Anyone for a swim? Actually, some people did go in for a Polar Bear swim on January 1.
But there are crazy people in all parts of the world. This limerick is for all those crazy people who went into the freezing water that day and froze their buns off.
*** I did not post a photo of those “brave”? swimmers here.
Not so many years ago the Comox Glacier, on Vancouver Island, had ice and snow all year round, especially on the plateau part of the landscape. I think this photo might have been taken about five years ago. It may have been early spring or late fall, but it had a good layer of ice all year.
Every year, there was less snow, even in the winter. I took the blurry photo below from the side of the road just a few days ago, using my cell phone. I didn’t care so much that it wasn’t a sharp photo. My point was made when I saw the lack of snow and ice. This is the least ice I have ever seen on the Comox Glacier. Soon this icon of the Comox Valley could be completely gone. Since I took that picture, a tiny skiff of snow has dropped on the tops of the hills, but that won’t make any difference to the huge loss of the glacier.
Our climate is definitely changing.
Do you see any signs of our changing climate where you live?
It looks like a dull, gray, foggy day. Most of us would be glad to be somewhere sunny, maybe with blue water instead of that dull gray stuff. But for the fly fisherman, there’s nowhere else he’d rather be just at this moment.
It looks like he could be lost in that fog, not knowing which way to go, but I don’t think he cares right now because he just had a nibble.
More than a nibble. It might be a whale. Sure the rod isn’t bent right over, but that’s just because the fish has stopped to take a breath.
Hey! Weren’t we taught never to stand up in a boat? Maybe this fish will pull the fisherman right over into the water. No worries. He’s wearing his lifejacket. It’s one of those slim ones that inflates if you hit the water.
Worst case scenario, his camera-wielding friend might have to put the camera down and go rescue his buddy.
This post is inspired by those beautiful photos on Lynette’s blog where she often showcases the lakes to the north and south of Penticton, B.C. (Okanagan Lake and Skaha Lake). Please visit her blog by clicking on the link at the end of this post.
On one of Lynette’s posts I told her that the kids in my class threw me into Okanagan Lake and I promised I’d post the photo if I could find it.
Well, it’s not flattering. I look like a drowned rat, but you can see from the look on the kids’ faces that they loved every minute of it.
It was an end-of-the-school-year picnic on Okanagan Lake and I had the help of a few of the parents to supervise and make sure no one got into trouble at the lake. I should have hired someone to save me from getting into trouble myself.
I had such a lovely class and we had a great picnic and games by the beach. But then I heard someone whisper a call for rebellion.
“Let’s throw the teacher into the lake!”
I looked for the parent helpers who suddenly were nowhere to be seen. Next thing I knew, four of my little angels had hold of my limbs, an arm or a leg each, and swung me back and forth. I heard them shouting through my squeals, “One! Two! Three! HEAVE!”
And “Splash!” That’s all she wrote.
I still remember shy little Maureen, grinning like crazy. I think it was her mother who took my picture to immortalize the drowned rat who was her child’s teacher.
That was decades ago, but I remember that splash like it was yesterday.
It’s lucky for those little eight- and nine-year-olds that I loved them all so much.
Lynette’s posts:
These pears are one of my favourites. Firm and juicy and not so quick to bruise after you pick them.
They are red. Aren’t you?
Let me try that again. Put a little bit of French into the second part.
They are Red Anjou.
So delicious.
These pears are believed to have originated near the city of Angers, France, which was the seat of the Plantagenet dynasty. The pears showed up in the United States in 1842 and now represent 34 % of the U.S. pear market.
I’m not surprised they’re popular. They are so tasty.
This purple poppy is so clean and tidy.
Then Miss Bizzy Buzzy Bee has come along and is making a mess. Pollen is everywhere. Since there is no miniature vacuum cleaner available, we can only hope for a breeze and maybe a little shower to clean up.
This is the last of my alternating flower and bird photo poems. I suppose I could call them phoems. Thank you to those who hung in there until the end. I’ll spare you now and space out my posts a little more.
wordsfromanneli 