Holy. %&*^$. #(@*.

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.

Happy Trails

My birthday fell on Saturday of the long Labor Day weekend. We went for a sweet stroll up the base of the Wellsvilles to find a blackberry patch with our good time adventure friends Mark and Jill.

        Jill is observant and finds all the wildlife.

At one point together we spied five hawks at once.

Wellsville Hick

Sumptuous birthday sweetness was my gift at the destination patch.

Darren holds the prized possession.

We sat for a while to enjoy the snacks.

Mark and Darren threw rock paper scissors to see if we would continue on.

The result was affirmative.

We stopped when the trail got steep. It was 91 degrees, sweat was streaming.

The view to the west held the rock face of Stuart Peak. 

The view to the east was of the valley. 

Discovery closeups... feather.

Blackberries.

Blackberries on the branch in the sticky scratch briar patch.

Wildflowers still in bloom in the late late summer.

Elderberries.

Chokecherries.

Dandelion sun.

The day was topped off with a bbq of summer fresh food and a nighttime dip in the pool.

... and a scuba video.

What a satisfying day. Wish you were here.

Kickflip

Busy - is that an excuse? I am learning to shoot in manual on this fancy SLR we've had for years. Land joined a class at the tech college in Australia and he described his difference as, "I was the only one who wasn't pregnant or a mum blogger wanting to post pics of the kiddos." I replied, "You probably had a lot to offer." Because clearly from the photo above he is a good model. Tried to capture the movement of the board. It's explicit in showing the "kick" in the "kickflip." This was taken on his last first day... of school that is. Love that kid.

I believe...

I think my talented niece Mckell could come up with some SYTYCD worthy hip-hop moves and pull off a kick-a__ flash mop.  Whattaya say Kell? Who do I believe is amazing? All my nieces, beautiful hard-working gals making a difference in the world everyday. So here's to Stac, Alt, Lex, AJ, Liza, Boss, Ec, D.O. E.O. & T.O. Nat, Tam, Kell and K-bug.

life aquatic down under down under - preview

Getting to sleep at night is easy, my watery dreamworld memories:

"I'm already under and living within the ocean" rumi