Fellowship

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature … he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” -John Muir (1838 – 1914) American naturalist.

I woke to 50 glorious degrees this 1st day of September. Crisp, clear and gorgeous. Although the sun would not be officially rising for another 20 minutes, at 5:55 it was plenty light and I was anxious to get out on the lake. I was running behind time and was a little panicked. I felt as if the day had started without me some 30 to 40 minutes earlier while I slept and I felt this urgency to catch up – to get outside and see what I had missed. Although I had not missed the sunrise, I had missed first light. “It’s ok,” I assured myself. There’s still time. My kayak having been loaded into the truck the night before, I poured the hot coffee into my mug, (the timer had been set last night, and as always the coffee was waiting for me --- Nice!) grabbed my PFD and off I went.

As I unloaded my kayak I called “mornin” to my 2 fishermen friends who are always there. “I hope you brought your cold weather jacket,” Pete called back to me. “I’ll be warm enough. Chilly today though, huh?” I wore only a light hooded sweatshirt over my tee and my usual nylon red boating shorts. I knew that once I was in the kayak, being low on the water, I would be warm enough. I’ve learned, through experience, that the gentle breeze off the water is warmed by it and this keeps me plenty warm. Of course the life jacket is thick and this helps too. Unfortunately my paddle is aluminum which was very cold. Time to break out the gloves, I thought.

I was only 30 feet out when an osprey swooped down and grabbed a fish from the water right in front of us. I heard Pete, from behind me, comment that the bird had just caught his breakfast and “I hope he can hold on to it.” The fish did seem to squirm around but I think the osprey had a pretty good grip on him. Off they went.

As I rounded the first bend at “the point” and headed into the cove there, I spotted the guy who lives nearby and walks his dogs through the park to the dock there. We waved to each other and he commented on what a gorgeous day it was. Although I can’t recall his name I know his dogs are Glory, the yellow lab who’s nearly 11 and Missy, the rescue black lab whose age we don’t know, but she’s up there. We’ve met here, while walking our dogs, a few times and it’s always nice to chat with him. My golden retriever is Missy too – she’s 5. (see picture, taken on a different day – on the dock) While I am just beginning my day he, I believe, is nearing the end of his – working 3rd shift I think. We bid each other a good day and he turned to go up the path to the point with his dogs and I continued along the shore.

I crossed the cove and went along the shore on the north side of the lake heading west now. The sun was still low in the east behind me, trying to poke through the trees. Of course I couldn’t help to look back. I love how the sun filters through the trees this way. As I approached the first island I decided to go around the shore of it clockwise, rather than go between it and the main land. I hadn’t explored this part of it yet. I’m still a couple hundred feet out but I can see the rocks just 1 foot down. Kinda scary and exciting! I spot some fishing line and I see the lure stuck in the rocks there. I wondered how long it has been lodged there. Years? Perhaps.

As I went on a little further and came upon the sandy beach area I heard a familiar swishing sort of – that I recognized as my solo sculling friend. Since he sits facing toward where he has been rather than where he is going – he hadn’t seen me yet. I was tucked in by the shore anyway and he was out 40 feet or more. I waited until he was almost past me so that he wouldn’t have to turn his head much, and I called “Good mornin’ Ron.” He stopped paddling and we talked for a few minutes about osprey, snapping turtles and hawks. After we said our “have a good day,” we both agreed it would be hard to have anything but a good day – having gotten a great start to it like this. Off we went. He continued out as I headed on back.

It truly was a great start to the day and it was nice to chat with some of the others of my “congregation.”