Chemainus Lake

Returning from a trip to the Cowichan Valley in January for some misty morning photography, I stopped to check out Chemainus Lake. The last time I had been there was years earlier, and it had, at that time, felt sad and overused. This time, however, I found a new robust dock, excellent roadway, and fresh gravel at the put-in. I thought, "Time to bring the canoe."

So, on the last day of March, I got up early, canoe already on the roof, and head south. I arrived while it was still dark, put the canoe in the water and set out onto the little lake amid a rising mist and almost total silence.

I paddled around in the cold pre-dawn light, watching the mist swirl and listening to the birds waking up and becoming active. That time of day, on a small body of water, is perhaps the best time of all. The feeling of positive aloneness (sabi) and the feeling of connection to the natural world work to create a rich sense of contentment and hushed awe.

I drifted around, watching the sun slowly rise, painting the tree tops first, with it's golden glow, then eventually the mist, which became thicker with the change in temperature.

I surrendered to the beauty, feeling the cares of the week drifting away amid the mist. There is something about this kind of beauty, the majesty of it, the power of it, that creates an especially receptive mind. I thought about work, relationships, harmony and discord. A wetland is a place that mirrors these qualities. So much life, and with it, so much death.

I experimented with my new camera and the even newer vintage Pentax 28mm lens. It is always difficult to capture the scale of a place like this. Chemainus Lake is small, but also packed with endless views, sights, and details. There are so many nooks and gaps in a wetland and in fact this little lake has channels between the main lake and the shore, bands of water that curve around behind reed banks and a beaver store.

Then, the sun broke over the trees and the morning began in earnest. This always causes me a bit of excitement, the golden hour has begun! I race to get photos, everywhere I look a new subject, a new breath-taking image.

The first shots were of the reed banks, as the light broke across them. I paddled to two spots of the lake to get different perspectives.

As I did, the nesting geese started honking, and within minutes a flock of new geese arrived.

In the reeds, marsh wrens and song sparrows started to mill about, joined by red-wing blackbirds going from perch to perch and back again. The morning chorus, or racket, had begun.

Song Sparrow

Male Redwing Blackbird

Female Redwing Blackbird

Resident Nesting Canadian Goose

About that time, a paddling fly angler joined us on the water. I was off in a corner with my long lens, trying to get portraits of some of the smaller residents, but I snapped one of this young fellow. We humans tend to dominate the landscape, with our impressive tools, including tackle and vessel.

Young Male Human

Another angler arrived on the dock, so I headed down to the far end of the lake. Along the way I marveled at the beauty of this little spot. The shoreline from the water is truly stunning.

As more humans came onto the water the non-resident geese took flight to the air, and I retreated further into the reeds.

Canadian Geese Take Flight

My Hideout Amid the Reeds

In a shady corner I took out my other new vintage lens, the Revuenon 55mm 1.2. This bokeh master lens creates unique artistic renditions that, in some ways, capture a place better than razor sharpness ever can.

Revuenon 55mm 1.2 - #1

By that time, there were anglers arriving every few minutes. I waited against the reeds near the dock as two young fellows in kayaks, a woman in a float tube, and two older guys in a tinner made there way out. I took a photo of the men with kids on the dock. "Can I touch it?" came the call of one child as a fish was held out flopping for inspection. The curiosity and excitement in the kid's voices was a welcomed sound.

Men and Boys Enjoy the Sturdy Functional Attractive Dock

I was glad that these folks would enjoy their time, AND was also glad I was leaving. I packed up while another fellow prepared to head onto the water in a pontoon boat. I would be back to take more photos on this fantastic jewel of a lake on this special island.

Sedge Bending

The world if full of grand vistas. People flock to the Grand Canyon for example, or the Rocky Mountains. People huddle their houses together for a view of the ocean, to take advantage of a steel and glass cityscape, to share the sight of a volcano. There is, on the other hand, no rush to view alleyways, boarded up factories, or a vacant lot.

Here on Vancouver Island, you can view a volcano, a beautiful cityscape, and everywhere the changing plane of ocean. It is a common blessing, like being Canadian, like shopping in a super market. It comes with the territory. We sometimes stop to wink at each other, "can you believe we have it so good?"

Evan so, and perhaps because we are saturated by the ubiquitous privilege of our situation, there are beauties we miss. In the brace of affluence it is actually the case that saturation can be the problem. We have the good life, but it has us too, in it's teeth, and it is biting down hard. We are overweight, we are stressed, we are depressed, we are trudging along. What good is it to live in paradise if we slave each day to stay here?  That my friends, is the middle class dilemma.

Sedge Bending might not be the antidote to that, but it might not hurt. So let me tell you how it works.

The Sedge Bending Formulas 

The intro formula: 1 self powered water craft + 1 quiet shoreline with sedges - all electronic distractions = Bliss

The committed formula: 1 beautiful self powered water craft + 1 quiet shoreline with sedges and a few other specific features  - all the distractions of electronic life + a list of "experience enhancing" extras = Bliss2

I agree, the formulas seem too simple to really work, and to be frank, they only work for a certain segment of the population, maybe 10%. But if you are in that 10% you could be missing out on, well, bliss. So might not it behoove you to read a little more about it?

 
The Sedge Bending Secret 

The secret to sedge bending bliss is the Vita Ora. Vita is the Latin root of vital, and generally refers to life; and ora mean edge, rim, border, boundary /coast, coast-line. Thus it is the vital edge, the border of life, the rim of vitality, or the boundary of being.  This is the place on a lake that biologists call the Littoral zone. It is a biogeographic region where conditions are favourable for life. Not just sedges, but rushes, reeds, auquatic plants cluster along this threshold between the relatively barren deep water and the dryer expanses of land, dominated by the light soaking conifers and angiosperms.

In short, there is a magic region of water loving plants and animals that for some of us, not only epitomize life, but impart it to us just by going there. We come alive in this district of dragonflies and redwing blackbirds.  We feel at home amide the frogs and turtles. We belong.

Are you a Sedge Bender? I'd love to hear from you.