Back-seat Passions: Celebrating H20

Water: the stuff of life

Story and photography by Katharine Mott

Water is a substance with an attitude!

Sometimes it is quiet and ambling, and sometimes it roars in anger. I love it in all its moods…

I was born with a thirst for water, not to drink but to feast my eyes on. I'm told that it poured rain on the day I was born, and the month broke a 78-year rainfall record. So my early days were satisfied. Since then I've spent my carousing and peaceful hours on, in, or gazing at water.

I spend time staring at water in the places where I'm happiest-next to the river, the lake or the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes I see peaceful, harmonic stillness, but if disturbed by wind or invading water I see furious supernatural creatures rage against each other. Both acts are breathtaking.

Water has many human-like qualities.

It has characteristics that I admire most

in my friends. It is strong and can't be beaten. It is unconquerable, but at the same time the softest of substances. It is wild, unpredictable and always there.

The scars of past experiences don't hinder its enthusiasm. It's emotional and romantic, a talker and a listener. Water shares its moods.

Water is a substance with an attitude! It can be a best friend, a passionate lover or a worst enemy. Sometimes it is quiet and ambling, and sometimes it roars in anger. Like my most intimate pals, I love it in all its moods. There is enough child left in me to need to be held and rocked at times. The lake embraces me in my canoe and soothes the sourness in my soul. The river sings to me in my hammock-the music might be loud enough to drown out the trembling in my head, or soft and calm enough to alleviate my fears.

The river on which I live is independent and mature. There are signs of how it has grown and changed over time. I've watched how it happens-a tree falls partly into the river, collects debris and grows a paunch at the edge of the slim bank. This enriches my view. I want my friends to see me in the same way. I don't want them to see my body bumps and personality lumps as flaws-I'm just in full bloom. I have a framed quote hanging in my entrance, given to my mother by one of her best friends shortly after I was born. It says, "A friend is not a feller who is taken in by sham. A friend is one who knows our faults and doesn't give a damn." Good advice!

We're fortunate on the East Coast-water is within view from almost everywhere. It might be as big as the ocean or as small as a puddle. Size doesn't matter-attitude does! Development is along waterways-at the mouths of the beautiful streams of Newfoundland and Labrador, all along the wonderful waters of New Brunswick. PEIers need only to open their eyes and mouths and they breathe in water. And Nova Scotia seems more wet than dry. There's something magnetic about our water here in the East-after four days away I want to come home!

Some think of water mainly as a cleansing agent and deposit all sorts of crud and corruption in it. The water doesn't get mad, its gets even-by killing or crippling the environment that depends on it, affecting creatures and people alike. Some water evaporates only to return to the upstream environment as contaminated rain. One of these days we'll be smart enough to adopt the principles of upstream/downstream water care-let's hope it's not too late.

I have a wee cabin on a lake. It's a one-room hidey-hole that fills with summer fun. It's such an emotional, romantic and mystical spot that I'd like to name it, but the right one hasn't come to mind yet. But I know it as intimately as I know myself-or I think I do. It often surprises me with something new-a colour, a sunrise, sunset or magical mist. Mornings are special. Full moons are divine. It is what it is because of the water.

I've often found that simply being in the vicinity of water isn't enough. I have to be in it, usually with a fishing rod in hand. The rod is merely an excuse. It's like inviting yourself over to a friend's place just for companionship. The emotion evoked by being immersed in a world that belongs to other creatures is staggering. I see signs around me of loss and recovery, of endings and beginnings.

Early mornings and the long light of early evenings are sometimes so moving that waves of joy well up in me. The wisdom of age and experience surrounds me, comforts me. Being in flowing water is an emotional experience that you can't get every day. My watering spots are faithful friends-they make me feel good.

~ Katharine

e-mail: bikerchick@saltscapes.com