Highway 106, Union, WA, November 16, 2018, 3 p.m. My hiking boots pad along the asphalt a rhythmic and steady thwap thwap accompanied by the swish swish of my arms swinging in my stiff slippery coat and the tinny twang of my zipper head rattling against the bottom snap as my legs stretch forward. I step onto the shoulder and gravel crackles and crunches under my feet as I make way for the vehicles that whir and whoosh, engines throbbing, tires rumbling toward me from ahead and behind-- steady tone droning that peaks in volume then recedes as machines speed by one after another: school bus, pickup, SUV. In the quiet gaps between cars other sounds reveal themselves—though it hasn’t rained in days water flumes down the steep hillside tumbling forceful as a waterfall through an open troughed pipe into the drainage ditch sluicing alongside the road. Below the armored embankment alongside Anna’s Bay
the water glugs and gurgles against the shore rising to cover the stink of rotting marine life and sea grass uncovered in the morning’s low tide. An eagle, unseen utters its stuttering cry from the evergreens towering above-- high pitched staccato that belies its commanding appearance. The tiny belted kingfisher ricochets from power line to cedar to pier piling with voice bursting loud and rapid fire like bullets. Seagulls float in the water ar-ar-ar-guing their squawking frantic, insistent and grating. I turn to walk back toward home sun slanting low in the sky illuminating all I’ve just heard.
2 Comments
Janis L Haag
12/6/2018 03:11:36 pm
Lovely, Cathy! So many good images and sounds... like those "Seagulls float in the water ar-ar-ar-guing"!
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12/7/2018 09:02:13 pm
Thank you for this feast for the senses and the playful reflecting upon the sacred sound current flowing through everything earth, sky and winged creature alike!
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I began blogging about "This or Something Better" in 2011 when my husband and I were discerning what came next in our lives, which turned out to be relocating to Puget Sound from our Native California. My older posts can be found here.
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