Life On the Lake 

Dedicated to the Joys of Waterside Living

Where is the "fun" in fungi?

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Looks like somebody has been nibbling on these fungi in the yard next door. Better not have been, not unless you really know what you are doing. But they certainly are pretty. Short-lived, they are already self-destructing. But--relax--new ones are springing up right along side.

And the sky, these stormy days! Clouds, sunlight, hard rain. The lake is rising. And the trout still occasionally will bite.

Yesterday's sunset. (For Miriam)

Royal you know who

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Do governments lie? Do dogs bark?

Upper figure from the Three Otter Fountain

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What is the Buddhist nature?

Glad you asked. I've been reading heavily, you see, in the sutras, in particular those published by Bill Porter, who goes by the name of Red Pine. He is knowledgeable and a good writer. He lives in nearby Port Townsend Washington.

The Buddhist nature is not to be surprised by anything.

Everything is a surprise.

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You're right, the time of the sunflower is past. It is mid-autumn now, a time of change. The Stellar jays have eaten the last of the sunflower seeds and have turned their beady eye elsewhere. The birds, the ducks, have changed over. The lake is visited by huge numbers of Canada geese--a species that, in the Pacific Northwest, has become despised because of its copious droppings. Nothing quite so awful as a snaky goose turd, especially when you step on it.

But the birds themselves are beautiful. I  have difficulty in communicating this fact to my friends and neighbors. Even in thick clusters, honking on the water, they have a grace that is unexcelled. And in flight--simply, gracefully beautiful. Just now I watched a half-dozen drop from a hundred feet to the lake's surface. Their fluid lines! That slope of wing, neck, back! If I were a painter. . . .

Other autumnal visitors to the lake include: lesser scaups, ringneck ducks, an odd and beautiful male widgeon (with  his creamy pate and white butt), and, out in the center, and keeping their distance, a band of female northern shovelers, huge beak to water's surface. How can they swim that way? What catches their eye?

I don't know what attracts the shovelers and lone widgeon: we have little weed or algae in the center of the  lake, where they congregate. Must be some attraction I cannot see.

The pied billed grebes remain from summer, usually solitary fishers, but occasionally grouped in short travel. They have a nifty way of suddenly upending, with nary a splash or watery circle to mark their descent, and remaining underwater a surprising length of time. Usually they emerge, without a small perch or other fish to indicate success. Soon they will repeat the dive.

The light is sparkling now. The angle of the sun's rays has shifted, and sunrises (when not too cloudy) are cerise, sunsets tangerine. Oh, to be a realistic painter, and be able to capture the lake's beauty.

I guess a common photograph will have to attempt it.

Thanks for the visit,
Robert C. Arnold, Editor