Clear Water and Dead Wood.

I was down on the pier this afternoon and had to say a little prayer of thanks. This past summer, I was at wits end trying to conceive ideas of how to stop the onslaught of sludge from the BP oil spill that was predicted to hit my little Bay. I worried about my animal friends. What was I to do to help them survive? It was heartbreaking to think that something could simply wipe out such beauty. Something so avoidable. But today..no signs of oil, sludge or anything! Just a beauty beyond compare! The water was so clear and clean that reflections of the marsh were nearly as vivid as the grasses themselves. Simply breathtaking!

As I made my way back up the hill, I had to pass a rather large piece of driftwood that my son had pulled from the water. I stopped to peer at the piece of dead wood and pondered where in the world this thing had been. A piece of wood can tumble around in the tide for years only to be deposited on some shore. There it may stay for a few more years until the tide washes it out again. This particular piece is quite large and has barnacles on it so I know it has been water bound for a while. This past summer, I had my son pull several long pieces of driftwood from the marsh. I had what he calls one of my hare-brained ideas. I was going to plant a "dead wood hedge"! In my mind I could just see it! It was going to be fabulous! I wanted to collect every piece of driftwood I could find and "replant" them as trees along the boardwalk path that leads form the house to the pier. I could then hang windchimes, bird feeders and birdhouses on the branches! I was so thrilled with my idea..he was not so thrilled with my idea. This meant he would have to be scrounging around in the marsh for dead trees. He would have to lug these dead trees up the hill to the pathway. I volunteered to dig the holes! All went well and we did manage to get several in place but soon found that driftwood is not as easy to find as "I" had thought. At least not ones long enough to become trees for my hedge. So this will have to be a "work in progress" sort of hedge..it has to grow! My son said he was going to tell anyone who asked about the hedge, that he was trying to start a driftwood farm! Maybe he is on to something there!