Lynde Creek Mouth - bone china mug

19 July 2010 finds us at the mouth of Lynde Creek on Lake Ontario, 2 km southwest of Port Whitby. This is the place where we observed little Alewives struggling to cross the shallow bar to the lake in 1994. Since then the lake has breached the bar, and sloshes in and out like a quick little tide called a seiche, now flowing into the marsh from the lake, running against us as we paddle out. The lake shore suddenly presents us with a different world, separated from the bay of the creek by a sand bar embossed with a pattern of Goose foot prints, embroidered with ferny-leaved red runners of yellow-flowered Cinquefoil and blanketed with purple knapweed, set against silvery-leaved willow bushes. The lake is calm today, but its waves have arranged the beach with smooth pebbles. Fred finds some larger flat dark ones to skip out across the bright surface. The water is sparkling clear, until the seiche of the lake lowers its mini-tide to allow the creek to flow out.