I was at my desk just after 5:30, wanting some cool air before the day began, when I saw a young buck come out of the woods to graze on salal. His antlers: maybe 4 inches of golden velvet. I walked outside to meet him on the grass. He watched me approach. What news, I asked, and he continued eating. It’s been awfully quiet here, I told him, before I chased him into the woods. (I’m leaving my greenhouse open at night, against the heat, with just a chair in the doorway to deter, well, deer.)
When we arrived at the lake for our early swim, two young ravens were standing by the gate, making the kind of noise birds make when they find their voices, one a high falsetto, the other more croaky. They flew away as we approached but when I klooked and tokked in their direction, they returned, settling in one of the tall firs to talk. They muttered and yelped and made the long watery sound I think they learn from the lake.
What news, what news. It’s been awfully quiet here. A few last Swainson’s thrushes, though this is their last hurrah. Yesterday, a loon on the other side of the lake. The sound of motorboats in the night and then, sometimes, sirens. I heard something as I turned to swim my final length of backstroke and looked quickly to see a cutthroat flipping right out of the water for a small fly. In the shade of the cedars hanging over the rocks, dragonflies, tiny cream spiders fallen from the branches, darting flies, and quick, quick, a cutthroat jumping.
No one has come for the wetsuit boots left under the fir and yesterday, a paddle, abandoned. I almost didn’t notice the little feather right in my path.
...Theresa Kishkan 
Love the photo. Got me thinking about ripples. I remember as a kid the sensation of walking barefoot on rippled sand. Butterscotch ripple is a favorite ice cream, provided there is lots of ripple. Ripple of applause spreading round a room. Clearly potential for an essay on ripples.
Yes! Ripples…I love the potential of their energy. Just back from my morning swim and there was a bit of wave action in the lake, though the air is still. I think it must be NW wind off Agamemnon Channel, just beyond the lake. To float in the still air and to be moved gently along by water: just wonderful.