Cursing in the title of a post is not the most polite form to introduce an adventure, but as we were army crawling through willows to spy Kokanee salmon resting above a beaver dam on their "to the death" spawn run a young woman poked her head in behind us and upon seeing the sea of orange exclaimed what we have termed the "phrase of the day." We were too shocked to agree, "exactly" and have been nervously laughing on and off about it all weekend; in between our ooooos and aaaaaahs and "that was cool"(s).
even the fence post squeals about the salmon
I have heard about the salmon living in Porcupine reservoir, just a few lovely driving minutes from our town (ok, so maybe thirty), but to be honest I thought the spawn run would consist of being lucky enough to spy one or two dayglo fishies swimming upstream. I was wrong. And so after 15 years in Cache Valley, I woke the family and loaded them in the car and witnessed it first person.
salmon swim steadily by grassy shore
Here is how it went down. Because we are crazy. We park at the church camp gate. A few people are leaving and point us in the direction of the river access. I immediately run down the hill and see a single salmon and I squeal with delight. Darren has to use the outdoor "facilities" but doesn't want to squeal. Land wants to walk beyond the gate and access the river further up. Land never squeals. I say I'll come right back up but as I walked up the river bank more and more salmon are speeding up the creek (without a paddle, ha). At one point a fish practically jumps into my lap and I pick him up and send him on his way above the little riffle. I even "pet" the resting pool wrigglers. And yes I am squealing each and every time I see a fish. And in between the squeals I am yelling for Darren and Land and they are all, "can she not just shut up." And I can't because I want them to be with me and see this amazing site. We finally come together and squiggle through the thicket willows and sit in awe. I'm sure our fellow salmon seekers were just overwhelmingly thrilled with my quiet adventure. But in the end, not even my squealing and screaming could out do the "phrase of the day." Thank goodness for her... my boys forgot to harass me.
water, rock, fish
crawling through the willows
I spy with my little eye - something orange
Land Man took this pic - wow
Darren spent quite a bit of time in this position - fish yoga
my tootsies resting on the bank
Land's tootsies
Darren's wet tootsies and bottom - I suppose he was trying to be a bear
pretty
The Mountain Dew ad reminds me of yesterday's Mad Men episode:
somebody please explain to me what is going on
One more glance at Land's fabulous photo
The whole OOA (double O A) or (Owesome Olsen Adventure) reminded me of this gem of a poem by Gerard Manly Hopkins; Pied Beauty:
|
| GLORY be to God for dappled things— | |
| For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow; | |
| For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout (salmon) that swim; | |
| Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings; | |
| Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough; | 5 |
| And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim. | |
|
| All things counter, original, spare, strange; | |
| Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?) | |
| With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim; | |
| He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: | 10 |
| Praise him. |
3 comments:
What a gorgeous thing to witness, and to share with your family! I LOVE the photo that Land took.
Gregg and I were on a walk tonight, watching the sun set behind the Olympic Mountains, watching the light change the cloud-colors and the silhouttes of the evergreens against it all. I thought, People don't enjoy these simple, free pleasures much anymore. I'm so glad to see that you and your family DO.
The pictures are gorgeous. I had no idea that something that cool is just in Logan.
I checked out the photographer you are taking your class from and I think she's great. She shares a lot of great info on her blog. I want to spend more time reading when we get the computer back up again.
Hope you had a Happy Birthday!
That picture Land took is really cool. You need to blow that one up really big and put it with your orange and white rug downstairs or on an orange wall in your cool house. The colors are unreal. Love the phrase of the day - Dylan would really get into that.
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