DECEMBER RAIN

SITTING ON THE BANK OF LINDSAY CREEK

This afternoon my hubby said rain was on the doorstep, so we both shoveled each other outside to enjoy this mild but foggy 44° December day.  While he went ice fishing, I headed off into our now snowless woods, journal and camera in pocket, looking for a spot along the creek wherever water might be making some of those pleasant babbling, gurgling, sounds. 


After a short jaunt, I find myself sitting with pen in hand, listening to beautiful music where water trickles over a small clump of twigs and leaves as it glides down Lindsay Creek.  Now and then a melting drop of ice kerplunks into the water.  I'm fascinated by a circle of foam in the middle of the creek that keeps swirling around and around in one fixed spot, with seemingly no way to escape.  It hypnotizes me, but only for a moment.

There's something about a little creek in the woods.  Although there are no fish to catch in this one, there are minnows and smaller critters to appreciate now and then.  In summer, wood ducks land here occasionally for a brief refuge.  In winter, fox, otter, and even wolves use the frozen ice atop the creek for their highway.  You just have to look close, and listen, to appreciate the creek's magic.

Extra cold November temperatures froze Lindsay Creek up earlier this season, but today water flows over top what little ice remains.  The clear and sometimes root beer colored water is in a hurry today as it quickly swirls past me, meandering on through the woods toward the East Fork of the Black River. 


Lindsay Creek gets its name from an absentee landowner who owned a huge chunk of property in the late 1800's north of here near the creek's beginning.  His name was Freeman D. Lindsay, a Civil War veteran and lumberman.  Although this creek has no official name, and is too small to show up on most maps, I like to keep up tradition in referring to it with the same name the old timers gave it.  I think of Lindsay Creek as a little creek with a big heart.  Maybe Freeman is looking down on me today while I write in my journal, in December, with no gloves on, and pretty soon he'll knock that swirling circle of foam loose so it can float on down to the Mississippi.

Here comes that December rain.  Lindsay Creek and I don't mind as the pleasant memories of this very mild day will make winter that much shorter!

If you have a little creek nearby, take time to sit on its bank, in any season.  Running water, like a flaming bonfire, can captivate your eyes and mind and give you a sense of peace, no matter what is troubling you.