Lighter All Around

Spent this past week getting re-acquainted with my composite kayak which is 15 pounds lighter than my rotomolded kayak. Made the switch a little earlier than usual as these days I feel each and every pound.  All the better to enjoy our increasing hours of daylight.

Wednesday on the Concord River in Bedford, MA under bright blue skies...

...and Thursday on the Assabet River in Stow, MA under equally cloudless skies...

Wrapped up the week with a Saint Patrick's Day paddle in Concord, MA under changeable skies and a kicked-up breeze in the vicinity of Egg Rock...

Water levels on the local rivers were back up and almost allowed me to paddle into Brewster's Canoe House alongside the Concord River...

On Sunday the Egg Rock inscription was completely submerged.  However, a short distance away on the Assabet another rock showed two lines from George Bradford Bartlett's poem Floating Hearts...

 

Other notable sightings during the week were this eagle on the Assabet...

Common mergansers on the Assabet...

...and a Styrofoam F-35 aircraft from the lower Sudbury...

Trash from the Concord on Wednesday included 22 "nip bottles"...

Trash from the Assabet on Thursday included 15 "nip bottles" and a plastic dolphin...

Trash from St. Patrick's Day on bits of the Assabet and Sudbury rivers included 43 "nip bottles" and a wee bit of green...

My favorite Irish saying...May the road rise to meet you.