Father's Day

Nice Father's Day stroll down along the Canadian River this evening. Started out after dinner, after the brief showers had ended. I parked and set out directly towards the power lines on a new loop, forgetting mosquitoes. Shortly arrived at the river and they reminded  me of their presence, in enough numbers that I realized it would not be pleasant to stay. I retreated the 5-6 minutes back to the car and doused myself with DEET. Mosquitoes magically disappeared.
I stood there and watched a sector of the sky with a fiery, multi-layered sunset 'this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire', and reflected back on earlier days. I remembered walks there when Liz was working late, with Russell and Sarah when they were young.. memories. I thought about my experience then of the same place.. about hopes for future, ideas, plans, inspirations, ambitions. Twenty years later my thoughts were not gleams of bright possible future hopes.. but memories of people and times gone by. Both the hope for the future and the memories of past, enrich our experience of a landscape.
May be this is the best definition of when a person is young vs old. When they are looking forward with ambition, inspiration and hope vs when they are looking back with nostalgia and happiness or resignation.
I walked, returning to the river, only this time it is different. In the late light/ early dark I see a shape floating past in the swift current. It looks like the head of a beaver 20 feet away. Tail slap!