. Over by the west islands, I haul a large road construction barrel out of the water. Then, I spot both eagles in a tree on the west shore. The female flies over as I head towards them, she is enormous. Enjoying the blustery day and not ready to quite I head through the cut into Portage Bay and continue into Lake Union. The wind there is out of the west as I paddle south into the lake. The wind is stronger, the waves are bigger, but not yet white-capped. I paddle past the drydock where they are dismantling the Wawona, an old wooden bald-headed schooner. They never got the funds to restore her and she has been slowly rotting in the lake since before I moved here. I remember when she still had her masts up. It starts snowing. I take out and walk up over the hill to home.
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