Procrastination Pays!

Sometimes I think my motto is "Always put off until tomorrow what you planned to do today".  Sometimes I'm just being lazy.  Sometimes other more urgent matters interfere with plans.  And sometimes an impulsive move alters the chain of events.

The other day I took the dogs for our morning walk as usual.  Riley walks more slowly and less far than Eddie, so we did a 1 kilometre mosey around the town.  The sun was rising from behind Maple Mountain,  lighting up rain-soaked trees.  A Northern flicker cried overhead, and little kinglets with their flashes of cheery yellow hopped about in the bushes searching for seed. 

By the time we returned home, I was ready to get on with a long list of tasks.  In addition to laundry and housework and picking up a few groceries, I figured I would take advantage of the sun to put up the outdoor Christmas lights and decorate Oliver's tree on my patio. We don't get too many dry days this time of year.

But on a sudden impulse,  I decided to take Eddie for a second longer, more brisk walk around our customary beach loop. I'm so glad I did.

As we trotted down the trail, I noted how high the winter tide was – the new sea walk extension was now a bridge across a small bay.  And in the bay, two otters came gliding towards me, long tails whipping behind and above them.  I pulled my little camera from my pocket – with the rising sun in my eyes,the lighting was all wrong and it was hard to see, but I started snapping anyway.  Within moments, three more heads appeared – a family of five otters thrashing and playing and dancing in the water. 

A few moments later they swam under the sea walk and into the larger bay, where one of the parents caught a fish  - flat and round like a flounder - and tossed it around for the young ones to see. All five swam along – a bit far out for my little camera, but close enough for me to track them as they headed first to the RV wharf and then to the ferry dock, fishing and diving and enjoying their family outing on a fine December Sunday morning. I couldn't stopped smiling.  What great entertainment!

Parent otter brings up the catch....

..And shows it off - a nice flounder perhaps.

By the time Eddie and I returned home, the sun was gone, the clouds were back, and the rain had started.  Perhaps I wouldn't put the Christmas lights up after all.  I should have acted while I could.

But, heck, the lights will always be there, the otters may not.  Sometimes procrastination pays.