"Spirits are Using Me. Larger Voices Calling..."

Last Friday, we took the kayaks out for the first time this year. It was warm, so I drove down to New Richmond to meet Mal, and we put in on the upper Apple River.

Overhead, an eagle skimmed the shoreline here in Rice Lake on Saturday morning, as I sat reading my online papers, with links opened in the car in front of the public library. (no online service at home). But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Friday was glorious, reminded me of why I live north of Highway 8, with all the absence of civilization lore that accompanies the address. I'd been itching to get outside, on the rivers. Cabin fever from being inside all winter, and all that.

My body feels lean, the upper body and abdomen too, from putting one's whole body into the paddle. If tradeoffs are necessary in charting one's own course, I stand by the choices I've made. Friday was worth it, for the getaway, in every sense of the word.

"Are You Experienced?" is a phrase that's been running through my waking head. An acid test of sorts, do you remember what you learned, what you found worthy -- alive and renewed every Spring? It was awakened in me again last Friday -- being able to appreciate the little signs of spring, the warmth of the sun, the twisting of the trees, the awakening to new life.

Spring is the season of Discovery. It's great for rock-hunting on rainy days, with the agates shining up a storm and jumping out from the river bottoms at your eyes. And, of course you also encounter Death -- the relics of a long winter's toll.

One of the nicest things about renting is you understand it's just a temporary place -- to rest your head, cook your meals, and store your things. But getting out when the weather turns ... that's where I don't think homeowning would be much for me. Nesting, or more repulsing, taking over another's domain -- it all serves really to keep you grounded, plus you hear the self-satisfied snickers of those who just don't drive much with $4/gallon gas (I'm sensing a cockiness in those who don't travel locally and seem to secretly applaud their own lack of movement, of getting around out there...)

We passed an eagle's nest Friday, coming around a bend in the Apple. For the first time, I saw the great bird try to hide it's head and blend in with the skyline. There was one -- perhaps two or three -- nestling alongside the great white-headed creature. Little black moving silouette(s) beneath the bigger bird. For this reason, it chose not to fly off, but to try and camoflauge itself with the branches and sky. Kept trying to pull its head down, not to draw attention, much the way a white-tail will turn its rear to you, and tuck that tail trying to hide the white, all the while with the brown head straining over its shoulder to see if it's been spotted.

The tame ones -- those more used to interacting with civilization -- don't bother. Seeing deer on the periphery of towns and subdivisions is just plain different than seeing the more feral ones hiding themselves in the woods.

Still, this was the first time I'd seen an eagle taking the same tactic. Hanging its head in hopes of just blending in.



Later in the weekend, of course, the news of Osama bin Laden's capture and death. The eagle motif only goes so far... Still, May 1 is the beginning of a new month. May we all find what we're each looking for, and may we each act as though we'll do what it takes to protect and defend the good things we know.