Ending the week, under the Moon

On the water after sunset...
This one isn't about the flora or fauna of White Memorial. It is about White Memorial after sunset - when the moon is up, the air is still, and you have good friends to share it with.

Greg, Kris, Glenn, Lisa, Charlie, me and our young pup representation Sam, Sean, Daniel and Michael all launch our kayaks from Litchfield Town Beach around 8:00 pm. The sun has just set and that magical time of transition from sunset to moonlight envelops us. We have just started out when the town official announces he is locking the gates in 1/2 hour. The fishermen on shore make some undertone jokes and continue to fish. They're not moving. Out we go, move all our cars to outside the gate, jump back into the kayaks, off again. We'll be lugging the kayaks a loooooooong way back to our cars. Minor pain. It's worth it.

We head northeast toward Point Folly. No real itinerary - just following our instinct. The moon is a waxing gibbous moon, straight overhead. Orion is low on the horizon in the east, the Big Dipper is straight overhead. I see a planet on the horizon in the east. Hmmm. Venus, Mars, or Saturn? I call my astronomical lifeline expert, brother Mark in New Mexico (cell phones are great!). He tells me it is Venus. "Venus will continue to be in that location for a few months" he says, "And by the way Mars and Saturn are overhead, one is in the constellation of Cancer". Sorry Mark, I'm not that good! I tell him the moon is too bright - can't find them. Love you Mark!

With Venus to our right, we continue all the way to Point Folly. Our teenagers wick themselves away from the adults like oil to water, but we keep constant count on all, reeling them back into sight every so often.

The night is getting darker, more stars are coming out. One can see pretty far - everything is a a palate of blues, grays and black, punctuated by the brilliant points of the stars, the moon, and lights from the houses on shore. The camera can not begin to capture what the eye actually sees.

And what can capture what the heart actually feels on a night like this? Ahhhhhh a great ending to a work week. Beautiful night!

Sunrise 4/21/10

Wednesday, April 21, Susan, Kris, and Glenn (visiting from Florida) left from our 'usual' launch spot on the river (along Whites Woods Road) at 5:30am. We headed towards Little Pond, and had the first challenge soon as the beaver dam just past the bridge was pretty difficult to get over - it took several tries, but we did it and kept going. There was a mist over the river in a lot of places, and we saw LOTS of beavers. It was a very peaceful and pretty morning. In Little Pond, the swan was cruising around and at one point we saw him (or her) fly off in a seemingly angry chase of a couple of geese that must have been too close to the nest! On the way back down the river, Susan got out to head off to work and Kris and Glenn continued on towards the lake. Our turn-around point was the dam that is close to the entrance to the lake - the dam was so high there was no getting over it unless you wanted to get out and haul the kayak over. We hung out by the dam for a bit as there was a beaver resting on the other side (probably waiting for us to leave!) and a great blue heron not too far from there also. We saw a few deer coming to the river for a drink, as well as more mallard ducks, red-winged blackbirds, and even more beavers. A great morning - nice time for Glenn's first sunrise kayak on the Bantam River!

Second sunrise

Sightings: beaver (lots of), swan, mallard ducks, geese
Sunrise: 6:02 am
Temp: 49 F
Moon: crescent, already set by sunrise

On the water...

kris - sorry to leave you in the dust. had to get to work. any exciting sightings after i left? will post pics tonight. nice morning! ....

here is my picture of the day - i like the water ring in lower left corner. the picture of the little beaver fellow that swam up to my kayak was all blurry - i got too excited!

you, me, one big lake, sunrise (and glenn who kindly took this picture - thanks glenn!).