I walked the beach today. Silence reigned. One flock of geese honked its way raucously up into the skyway. No wind, not a ripple on the water. The seagulls are gone. None of those buzz-sawing mo-skee-toes of early summer. I walked along the water’s edge. I splashed through the shallows. I walked along the bank, peering out through beach grass and pine needles. I watched the pilot boat guide two salties. Gliding silently downriver toward the locks and the lower great lakes to the St. Lawrence Seaway and the ocean.

I walked along the back road. Silence reigned. Except for the grokking of the raven and an occasional scolding squirrel. The summer cabins are all empty now. Pipes drained. Battened down for the coming hardland of the northern winter. I could hear the echoes of the past. My old dog Tigger barking wildly at the dastardly milkman. The slamming of the screen door on the old Mc cabin as the kids ran in and out. Kids (us!) running along the paths behind the cabins, down to the pond, making forts in the woods, everywhere. Lying in the dark listening to the grownups talk and laugh throughout the night.

I remembered a weekend in June. It was Radical Betty’s birthday and we were planning a party. When she landed in the hospital, it became a weekend of constantly evolving plans. Home and stable again, we had a birthday party. The last. Uber Kayak Woman took an afternoon off and we walked the ancient rocks to Cedar Point. It was a beautiful afternoon of battling sun and fog. The sound of seagulls and wind and waves hitting the shore.

It was silent when I walked today. Uber Kayak Woman walked with me. In spirit. In reality, she’s home in the San Juan Islands. I tried to conjure up the spirits of those who are on the other side. Walk with me in the silence of this beautiful early autumn day.

Click here or on the pic for photos of that June weekend.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 26th, 2009 at 6:26 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.