Air and water

I took a wonderful limnology class at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in college. The study of inland aquatic ecosystems, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, rivers, springs, wetlands and so forth. I loved this course because it is such a generalist course. We talked about the chemistry of water, the physics, the ecology, the geography. The plants and animals, microscopic to bigger than us. And lakes that freeze, the ice floats on top, because it is most dense at 4 degrees C and less so at 0 degrees C. This oxygenates the entire lake as the water turns over until the entire lake is 4 degrees. Tropical lakes do not do this.

The photograph is of the Salish Sea, so not an inland space. The liminal space for me is the surface, the border between water and air. Sometimes swimming, if air and water are both warm, it’s hard to feel the exact liminal space, wet skin in the air and then the water.

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: liminal.

Early morning

A friend and I go down to coffee and walk out on the dock, on a fabulous sunny morning. The Northwest Maritime Center and the water are photogenic and lovely! All of the colors in the polarized light are just beautiful and it is almost warm.

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: photogenic.

Shattered

Is the wave, the water being shattered?

Or is it really the rock that is shattered, bit by bit, over time?

Stone shaped heart

your heart is an agate
clear stone

you have won
sort of
you think

but I am water
I am waves
I will smash you against the other rocks
and wear you down

I am water
I carve you like a laser
you wear my name
carved in your stone shaped heart

it is already written there
on your stone shaped heart
faint, because water wears slowly

water wearing stone
over time

________________________

written in April 2022

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: shattered.

Numbers game #7

For Judy’s Numbers Game: 128.

I have enough showing up that it can be all beach. Brandt geese out in the early morning.

Let’s look closer at the eagle in the tree. Splotchy feathers, not quite fully mature.

Rocks and logs and sand.

The deer come down too.

A gull in the evening as the light falls.

Who is the scamp?

Is the sea lion the scamp? Or the ocean wave splashing up? Or the cormorant in front of the right hand sea lion?

These are sea lions rather than seals, in Puget Sound. The small ear flaps give them away. They are also just bigger than most of our local seals. Males are bigger than females, up to 390 pounds, while the females are up to 110. Here: https://www.eopugetsound.org/articles/california-sea-lion

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: scamp.

We learned this one as kids and sang it very happily.

Goosesit

I goose sat last week, for friends going out of town. The geese knew I was a stranger and they were unenthused. I sang “Go tell Aunt Rhody”, but they didn’t like it. I tried “Molly Malone” on the second visit, but this was not received with joy either. I gave them fresh water and food anyhow.

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: goose.

I didn’t think they would appreciate “The Fox” either.