Monday, December 05, 2011

Garnet Sand

Went to the ocean on Saturday. My houseguest of the moment, my old friend LB, stayed in the car or wandered about and did just what she pleased; so I did too; please myself, I mean. It was dark-cloudy, then brighter, with subtle light effects my poor little camera is not up to. Golden. The light in the picture below should be golden on the water. Ambled north solo along the beach as far as where Ellen Creek flows into the ocean. Then ambled back. Stopped and read for a while. That's the best, really. I be there, I get lost in a story, I wake out of the story and I am still there.

Rialto Beach, December 3, 2011, at a brighter moment (Click for larger image.)

When it works it is deeply soothing, I smile all the way home. (This is different from ecstasy moments, which are rare and I can't remember the last time I had any, a couple of years at least. Don't need 'em either, as long as I get to entirely stop for a while in the sound of the waves.)

Rialto Beach at Ellen Creek, December 3, 2011 (soundscape for Cee)
Rialto Beach, more or less from where I sat reading (soundscape for Cee)

The place along the beach where the garnet sand sometimes appears put on its subtle show. A gull posed. And on our way west, the elk were out on Beaver Prairie.

... (Click for larger image.)

... (Click for larger image.)
Elk on Beaver Prairie. Resolved: No more waiting. I must shop for a new camera, no matter what else is going on: one which will reach out to the elk, ... (Click for larger image.)

PS I did want to mention as I have before that whenever I am there at Ellen Creek, I think of it as the Raymond Carver point—"Where water comes together with other water"— though he made that phrase for the place where Morse Creek flows into the Strait of Juan de Fuca; and that I always look at the modest creek flow and think of Ivan Doig's story in This House of Sky of getting swept into the ocean, right there, by a winter storm tide. (Hope the link works. You're welcome.)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd be interested in what kind of camera you eventually settle on.

Sky said...

how nippy is it on a december day by the pacific? i imagine i would be shivering so hard i could not read! i am now taking my blanket with me in the van, even on short trips, because the heat running very hot or high in the van makes my eyes dry out so much. 30s here day and high 20s night. very chilly. i am looking like a very old woman in my blanket! haha

mb said...

That day (December 3rd), not at all. Yesterday out at Hobuck, however... Walking, in the sun, without wind, it was lovely. Peel-the-layers. But the puddles in the parking area were still iced over at the end of the day, and when the wind blew even a little, oh my !!!! Freezies-ville.