Tag Archives: Ragtag Daily Prompt

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slick

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: grubby.

Grubby isn’t quite the right word here. At the lake we do get grubby, mostly living outdoors, but the word for this is slick and slippery! There was a burn ban when we first got to the lake, but it rained a lot the last couple of days. When it first rains, the rocks are terribly slick. I was very careful going down on the front rocks, but it didn’t occur to me to warn my daughter or partner. Both fell, feet shot out from under, launched! Both were thankfully fine, just startled and a little banged up! I showed them the alternate route back up the rocks.

The rocks and the lake are so beautiful in the rain. And I worried less about fires.

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merganser blessing

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: bird.

This is the second time that I have been blessed by mergansers! I am sitting on the front rocks, which face east, with P in the early morning. Tea, journal and camera. Camera just in case. The family of mergansers swam around the point and we froze. They came up on the rocks, about 15 feet from us. I took pictures and otherwise we held very still. The family groomed themselves. One settled facing the woods and the others slowly settled, the parent bird still on the alert. After they rested enjoying the early sun, the parent led them back in the water and they swam along the rocks in front of us.

I read an article about productivity yesterday. It talked about taking breaks and more importantly breaks outdoors. A study of work after breaks showed that people thought an outdoor break was better than an indoor one for relaxation, but the measured effect was even greater than expected.

I can only be blessed by mergansers if I go outside and wait and am quiet. I feel so blessed.

 

 

 

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the funny pine

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: bark.

Oh, I don’t think tree bark is the bark the prompt is asking for, but…. well, dogs like trees too.

I have grown with this tree, meeting it first when I was 5 months old. The white pine fell or was hit by lightning, in the past, and the main trunk is in the water. Dead and ghostly, but the Lake Matinenda fishing community visits the dead tree. Not just humans, but I have also seen three otters fishing there and a snapping turtle the size of a platter. Meanwhile, a branch of the tree took over trunk duty and the tree held on.

This is the Canadian Shield, in Ontario. Imagine growing on that rock. The roots travel into the woods searching for whatever soil they can find. The root/trunk that sticks up is higher than ever this year. Three branches have matured and all stick up like a row of trunks.

From the other side:

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When I was a kid, we played sardines. Once when I was “it”, I climbed out the trunk a little and settled shielded by the branches. It took forever for my cousins to find me, my best hiding place ever. We finally started doing loon calls as hints, to get the last few people in.

I love this tree, bark, branches, survival in adverse circumstances, holding on and the lovely soft white pine needles.

 

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loon

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: sobriquet.

Are loons loony?

The lonesome call of the loon in breeding plumage on lakes turns out to be long distance communication: calling for one’s mate or for relief on the nest or staying in touch feeding.

The laughing call of the loon is anxious. It is done to lure predators and dangerous others away from the nest or away from the young. The young are in the water, riding on the parents’ backs when tired, by about 48 hours after hatching.

The sobriquet loon mean something very different to me than the usual meaning of loon, beloved and sober.

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