River Otter photo Paul Marsh
Tuesday of this week was my birthday, an auspicious one which means more senior's discounts, or so I'm told. The weather forecast was perfect for getting out on the water, so that's what we did, heading to a section of the Salmon River north of Napanee. We like it there because we're almost always the only humans on the water, there are no buildings along the banks, and it is relatively quiet in terms of human-made noise. We paddled without conversation for lengthy portions of the two hours, soaking in the silence. There was also the pleasure of colour, the changing leaves of the deciduous trees. While it wasn't full-on Fall glory, it was lovely.
I'd have to say that the greatest pleasure of this foray was seeing otters. Shortly after we started out I whispered to Ruth that I thought I had seen the sinuous tail of an otter arc up and then under the water. We waited, quietly, then up popped a curious head in front of the canoe, very much as you can see in Paul Marsh's photo above. We saw this one and another twice more as we continued along the river.
As some of you know, I've written about my love of otters which we've been blessed to see in rivers and lakes in various locations, as well as much larger sea otters in the Pacific Ocean. They are smart, and curious and playful creatures and fun to watch.
Otters figure prominently in Celtic Christianity as companions to solitary monks and as symbols of living in two worlds, water and land, as we are invited to live in both this material world and the spiritual realm. We had an otter stained glass piece made as a reminder of this symbolism.
I've decided to take these otters, the only ones we've ever seen on the Salmon, as a sign from the Creator to live fully and playfully in both this earthy world and in spiritual, celebrating God's gracious gifts. I hope they show up again!
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