It is getting on to that time of year again when an occasional stiff wind will kick up from the north. Besides the obvious fact that our air will be a wee bit cooler, the humidity lessens making it all the more comfortable. Fall and winter are my favorite seasons for so many reasons but the main one is that I feel better then. Starting about September and on through March, my health seems to improve! How can I not like the cold?
With that north wind comes lower tides. A brisk north wind will shove the water out of the Bayou and Bay leaving behind large mudflats along the shoreline. As the tides recede, interesting things will be uncovered. Whatever the summer storms pushed into the area will now be exposed. Sometimes, interesting things can be found along the shorelines. It was this time of year, that my kids used to love to go "scavenging". I would take the three of them out in a tiny skiff and we would pole along the marsh line in search of "treasure". To this day, the kids still talk about our close encounter with a large alligator on one of these outings! That, however, is a tale for another time! While I poled, the kids would peer over the side of the skiff into the shallows. If something was deemed interesting, they would call out and we would all take a look. Then, my oldest son usually would reach into the water to retrieve the great find. I have to admit that occasionally they did indeed find something usable or keep worthy. Sometimes a fishing rod and reel would be the treasure. Once a minnow trap complete with "cannibal bull minnows" was the haul. (Cannibal minnows were labeled thus because the poor things had been trapped for so long that they had taken to eating each other to survive.) Another time, an antique milk bottle from their great-grandfather's dairy was discovered stuck in the mud. That treasure still sits on the kitchen shelf! Other times, the find might include some trinket lost by a boater or something the wind blew from a nearby pier. Whatever we retrieved from the shallows would be the "find of the day". The kids thought this was great fun. What they did not know was that we were actually cleaning up our part of the Bay. Along with the treasures, we always hauled in a bucketful or so of trash to be discarded properly.
Yesterday's low tide brought to light so many interesting things. Most were things like driftwood pieces or boards. If the old skiff was usable, the logs would be hauled out of the mud and onto shore. These are nothing but snags to catch our line or rip our net. Since the kids are now grown, we do not go on our scavenger hunts. The cleaning has become just another chore. I need to find a few neighborhood kids around here to go on "hunts"just to keep things fun!
It is not my custom to harm critters. I do my best to avoid even upsetting them. I figure like this. I do not like be harassed so why would any critter think this was desirable behavior. This does not mean that I keep far away from my critter friends. On the contrary! I get as close as I can to them. I want them to know that it is not my nature to harm them. Occasionally, however, a critter is just a tad wary of my presence and has to put on a "show of defiance".
I was on the pier earlier and noticed that I had a visitor. A juvenile Green Heron flew in to see if there were any offerings of a breakfast. This youngster had not made my acquaintance as of yet and was a bit leery of me. It kept to a distance from me as I wandered back up the pier. The bird would scurry up the pier ahead of me then stop to stare. A couple of times, it took flight only to make a large circle and land in the exact same spot. I slowly eased my way closer and closer. The bird took a defiant stance as if to declare the pier as its own. Its neck stretched high and its small crest stood erect. When I noticed this, I sat down on the pier boards. No use in scaring the tyke!
The young bird soon became a bit more at ease and began relax a bit even though, it never fully trusted me. The adult birds will come snatch minnows from my hands but this juvenile had no idea that I was trustworthy. Perhaps soon, it, too, will grant me the pleasure of becoming friends. Little Bird, have no fear. I will not harm you.
Raking about an acre of yard is not an easy task! I have been at this chore for the past couple of weeks...well, that and weeding the gardens, digging up bulbs and taking down dead trees. It is hard work but well worth the effort. Stuff has been let go long enough so I figure if I wanted it done, I needed to do it myself. The guys of the household are busy revamping the trailer that hauls "Big Red", the tractor so they are not interested in swishing leaves around the yard. I do not mind as it gives me good exercise and time to ponder.
On the west side of the house are two rather stately camellia bushes. They have been there since Mark and I married so many hundreds of years ago (actually 38 years ago to be honest!) My Aunt Marie and Uncle Alfred gave us the two bushes as a wedding gift and they have stood strong through thick and thin (sort of like our marriage!) The bushes have been scorched by a house fire, swamped by hurricane flood waters. been completely buried under ten feet of hurricane debris and even had a tree fall on top of them at one point. They are still blooming and still gorgeous! Each disaster saw them come back stronger than before. I have been clearing out vines and weeds from under the bushes and was surprised to find two seedlings among the mess. These will be potted for Darling Daughter and hopefully will give her as many years of happiness as our have for us!
It was under those camellia bushes that I found the "rose-petal carpet". While this not truly accurate, the camellias are the "winter rose" of the Deep South. With their saucer sized blooms that have a habit of appearing late December and lingering through February, camellias used to adorn every yard. Bright profusions of pink, red and white could be seen next to screen porches on every street. Then with the disappearance of front-porch-sitting, so went the camellias. Now, they seem to be making a comeback! More folks are opting for screen porches instead of open decks and camellias, jasmine, gardenias and magnolias will soon follow! There is just something comforting about that thought. My pondering of life-as-it-use-to-be made the task of clearing the fallen camellia blooms a lot more pleasant.
