Today, one of the first days of Spring, we walked with Alf to the Columbia river from a secluded spot behind an industrial park where dump trucks haul rock to and fro barges. Tug boats in waiting. The sign which read ‘No Trespassing’ at the start of the quaint dirt path toward the water was too colorful to be taken seriously.
The beach beyond, where we stayed after Alf left, was vibrant with life. Ten bald eagles circled, hunting in the blue sky. Flocks of seagulls perched. Kites suspended in air. Seals played in the water downriver. The river gleamed blue and silver, like the fish which once plugged its channels.
You sat in my lap peacefully and ate soy sauce-soaked rice from a to-go container, your socks dirty with wet sand. We sat together for a long time. Quyana dug into the wet sand and laid in her cool bed in the shade. There was something precious about this moment which inspired me to say, without thinking beforehand, I am going to remember this moment for a long long time.
I was reminded of the Kenai river which I used to sit and watch from its dunes next to the bluff that salmon-heavy river spill into Cook Inlet, watching the snowpeaked volcanoes loom beyond that wide river of sea.
How much has changed since then, when millennium turned over like a big rock to reveal the mess in which the world mucks about now, and how much has not.
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I live near tea gardens and it's a bliss to walk in them in spring. The non-asphalt roads to the villages nearby with peace from the phone as it's too distant for signal to reach, is amazing is walk at.
Beautiful post and gave me a little joy by vicariously imagining you while I'm stuck at my cupboard of a room today.
With you in spirit. Love this post, and your sharing of this moment. <3