The Water Side

Yesterday I recounted how an encounter with an oiled, unpaved road 

led to the sudden end of my hike into the forest

near Chickahominy Riverfront Park.

Yet, all was not lost, as I remembered 

 there was one more place I had wanted to walk:

along the bluff and down to the boat ramp on the opposite side of the park.

So I returned to the Park.

Once I got to the bluff, the first thing I saw 

was this "you are here" map,

which showed the Virginia rivers and peninsulas 

that reach into the Chesapeake Bay:

I always enjoy these maps because I like to understand "the big picture."

And this map really shows that the big picture contains a lot of water.

If there is one thing we have here in southeastern Virginia, it is water.

And it is beautiful life-giving water, full of fish, and crabs and oysters

that attract lots of waterfowl and gulls and songbirds, too.

So when I walked down to the boat ramp, 

the first view I enjoyed was this wide expanse of water 

flowing from the Chickahominy.

The rivers in this part of Virginia meander, 

and from those curving main channels,

smaller branches flow, leaving creeks like this:

Here's some more of that October blue and gold I've written about before:

This scene caught my eye because it shows the beauty of the marsh

and tree line reflected in the clear water:

But there was something else in the scene that I noticed.

Something quite surprising, and I would say, even a little magical.

Join me tomorrow and I'll reveal what I saw there along the shore,

and why it may just be a sign of good fortune.

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