Slough Fog

Its better to get down into the slough for the morning walks with the dog as early as possible. I'd go at 5:30 if I was one of those early, early morning types. But I'm not. I'm a late night type and sometimes its a battle to get up and out for the walks.

This morning was nice though. A nearly empty slough, low lying fog up and down it that lay like a rug over the deep lush green below. It smells different too, I don't know how to put it into words but the scent of the slough is muted, held in by the fog perhaps. There are some plants down there that seem to emit the smell, its like a mildly soured perfume, not bad but not altogether pleasant.

With so few people out I was able to let Nande run a bit. I know that some folks think she should be leashed at all times but I am going to have to disagree. She responds extremely well to voice commands now (with the exception of that cat that likes to taunt her into a chase). And the benefits of her being allowed to be independent at times is a happy, curious and fun dog.

There's no real way to capture the momentary peace of the morning slough. It's nice, it's still surrounded by houses on all sides and never ending traffic along 152/Main down at the end. But there are moments where the fog is thick and swirling and I can imagine, for just a second, that we're out in the middle of nowhere.

On the way, the sun was just starting to climb up over the trees and was beginning to hit the houses on the far side. As I walked, I saw the sun reflecting off those windows and back down into the dense water vapor of the fog. It was like seeing organic prisms, only visible from certain perspectives and fading before my eyes. The neat thing was that the color bands were thick and stacked by the angles so the red band looked to be several feet wide. And yes, that will teach me for not taking my camera with me.