Song for Friday...finally!

We are finally getting some much needed rain after 4 months of 

gorgeous summer and golden autumn.

Although most of us embraced this long stretch of warmth,

there are those of us, like myself, who have been trying

to do a sort of rain dance. 

For our well to rise once more and our pond to fill again.

But more importantly we are thinking of the trees, the flora, and 

at this time of year, the salmon.

They need this rain to fill the rivers, to help them on their

journey upstream, for their main purpose in life.

After hatching in the rivers of their beginnings,

they swim out to the sea, spending four years, growing strong and mature,

only to come back to carry on the line and then their lives are complete.

I have been thinking so much of this song by Neil Young.

I have printed the words because it's so poignant regarding these

fish. They have "the will to love".

The will to live.

As I sit here with turkey soup stewing on the stove top,

the skies grey once again, I pray for torrents of water to 

come down, not too fast but enough for the salmon.

Have a beautiful weekend all.

"Will To Love"

It has often been my dream
To live with one
who wasn't there
Like an ocean fish
who swam upstream
Through nets,
by hooks, and hungry bears.

When the water grew less deep
My fins were aching
from the strain
I'm swimming in my sleep
I know I can't go back again.

Got the will to love,
the will to love.
I'll never lose it,
never lose the will to love,
Never lose the will.
It's like
something from up above.

I can be like
a fire in the night
Always warm
and giving off light
But there comes a time
when I shine too bright
Oh, I'm just a fire in the night.

And now my fins are in the air
And my belly's
scraping on the rocks
I still think
someone really cares
And I'll keep swimming
till I stop.

Got the will to love,
the will to love.
I'll never lose it,
never lose the will to love,
Never lose the will.
It's like
something from up above.

I'm like a singer on the stage
With the golden lights
and liquid rage
Down from the mountains
to the sea
Cool running love
keeps cleansing me.

It keeps my gills
from getting dry
But it distorts things
in my eyes
Sometimes I see
what really isn't there
Like my true lover, and I care.

Got the will to love,
the will to love.
I'll never lose it,
never lose the will to love,
Never lose the will.
It's like
something from up above.

Sometimes I ramble on and on
And I repeat myself
till all my friends are gone
And get lost in snow
and drown in rain
And never feel the same again.

I remember the ocean
from where I came
Just one of millions all the same
But somewhere
someone calls my name
I'm a harpoon dodger,
and I can't, won't be tamed.

Got the will to love,
the will to love.
I'll never lose it,

never lose the will to love,
Never lose the will.
It's like
something from up above.

Baby, if I see boredom
in your eyes
I'll know my river has run dry
But I won't turn back
with that lonely tide
I bought that ticket
and I'll take that ride.

If we meet along the way
Please sway beside me,
let us sway together
Our tails together
and our fins and mind
We'll leave this water
and let our scales shine
In the sun above

and the sky below
So all the water
and earth will know

It has often been my dream
To live with one
who wasn't there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z4KdVwCvmI

the end...?

Yesterday Griff and I went to one of our favorite summer haunts...the pull ferry.

We sure had some fun adventures with my sister and the kids in August when they came to visit.

I will always have a quiet giggle in my heart when I think about that day and how we all got muddy and wet and had twigs and leaves in our hair and then had to go to town on the way home.

We must have looked like a right bunch of bush whacker's!

The grass is dry and brown and dying in those same fields where it once grew over our heads...

Some think of this time of year as the end.

In a lot of ways it is, but for me it's always the beginning of other, creative, looking inward sorts of things.

Life doesn't end for most things...it just goes to sleep...

It sets its seeds for it's next life in the spring.

Burrows itself down deep into the earth.

Roots itself preparing for the next phase.

And then slowly, just disappears, under deep depths of mulch and snow.

It gives itself back to whence it came.

Feeds the ground that nurtured it.

And in this process, gives us a gift of jewel tones and warm hues...

Down by the river, a mysterious miracle is also at work .

The salmon who came from these places as tiny fry, have come back after 4 years in the ocean to give it all they've got.

Fighting the rushing currents, only knowing that this is what they must do...

No matter what, they keep on struggling...

Only to spawn and die.

So in all of this seemingly difficult to watch drama, there is a marvel to behold.

I am a witness to a force powerful and inspiring.

No one knows how the salmon know exactly where they came from.

Some say it's a smell...

Some say it's the stars...

Some say it's the moon...

I say...

I love a good mystery.

Griff and i will say goodnight to this place for the winter.

It's getting much to wet, even for my gumboots.

But we'll come back again for more adventures next year when all is bright and new again.