Everyone else took moon photos this weekend. I took a picture of a dead clam.
It’s not like I went beachwalking in search of dead clams. On the contrary, I have been trying for years to capture something lovely I saw one morning: the full, silver moon setting over Grand Traverse Bay, reflecting the rosy sunrise behind me. Today at 7:46 a.m. the heavenly bodies would be in the same places once more. Miss Puss batted me awake at dark-thirty, but even as I trotted across the road and down to the beach I knew it was useless. Came the dawn . . .
I’m sure the moon was setting and the sun rising, because the heavy cloud cover got brighter and brighter shades of . . . gray. OK, blue gray. Big deal.
I was left to document the day as it is, not as I would have it be. I wandered about, taking pictures of dead clams and rotting snowpiles. I listened to a pair of geese, and a gossipy gull, and an invisible bird whose call I could not identify. They were probably all talking about how beautiful the moon had looked this morning as they flew in. I listened to the ice shift and crack as I walked out on it. There was no wind. No wash of waves. Shards of floating ice struck soft music from each other. There is nothing like a walk on the beach to set me right.
It’s feeling springlike out there. Smelling good. Warming a bit. The Cowboy went wading. Then he snuffled through something that made him sneeze all the way back to the Writing Studio and Bait Shop. At least the Duo behaved well enough to get their breakfast this morning.
Torch Lake Views 
Tammy McLeod
March 20, 2011
I have to laugh out loud when you say that these photos feel like spring – a bit different than our 90 degrees in the desert.
Gerry
March 20, 2011
Ah well, spring has many faces. How bored we would be if the whole world were all the same all the time. Not to mention how hungry, thirsty, and out of sorts we would be. Someday I would like to see the desert in bloom. LaMirada Bob and Bonnie his Beloved say that it is something special. But I promise you, that tantalizing curl of warm, moist breeze floating across the ice in early spring is something special too.
Scott Thomas Photography
March 20, 2011
I like the blue-gray. Very fitting for this time of year as it is the last day of winter with Spring officially coming in at 7:20PM EDT tonight.
Gerry
March 20, 2011
Tiptoeing through the snowpiles here, but coming in, coming in . . . Glad you like the blue-gray, Scott. You’d have liked the moonset even better. Maybe next year.
Barbara Rodgers
March 20, 2011
Enjoyed taking an early morning walk with you. The third picture is especially nice – blues and grays appeal to me and don’t make me sad for some reason. It looks so peaceful and serene.
Gerry
March 20, 2011
Thanks, Barbara. That one is my favorite too–except that the moonrise Babs sent is my VERY favorite. Normally I would have found it quite a beautiful morning . . . but I really want to see that sunlit moonset again. Doggone cloud cover. Grouse, grouse.
P.j. grath
March 20, 2011
We had a stunningly beautiful moonrise last night over the woods behind the meadow and orchard, but without a tripod all my attempts at photographing the phenomenon were failures. I can see it in my mind’s eye, however, and I’ll remember it. Look forward to the capture by Babs, which would have blown mine out of the water, anyway.
Gerry
March 20, 2011
The best image is the one you have with you in your mind’s eye! I can still see that wondrous moonset, too. You make wonderful photos, and the thing is . . . the are yours. No one else could show me the flags waving at each other in Northport, for example. Or at least, no one else has!
Having said all that . . . Babs sent a fine moon. Yes, she did.
Sally Ann
March 20, 2011
Beauty is all around us. Sometimes you just have to look a little harder. In general, I feel that way about the month of November. I love your pictures of the bay. Nonetheless, I will be anxiously awaiting the appearance of Babs’s picture. Last night we were sitting across a cow pasture down the road waiting for the moon to rise and I said, “I wish we were watching the moon rise over Torch!”
Gerry
March 20, 2011
And so you shall. You’re gonna love it.
Kathy
March 20, 2011
It looks like it was a beautiful morning, even with the missing moon. Sometimes what we go searching for is not what’s searching for us. I really like your pictures. You can almost smell the spring along the beach.
Gerry
March 20, 2011
We had a fine time down there. I don’t mind not seeing the moonset. Not much, anyway. But it is worrying to think that something might be searching for me.
Kathy
March 20, 2011
lol, Gerry! I meant–like the clam shell. The underwater rocks. Searching for you to take their picture maybe. OK, I’ll shut up now. 🙂
Gerry
March 20, 2011
Whew. I was thinking coyotes maybe, or spaniel-eating muskies. Clams I can deal with. Sentient rocks . . . dunno.
Robin
March 21, 2011
It looks like it was a beautiful walk.
Gerry
March 21, 2011
It was. Nice socks.
Robin
March 21, 2011
Thanks. 🙂 The weather cooled off so I decided to put my socks back on.
Preston
March 21, 2011
Gerry I always enjoy your little stories. Your story made me appreciate the dead clam oh so much. I’d rather see your capture of the dead clam and rotting snow than a capture of the space shuttle flying in front of the huge moon. For the simple reason I really enjoy your words.
Gerry
March 21, 2011
You have unusual tastes, Preston. Welcome to the Dead Clam Cafe. (We are conveniently located right next to the woodstove at the Writing Studio and Bait Shop.)
Belinda
March 21, 2011
I’ve enjoyed seeing your beautiful snow pictures thru this dreary winter.
Spring has come to Va. My daffodils are blooming.
Gerry
March 21, 2011
Thank you, Belinda. I envy you the daffodils.
Nye
March 22, 2011
It doesn’t look like Spring at where you are, although the ice looks like it’s melting and Spring will be here before you know it. 🙂
Gerry
March 22, 2011
Ah yes, but before spring we will have, apparently, up to 10 inches of snow tonight. March in Michigan.