Reflections on the Eleventh Week of Spring

Spence and I have celebrated many anniversaries walking through pounding rain on Presque Isle. Monday, our forty-seventh anniversary, brought clouds and low fifty degree weather. We celebrated on sunny, high sixty degree Tuesday instead. At the lagoon, we rented a two seater kayak. I stepped into water sloshing in the bottom–foreshadowing the extra clothes we'd brought would be needed. We passed purple iris, yellow waterlilies, swooping swifts, calling red-wing blackbirds, a guarding Canadian goose, and splashing fish. Paddling as if we were in our canoe wasn't a good idea. Water dripped down the paddles and soaked us. We learned to use shallow strokes and harmonize our rhythm. After changing clothes, we ate at the Colony Bar and Grill. A tiffany lamp hung over the table, a gray-suited man played show tunes on a piano, and our perky waitress questioned the cook to serve me a safe pasta dinner. Back at Presque Isle, we pulled on sweatshirts for a windy walk on North Pier. I took photos of sea gull acrobatics. Spence talked to Amish fishermen about their catches. We ended our day with families and dogs on Sunset Beach. At 8:48 the sun dropped into Lake Erie, and Spence said, “You'd think there'd be a big sizzle.” On the drive back to Wells Wood, Spence listened to jazz on WQLN, I studied clouds blowing in front of the full moon, and we planned our next anniversary trip to Presque Isle.