Beautiful Ambivalence- The Lake, Maritime Heritage and Nature

The duality of the lake is clear in maritime history. This freshwater sea is a life giver and an entity that takes life with the casual ease that we squash a mosquito with. The lake kills, it steals our land and washes our houses away, yet we insist on building cottages and lavish 4000 square foot houses on the very lip of the land for a thirty year view. This ambivalence, this paradox runs through much of life and is much on my mind these days. These truly are the best of times and the worst of times. A sunset is beautiful, but you're one day closer to death with the sun's passing. Yet we linger and enjoy. Maybe that's the secret- finding beauty in these strange and terrible times. The slug comes to mind. 
 

I've been battling them in the garden lately as I hope to see at least a few beans germinate. Slugs love just emerged bean plants. Though interesting with their varied colors and their copious slime it's a stretch to see a lot of beauty in a slug ( though the slime does dry to a nice silvery color on the plant leaves.) But have you ever seen a stash of slug eggs? They're amazing- like tiny translucent crystal pearls. Slime transformed into something from a fairy tale. 
 

My world just became a bit more beautiful. We got "Sara B" the schooner out of the barn. Like a big black butterfly emerging from its cocoon after a long two year transformation, she will hopefully soon spread her white wings upon the bay and lake and sail off over the horizon. The homestead feels a bit empty without her looming presence, but she's about to become a boat again. It's time. It's time to stop skipping stones and wading around in the shallows. It's time shove off from the shore and sail again for a few more short days-

Martitime Tales

Word yesterday in my e mail box is that "Maritime Tales of Lake Ontario" from the History Press should be in print and on sale by July.

 

So, what is your new book about? This is a common question for authors to deal with, and the History Press marketing department suggests authors come up with a list of easy to understand catchy 'talking points' as you attempt to answer. They also suggest coming up with a tag line. I'm leaning towards waters of wealth and treachery to sum up the duality of nature in general and the lake in particular.

Emily Dickinson put it so well and so succinctly- 'sweet is the swamp until we meet a snake.' Nature is beautiful and alluring but also dangerous and dark. And so it is with the lake. It has been and still is a source of wealth, spiritual energy, and great pleasure. But its indifferent power takes lives every summer. Not long ago two people died in the waves while swimming at the West Barrier Bar. Every year anglers, duck hunters , and yes, sailors too, are claimed by its uncaring waters, leaving families bereaved. Never take the lake for granted an old timer told me once.

Lately I see this yin and yang contrasting aspect everywhere. An environmental writer in a farewell letter just before his death said that we must learn to live in an age of contrasts and paradoxes. These are the best of times and the worst of times. Fossil fuel comes to mind. Fossil fuel gives us unparalleled freedom of mobility and makes it simple and easy to heat houses and produce electricity. The petrochemical industry has given us fiberglass boats too! But it's also led to horrendous environmental and social costs, like climate change and ocean acidification.

And so it is with the lake. It gives and it takes away. We don't realize how much it does do for us. Ask the folks who live near the Aral Sea, a body of water in central Asia with a surface area nearly that of Lake Superior that was almost sucked dry by irrigation. Their very climate changed after it disappeared. Their growing season was reduced by ten days. Toxic pesticide laced salts from its basin have been blown by the wind up to six hundred miles away. When some Soviet central planner decided irrigated cotton was more valuable than the various products and ecological services provided by the Aral Sea and so decided it should be sacrificed deliberately for agriculture, he blundered badly. Over 40,000 people from fishing villages alone were displaced and one best guess is that the lost economic activity alone runs 2 billion rubles a year. (This estimate excludes of the value of ecological services such as climate moderation and ground water enhancement).

Like the song says, you don't know what you got til it's gone- will we pave paradise and put up a parking lot here too? Or might we pay attention to the lessons of history? There have been instances of societies that learned from past mistakes. It has happened and it could happen again. Though one does seriously wonder... (art work by Peter Rindlisbacher and shows the Hamilton, a 1812 War era schooner whose brief career due to a mistake in engineering is part of Maritime Tales).