Magic for a Moment…..

We've spent the last three or four days living in London - or at least it doesn't seem like Port Washington. Temperatures combined with the breeze off the cooler water of Lake Michigan - fog and mist roll in for awhile and then roll out. Fascinating as things change….come and go….disappear and re-appear. The upper bluff is there somewhere, and the lake….I think.

Today Fenway and I walked up the bike path, across the stream and back through the woods. We spotted one deer, heard many familiar bird songs and enjoyed the early morning walk through the mist. The forecast says we may hit close to 90 degrees today - so we went out early.

Coming back the woods we suddenly heard something unexpected echo down from the bluff above our heads. Softly at first and then a bit louder….the sound of someone piping up on the top of the bluff. Bagpipes….a lovely serenade to accompany my walk. The piper played at least five or six different songs and then it was over.

Music brings back memories and bagpipes are associated with both some sad funereal ones for me, but also with an amazing sunset in November 2001. We were still living aboard Connemara and were peacefully anchored in Mile Hammock Bay at a spot on the Inner Coastal Waterway in NC. About a dozen boats, sheltered, peaceful, quiet. It was wine-o'clock and we were sitting in the cockpit enjoying the sunset and suddenly heard bagpipes.

Heads swiveled in every cockpit in the anchorage - there, center stage, on the foredeck of a sailboat was the piper. A man serenading all of us as the sun went down. It was a goose-bump magic moment….met with applause as it ended.

I wish I could have applauded this morning - but I was too far away. Mist, magic, bagpipes….what a terrific walk.