Dusk on the Wacissa: Lengthening Evenings

After so many human words today I took advantage of the increasing evening light on the river. The water is up considerably. Controlled burning in the area spread bits of ash in the air and the perfumes of early spring blooms filled the air in crosscurrents. I wondered if I could know the river bottom in as much detail as I do the cypress trees, loquats, and live oaks. The stillness of dusk held bird calls, overlapping one another. As I returned in the growing darkness I began to hear turkey gobbling. Turkeys were calling from cypress trees above Cassidy Spring. I saw seven or more high in the trees. Groups of three, four, or five egrets were flying downriver at dusk. Mullets flashed silver, jumping about. I took a few photos to capture something of the dusk and the life it awakened. I wondered if I could see the smaller details, the way Nina does walking through the snowy fields of Ohio. I longed to name the newest reeds, river grass, and lily pads, to know them as I know the bird rhythms of this river. So much new life to listen to, as the light faded.

I remembered how much time I spent rowing around the lagoon we lived in, in my various dinghies. I remembered rowing under the bridges around the lagoon, the mallard ducks, the snails, and the picnickers across the water from our docks.

There is an overturned rowboat in the swamp near my house which has been there for some time and is now stuck upside down in the muck. Would it be theft if I retrieved it? I pass it every day and wonder. When the water recedes some more in this swamp, perhaps I will retrieve it and give it a purpose.

So many new experiences this past week. I admired each of Mark's latest tie dyes as I washed them and fluffed them up (in the new dryer I installed on Sunday afternoon). I am retrieving his folk art clothes over in Glenn St. Mary, where his vehicle, trailer and camper are living now. I have the soda ash, some dyes, and some white clothes as well and I imagine myself dying ancient designs. Mark taught me the dying techniques but the tying is still his secret. I have lots of his tied and dyed clothes which were scattered around drying when he died. I am going to study the tying more closely to begin to master it. I visited the Baker county sheriff and the county manager to address his effects. I want to send his kosmik debriz out into the universe as he did for so many years. His life was hard, but his art was transcendent. The newest designs are fractal to my mind....such lush, chaotic colors and patterns....