Dear Tweeters,
This fine winter day found me canoeing with a friend up the Skagit
River near La Conner. We stopped along a cattail marsh surrounding a
rocky outcrop. We walked and marvelled at the intricate frozen patterns
created by the interplay of water, temperature and tide. A red-tailed hawk
perched in a doug fir top and was buzzed by siskins. Hundreds of snow
geese gathered on the muck near the center of the delta. Common
mergansers, buffleheads and mallards cruised the main channel. The
wonderful bright cold snapped everything into focus while Mt. Rainier
appeared on the southern horizon. From the seeps in the outcrop a series
of icicles dripped down to the marsh and darting from rock ledge to
cattail, in front of the icicles, a mountain bluebird flashed his
incredible blueness. Finally while listening to the radio on the way home
came a report from NPR about some christians defending the Endangered
Species Act. What a day!

Paul Moorehead
n9135066 at henson.cc.wwu.edu
Guemes Island, Washington