Summer on the Wabash

I met Sean Warrick at his father's  house on the East shore of the Wabash near Perrysville, Indiana. We had arranged that Sean, a self-proclaimed "hillbilly," would take me out on his flat bottom skiff to navigate the scenery of the Wabash. A better time could not be had. 

It was a 4-hour tour past the "74 bridge" and on into unknown territory for me.  The shoreline remained familiar, like our Indiana sky, I look into it and I know where I am. The Wabash is pure Indiana. I saw deer and eagle, beer, beaver, blue herons and even an Asian carp jumped in the boat. I sat on the swivel chair in the middle of this small boat and watched the light change, the trees fade in and out of the shadows, and the snags rise and fall away. I sketched and took pictures. 

There were stories about fish and game wardens, the flood of July 3 2003, which made this years rain seem only moderate. There were over 94 species of fish in the Wabash, and Sean, who fishes for income, says that "Flathead" are his favorite. Being the weekend the Game Warden came by to check out life vests and boat permit. When they left, Sean just growled to himself. 

I watched The Buck Full Moon rise and reflect in the river. By then I had floated into the harmony of self with nature. The realm of renewal, the world, nature, humanity, all in scale together. Here is the kind of simple magic that lets me relax into the unfolding of moment followed by moment, the quarks of our lives and of existence. Relax, we have this time, these moments our place.