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July 30, 2008
Morning Musings
I have learned one important lesson here at Shangri Lar: if there is a low tide, go for a beach walk! The tide flats called to me like sirens so I wobbled my way across the barnacled rocks to the sandy bars. It was quiet, quiet, quiet except for the "thwacks" of cockle shells being dropped on the rocks by hungry seagulls. A handful of blue herons stood, belly deep, in water, looking like English umbrellas, their heads the handles. They were not at all interested in me; breakfast was on the agenda. I stood and watched while one heron-umbrella snaked its head into the water, pulling up a banana-sized fish. I could see the fish's outline in the heron's throat! Much more interesting than watching the Today show.
There is a drawback to walking at low tide, here: seagrass. It really creeps me out because I can't see what's underneath. Am I about to step on a shell? A crab? In a clam hole? The whole process is disconcerting. As I slogged and stepped and hoped for the best, it struck me how much writing was like walking on these tide flats. There is no guarantee that we are standing on anything solid as we move forward and yet, if we don't move forward, we'll never get to the place where we commune with herons or admire seastars or get squirted by the horseclams hiding beneath the sand.
Yes, there will be times we step in holes up to our knees but there will also be times when we find solid footing. And there is no way to get across the flats, or to the end of our story, without dealing with seagrass, in some form or another.
I've got to get back to work, but let me just say, "Come on in! The water's fine."
Posted by kirby at July 30, 2008 10:44 AM