Thursday, May 28, 2009

My Best Nightmare Coming True?

I'm in want of someplace different, so, I paddle north in the big lake well past Union Bay.

A seaplane with an old piston engine rumbles into the air, but it is well out of sight. The sound drifts off for a few dozen paddle strokes before the plane comes out from behind a hill whose trees have absorbed it's noise. It flies south past me towards Mt. Rainier. When I reach Wolf Bay (it is not much of a bay - not since 1916 when the lake level dropped 10 feet) an eagle flies past and then perches in a tree along the shore where crows pester it. It whistles a deep haunting tone back at the crows.

I am almost to Sand Point before I see the first motorboat. I turn around and head south.

As I near the lunchcounter, an eagle flies out of the NE lagoon. It is hunting and I see it splash full body down into the water. It comes up empty, circles some and splashes down again. Again it comes up empty. This time it circles, gradually climbing and gradually widening it's arc until it finally flies back to the NE lagoon.

I have to push many drift logs out of way to access a rich plastic debris spot. It is getting more difficult for me to collect plastic junk. My best nightmare may be coming true. I fill my boat with about 50 gallons of junk. Some of it is the pebble grain styrofoam, which I especially hate because it falls apart and soaks up so much water that I cannot use it for my artwork.

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