Ducks in winter

Since I had to go to town this afternoon, I took my camera with me hoping to catch something interesting. I drove down to Bayshore Park - to the edge of Georgian Bay. The water is very low this year and the reefs that used to be well under water, now seem to have risen to protect an area close to shore. The whole lake was eerily calm.

Several hundred ducks seem to use this sheltered water created by the reef. As twilight gathered, I stood transfixed listening to the occasional quacking and watching the mallards, scaup and I'm not sure what other kinds of ducks as they swam, preened, tipped up to feed and indulged in all duck-like behaviour. I couldn't help but smile.

The stillness except for a plane that somehow I didn't notice overhead, was magnificent. The occasional chatter from one particular duck was more immediate than the plane's drone I suppose and I felt that sense of peace that I often get when near, on or in water.

The Bay has always drawn me, perhaps because my mother was born and raised in a wee town on the Bay about an hour and a half from here and I spent much of my childhood summers from my very first one on the beach, or in the Bay's waters. As well for the first four years of my life I lived on the shores of Lake Simcoe. I have pictures of my Dad pulling me and my brother out onto the ice of that lake, to visit the fishing huts or just for the thrill of being out on the ice.

There are homes along the shore beyond the those trees, but winter and summer this part of the town is a park where anyone can come and sit or stand and listen to the waves, the ducks, the wind and feel one with nature. It's a wonderful privilege to enjoy in this community that makes the most of a lot of recreational spaces that it owns.

While I don't live in town, I do enjoy these parts of it - year round.

The sense of quiet and peace by the water this evening filled me with gratitude - the silver water, the occasional lap of a wave brushing the rocks, the sassy quack of that duck which made me smile, all special. May you enjoy something that makes you smile this evening and carries through tomorrow.