Down by the River

Walking down by the river the sun is bright but the air is a cool and the wind goes right through the fleece that I thought would do it. But it is so beautiful. The river runs quickly, swollen with the melting run-off from the north amd recent rain.

At the boat launch where in a few months I will slip in my kayak it looks so differently. The tall grasses that, in the summer, frame the river and the launch area now are matted down from the snow and earlier flooding and it gives a wide open view that is lost in the summer. In the sheltered spots back from the water, the tall dry grass waves like flags in the breeze.



A fallen tree, a remnants of a beaver meal from last season left and perhaps forgotten, buds appearing on a few bushes and trees in the sunnier areas; bits of trash and balls washed down stream and previously hidden under snow and green brush quickly fills my plastic bag.

The air is clear and there are the sounds of the river swirling around pieces of wood lodged in the river bank, the wind in the trees and the trickle of dozens of streamlets draining the land.



Around the area the sound birds are returning, mother bears have been spotted with their cubs walking the neighborhood in search of food, daffodil green is appearing along the southern sides of stone walls and in the yard and the days are longer.

Spring is here!!!