On Life and Death

Today while I was at work Gabe took Fern down to the beach and witnessed this massive fish being washed up onto the shore as the tide went out. Looking at his photos and listening to his description of how he was with it as it's eyes closed and it became still was very intense. Something about the ocean brings you closer to life and death. When I went down to the beach to look at this massive creature it was still breathing although it's time was short. It's hard to look at such a beautiful creature as it dies. When we arrived crows and eagles had already begun to pick at it and make a meal out of it. You can recognize the circle of life in a very real way. Without this fish several eagles and other sea birds wouldn't make it through the rest of the winter. When you come that close to death - even when it's in the form of a fish your reminded again of how fickle life can be. We live on an area of the inlet that becomes so shallow during low tied that you can walk right to the island. Many seals and other wild sea life seek refuge during high tide in the shallow waters away from larger predators. However sometimes they get stuck in the sand when the tide goes out. Heather Lende in her book writes about a baby whale that once got caught on the beach and she and some neighbors pushed it back into the water before it was too late. I can imagine that we will become closer to death throughout our time here in Alaska because of the nature of the landscape and the rawness of the wilderness around us. How wild will it be to get to canoe in these waters knowing so much life lives just beneath the surface. My boss told me a story of her and her family kayaking and encountering a whole pod of humpback whales which swam right next to them. It's all very exciting and scary, and it's all very real.

Good news though- yesterday the temperature got to 30 degrees. Hallelujah! I never thought I could be so happy about such a low temperature. Today there was little wind, and we could walk on the beach for miles without achieving frost bite or wind burn. Dare I say- spring?