Ah, right, St Patrick's Day

Funny how we Americans can turn anything into a drinking day. I myself don't participate. Another amateur night.

Today we give a formal goodbye to our friend, Trish. We'll drive through the fresh snow and ice to get to upper Maryland where she lived. I remember right after James and I moved into our new house that Drew and Trish moved into their new house. James drove through another big snow storm to help them move. And now we will say goodbye.

I know, from losing Pat, that there is no final goodbye; that one says goodbye to their lost one over and over. I still think of him often and hug his memory.

I changed my club's header and background. They now reflect Florida. This makes me happy.

Life has moved on. It's strange how the little things become routine, and routines give life texture. My connections to my friends, our boats and the water help pull me through; dragging me along when I am down and lifting me high when life is good.

I had my first week-day club paddle on March 4th. Only Deke and I showed up. That's okay, it's real early in the season and a lot of the paddlers don't own even a wet suit. We found ice on the Occoquan Reservoir. I tried to break through with my "war horse", the Sirocco, but eventually the ice started growing too thick for even that boat's weight combined with mine to break. Plus my carbon paddle was skipping and I didn't want to chip it. Pansy.

selfie 3-12-14

Oh, this is a scary picture. But I like it at the same time. I'm wearing the hat I bought in Hawaii. It's getting a little ragged and stained. Seemed fitting for the warmest day yet this winter. It was hot in all that equipment. "Dress for immersion," and then you get heat stroke.

Camera still giving me fits but I finally decided to attach it on a shorter lanyard so it doesn't chance a dip in the drink. I am also storing it up high on paddles, tucking it into my bra area of my Astral Bella vest. So far, so good.

Last Saturday I talked some club members into trying a launch we've never done before. I didn't have to do much convincing. New water, new bird reserve...OMG. This is my new favorite launch for the next few months until the southbound beach traffic makes it impossible to get there.

We launched from a sandy beach into Aquia Creek, headed out into the Potomac around Marlborough Point and then into Accokeek Creek. The whole trip out was a series of rights, about 6.25 miles. We found hundreds of tundra swans resting in the back reaches of the creek. Bald eagles, returning Osprey, many water birds.

credit Darrick 2014

credit Darrick 2014

Above we gathered on the beach with our motley crew of boats, Darrick is missing as he is standing in the water taking the shot. I brought my Necky Elias, and that's Darrick's sturdy blue Wilderness Tsunami next to my sunburst play boat. The "Eli" is my shortest sea kayak at 15'8". It has a rudder that works dependably but the old style rudder pedals are a bit of a bummer. I keep thinking I'll switch them out but I keep forgetting to order the kit. Maybe now I will remember.

The Eli is always my choice for new water that might get big, and sh*t yeah the big P can jump up and roar, plus I never worry about squeezing the Eli into tight spaces or pulling "him" over branches that block some of the tighter creeks we wander into.

The trip out the water was sweet and relatively smooth. The day was as bright and warm as a late winter day can be here in NoVa.

Baldies! So many I joked you "can't throw a rock without hitting one!"

This osprey is working on building a nest, alternately, it's harassing the pair of baldies that were in the tree right next door making racket until they flew off. The Osprey just maintained it's position, coolly watching us from it's height.

Dennis and the swans taking flight

Above is my favorite picture from the trip. I often try to photograph my friends as they shoot their own pictures. Those are some of the hundreds of tundra swans we spotted.

On the trip back the wind was blowing a steady 15 mph or so, shoving us hard backwards. This also meant we had big sets of rollers to climb. Now, this is exactly the kind of thing I'm keen on, and the Eli handles this well. So I didn't take any photos, I literally had my paddle blown out of my hand twice while trying to reach for the camera. After the second time I gave up and "just paddled."

Woohoo! It was a great day.

Lastly, my friend Indiana Jones, patiently waiting for me to start running again. And so I have. The knee I busted up in the Keys in early January is finally somewhat better. It ached after I ran/walked 5 miles yesterday. I iced it a bit and hobbled off happily to bed.

Birds in Florida, 1st Keys trip and Calusa Blueway

This post will mainly be photos. I will try to avoid posting photos that appeared in other blogs but frankly, one or two are just too cute to pass up another showing. If a picture speaks a thousand words then I'll just let them do their jobs.

The above five photos were shot during my first trip to the Keys. I was not focused on the wildlife so I really didn't take that many shots of birds. So that's the best of them. The Nikon wasn't so healthy, I'm pretty grateful for what I got.

The group above was from the Calusa Blueway circuit. As you can tell from the last few photos, my companions were doing the same thing I was, watching birds and snapping shots. Of course the camera wasn't cooperating, so again, grateful to whatever forces grant a bird watcher a few good shots.

Bald Eagles, Big Rocks, and Other Stuff

Friday's paddle was super nice. It was just me and Jim who is new to my club but not paddling. We saw an obscene number of bald eagles. Weren't these things supposed to go extinct due to global warming, environmental poisoning, lack of toupees, something? No sir, not around here. You couldn't throw a rock and NOT hit one.

However, they are pesky hard to photograph, so you'll have to take my word for it. But here's a couple of pictures:

My new friend Jim also advised me to take this picture as well:

Thanks to Jim, everyone can now enjoy this fine photo of a 2 foot long decaying carp. Thanks Jim.

But aside from his taste in photography Jim is a swell paddler, was not put off by the rough chop in the middle of Belmont Bay, and made for a stellar paddling buddy. Again, thanks Jim.

Saturday found me paddling at Riverbend on the upper Potomac. I am nervous around rocks and unskilled at navigating teeny tiny rapids. So Riverbend is always a thrilling diversion for me. It's kind of like going to a slasher flick, only more up close and personal. Usually, as a sea kayaker, I try to avoid rocks of any kind. I am used to babying my composite boat and generally, rock always wins. But at Riverbend rocks just go with the river. It looks like this:

Oops, that's a picture of a life and death struggle we witnessed at the boat ramp while putting in. Tiny snake eats tiny fish. Then we realized the tiny snake had many many friends, some larger than others... Let's revisit that slasher flick, shall we?

But back to the river:

What a nice day! And one of my boat elders (I skipped the usual "gnarly" as she is a she, and we shes don't really appreciate being called gnarly in any sense at all) anyway she showed us "love the rock," the how and why. This was a key bit of info I will do my best to retain. Thanks to Kathy and Frank Collins for coming out to play with us and being willing to share their knowledge and wisdom.

Rock always wins; love the rock.