What in Tarnation, A Single Red Carnation

 

Not exactly the place you would expect to find a red carnation, washed up on a lilliputian sand beach beside a creek named for someone who lived thousands of miles away, a patron of travelers, animals, lost souls, the oppressed, etc, and etc. In some ways, I suppose, that carnation was a traveler. I mean there are not a lot of places along here it could have been thrown into the water, certainly, nothing particularly close by. When I think about it, all the rocks it had to get around, the eddies it had to avoid, the snags it had to keep from getting trapped in, the waterfalls (one large one in particular) it had to evade getting sucked below, to finally find its way here, a spot of vivid hue in the midst of beige and white (and an equally curious shard of blue). A tan suit, a sand lapel, a carnation boutonniere...

"... Oh, I am much less flamboyant than this.

If you ever meet me, I'll be the one with the lapel

full of carnations." (Stephen Dunn)

It will be carried no further, that carnation. The lapping water draws away by inches. How long will its color last with no one around it see it. Like the old saying about a tree falling in the wood (did it make a sound), has its color already gone? If not, will Coyote notice, coming down to drink or Deer, perhaps? Their recognition of something out of place keeping it alive. A spot of blood on the earths skin, soon to dry, and fade, and flake away.

While you're looking at the big picture, don't fail to notice the small things.

the small things in this case were a raft of ducks, paddling around, quarreling about something in the bigger pond off to the left

bluff and cascade

cascade only

downstream

upstream

the fall is really raging

ragin'

ragin' Cajun? (well, no. that's one ethnicity i can't claim)

dip and swirl

snack time (pretty good too)

by the by, did you hear I Like Pie is going out of business - no more mixed berry handpies after next weekend! 😭

that is a heck of a distance, and a lot of rocks to get my bike back over

i don't really mind Baldy, Mount Baldy, Old Baldy, heck even San Antonio Peak, but just in case it frustrates a certain President who thinks he can do whatever he wants, rename whatever he wants - Joat!

foamy