He Finds Seashells on the Creekshore

 A lot of stuff gets washed down San Antonio Creek after a good storm, and even more after a good series of storms. Wood and rocks mostly, unexciting things like bits of cloth, aluminum cans and twisted rusted metal. I suppose I would have expected to come upon a body before ever finding a conch shell, but as I strode around the island and, curiously, across the rapidly flowing water from the Great White of the Wash, that is exactly what I did find. There was a lot of concrete in it into which someone had set other, smaller shells along with some small blue and yellow beads. There was little question that it had washed down from someone's house in Baldy Village, but when, and how long had it been traveling? Did it make the journey all at once, or over multiple years? Had anyone else found it at some time, further upstream? If so, had they also picked it up, turned it over, washed it in the water, and then left it to continue on its way in the next storm? Who was the artist, and what decorative purpose did it have so far from the sea?

Just another typical day in the Out There. In more ways than one. Not unusual for the time of year, it was warm and sunny one moment, then cloudy and cool the next. Singing Sunshine on My Shoulders at start of one quarter mile, switching to It Never Rains in Southern California (but man it pours)  before a half mile was reached and then, soon enough, back again. The sky was continually changing and I stopped more than once to watch the trio of local air patrol pilots as they flew in formation against the shifting clouds.

is creekshore a thing? I don't know, but creekside just didn't sound right for the rhyme 

all the driftwood that was blocking the way along the base of the dam has been gathered up and the way is now clear

fed by snowmelt

of course I threw logs and driftwood in the water to watch it float down stream

the very tip of the island

the Great White of the Wash

vernal pond

hmmm...?

bubbling brook

fresh green leaves on this cottonwood tree

peeking through the clouds

bloomin' buckwheat

a different form of March Madness - Go Gauchos!