Ripples

Aren't waves amazing things? I'm no physicist, I don't understand them, but they fascinate me.

Today has been one of those summer days straight out of the Lifestyle section. Late, lazy family brunch. Then me & the nipper on our bikes, through the midday heat, along the canal and up through the park to the farm to pet the animals and lie under a tree, chewing blades of grass. Then hide and seek in the experimental herbaceous borders followed by a downhill glide back to the canal and half an hour sitting on a willow tree paddling our feet in the water. After that came an ice cream and a beer with a randomly met friend, and a bronze medal for Germany, but let's go back and focus on the paddling for a minute.

Where do the ripples begin? Did they start in my mind, the moment I decided to kick the water? Did they start in the food that I ate to give me the energy to move those muscles to kick the water? Or in the earth that provided the minerals to allow the food to grow which I ate to... and so on. And why am I having these fourth-form reflections? I don't know. It was very strange, sitting there and watching the ripples grow wider and wider as a result of my conscious decision to kick the water. Thinking, those ripples are part of me, they're my energy. That's me, that is, spread out over a huge circle in this lake inlet. And I hadn't even been smoking anything.

The ripples in this photo were not taken today, or caused by me (at least not directly), they are in the Saint Lawrence River, shot from a cruise boat sailing from Gananoque through the Thousand Islands, this time last year.

Details: Nikon D70, 18-70mm lens @ 34mm, f/4.2, 1/400s, ISO 200. Near Gananoque, Ontario, 13 July 2005. Placemark.