Ahhh, the smell of low tide!

   I knew it was low tide even before I set foot on the board path leading to the pier.  I could smell it.  Low tide has a distinctive musty smell that offends some folks' noses.  Not mine.  I suppose that I am accustomed to the odor since I have lived on the Bayou seemingly forever.  The smell of mud bothers me not.  Actually, when the water is far out from the shore, I love being on the pier.  I can see so many things that are usually covered by the murky waters.  If the winds are calm and the water is shallow, shells, barnacle-encrusted logs and sealife become visible.  It is not uncommon to see a large redfish chasing little mullet or a stingray awaiting for some hapless bullminnow to swim over it.  Crabs, shrimp and other crustaceans scurry about the water's edge or hunt in the tide pools.  I could sit for hours just watching what is normally unseen. 

 

  This afternoon, the tide was already far out from the marshline and getting lower. The smell was strong but not highly unpleasant.  Ms. Ez, the Bayou Dog, and I watched as three small blue crabs stirred up the mud to confuse the bullminnows that were playing in the shallows.  The crabs' method was highly successful and each soon was munching on its supper.  An egret strutted its stuff down the mudflats picking grasshoppers off of the marsh grass.  It was a beautiful way to wind up the day.   I would have stayed much later but thunder in the distance told me that another storm was on its way.  Ms. Ez and I shuffled our way back up the hill to the Little Bayou House.  

  This evening, the windows were flung open to allow the cooling breeze inside.  With that breeze, the low tide smell permeates the room only to be interrupted by an occasional waft of the fragrance emitted by the gardenias.  Frogs are croaking, crickets chirping and the lone mockingbird is singing.  Yep, it is just another night on the Bayou with all of the smells and sounds that go along with it!  I wouldn't trade it for the world.  If it is at all possible, I would love to live right here for the rest of my days (and nights)!