Christmas day.
5 30 am.
The sunrise is spectacular, the sun bright orange, turquoise and green coming up through high cirrus
cloud, dead flat calm, the tide a very
low one so my ship is well down below the level of the riverbank, sitting just
aground in her berth.
The birds are just awakening, setting out their territories for the day
with song, the Terns patrolling the
river and occasionally plummeting in to pick up breakfast, two King Shags ( Cormorants) are fishing just
outside my bunks window, there are kingfishers sitting atop the pilings at the
end of the jetty and Wellcome Swallows flitting around the stern.
Its full summer here in New Zealand of
course, we’d expect about 24 degrees C today, and the forecast is for a warm,
gentle day.
Perfect, I am due at my sisters place at
about 11, have been told to bake an apple cake to help the festive lunch. I’ll go for a paddle on the river while
that’s baking, if I get on with it I’ll be able to do that before the flood
current gets strong enough to be annoying.
More birds, the resident flock of White faced
herons have just flown in to join the Oystercatchers picking over the mudbanks
while they are exposed, and I can hear the Canada Geese making their wakeup
noise just across the way. I see that my pet pair of Mallard duck have just
splashed down and they’ll be expecting breakfast.
Time to wish you all a very merry
Christmas, Summer solstice, midwinter
celebration or which ever celebration fits your faith.
Time I got up, and got on with the day.
Kia Ora E Hoa. E Haere Ra.
John Welsford
