Do you remember those creaky old, often rhyming, weather predictions our grandparents relied on? Like "red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky in morning, sailor’s warning" or "rainbow in the morning, sailor’s warning; rainbow at night, sailor’s delight.”
Well, here at "Riverbend" early-morning mist on the river is usually followed by a sunny day (sorry but I can't make this rhyme). The mist rolls in just before the sun comes out, but I like to be up well before then to walk, cup of tea in hand, the length (and sometimes even the breadth) of "Riverbend" to perhaps surprise a grazing kangaroo or see the resident fox slink back to his den after a night out on the hunt.
Some mornings I see a fisherman anchored off "Riverbend". This one has been at anchor all night as I could see his starboard light through the trees when I was feeding the possum late last night. The incoming tide has turned him and he's showing me his portside now but little else.
He's probably still asleep as I used to be, tucked up in my cabin, when I still had my motor-sailer in the river. It's now up in Townsville and sailed around Magnetic Island by her new owner. My boating days are not quite over yet but I've come to enjoy the warmth and comfort of my own bed. They tell me it's an age thing! ☺
Well, the mist has gone but not the fishermen (plural! he turned out to be two) whose boat has turned in the outgoing tide and is showing me her starboard again. True to predictions, the sun has come out and so have the ducks and all the other birds and they all clamour to be fed.
I'll be keeping an eye and, especially, an ear on the lagoon since "frogs croaking in the lagoon, means rain will come real soon” because we need rain real badly. But not as badly as I need another cup of tea!
