swimming upstream

{12 salmon photos, for those gathering on dial-up}

the creek is heard before it can be seen. it crashes, burbles, vocalizes nature's song with a touch of vibrato.  my aunt carol's house is stunningly located on a cliff that you'd never know is there, from the road. around the back, there's a steep hill with a wooden staircase. once you descend, the grasses are trampled enough to be able to walk around on...and a wooden bridge spans the widest part of the creek, right before the place where the spotted salmon can jump.

i've never seen the like - from above, the shadows of the long salmon entice and make climbing the stairs worth it. once you're down, they seem even larger. at times, they don't even fit in the depth of the creek, and their fins and tails stick out. the spots glow in the sun, and seem darker in the shade.  the water moves quickly, and is a rusty, peaty brown in deeper places. the creek twists and turns, high gravel and lower, deeper levels. the salmon just keep coming and coming around the bend, singly, in pairs, or once, we saw a trio.

there's a deep part right before the place where they jump up a level. it isn't actually a jump, per se, more like a squiggling up with a firm push of their great muscular bodies. it reminds me of life, how we push sometimes, when we need it, and swim harder upstream when that is called for, too. sometimes the current pushes us back, yet we persevere.

i could have watched and listened to the water sing for days. isn't she lucky?

copyright 2006, jessica voigts