Fish in Water
The air feels like liquid here, in blue skies or cloud. Sure, there’s a high moisture content because of the coast, but there’s more to it than that. The air is vast, like an ocean itself. Land and sea are all on a flat plane with not much visibility downward, but the air alone is three dimensional. We can see up through it but never to the end of it.
There has been a large flock of what I assumed were starlings resting in the meadow for much of the past week. As Vince and I walked by one day they all rose and flew by us, and I was startled to see bright red patches on their shoulders. They were red-winged blackbirds! By my count, somewhere between 50 and 100 native red-winged blackbirds turning on a dime, rising and diving to rest a little farther from us.
Red-winged blackbirds, aside from being a bird I actually can identify, have always fascinated me. Why just that one patch of flourescence? It’s as though they’re really parrots underneath, with all the wild color one would expect to accompany those marvelous tufts, but they’re going through a goth period where everything gets covered up in basic black. Except those two flaming shoulder patches. I just love watching them fly.
They are the tropical fish of an otherwise subdued palette of color here. One afternoon from behind me six or eight of them came silently past, making room for Vince and I as though we were boulders in a stream. I felt the same sense of delight that I remember from being out in a rowboat on the ocean and having a school of dolphins just cruise by merrily. So you see, my title fits! It’s a metaphor I’m building here!
I am off in a few minutes for the first actual vacation I have taken in about a year — if you can count a 5-day trip with 3 days of driving a vacation. I have been working night and day to finish a big writing project so that I wouldn’t have that hanging over my head on the trip, and as of midnight last night it is finished, printed out and ready to be mailed on my way out of town.
Now I can actually get excited about going on a car trip with Lyra and Jojo up to Portland. We are going to see Bowen, who after graduating this June from UCSC has moved up to that lovely city in Oregon. I have imposed on all my many friends up there to organize a party so that he can meet all of them and hopefully feel like he is among friends and not a loner in a strange city.
Driving or no, being on the road is fun. With a little camping, some hot springs, good friends and a couple meals out, there is no finer way to spend a few days. I don’t know how I’ll manage without my computer and wireless lifestyle, but maybe I’ll unwind enough to not care. That would be a real blessing.
July 14th, 2006 at 6:11 am
Bowen graduated? Jesus! Actually the correct thing to say is Bravo! And bravo to you for getting out of town for the rest, some relaxation.
July 14th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
I hope your trip goes well. And I love redwinged blackbirds, too.
July 15th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
Oh! My! GAWD!
Bowen, a college grad and out on his own.
I must be SO OLD…..