Onions to Lilies

Allium and I bought kayaks this year, and spent our first long afternoon in them in April.  We’re fortunate enough to live in a place that offers lots of opportunities to paddle within minutes of our home; kayaking would have been nothing but a dream if it had required even a hour’s drive away.

We found this creature in the parking lot, and repatriated him/her to a more felicitous location.

Zipping through the water later, I was astonished to see an enormous snapping turtle paddling furiously along, parallel to my course, but going the opposite direction. Later, Allium found himself next to another, almost as large; when he (she?) expressed an interest in tasting Alliium’s oar, we moved on.

Kayaks allow us to come very close to all sorts of creatures — even birds — without threatening them. We’re part of the landscape (albeit a bright part) in our boats. We can paddle in astonishingly shallow waters, too. If you look closely at the picture above, you can see the bottom of the lake under Allium’s kayak.