Same old same old

Well, here it is again, the scene we’ve seen for what? 60 years? More? One more exciting season is about to be started. But for whom? Us? Visitors? Maybe exciting, maybe boring, maybe their last. We’ve measured time by how many of the old timers don’t show up anymore. Thousands of people have looked on this very scene thousands of times, and they come back for more. Then they die. But we only know that happens when after a few years they no longer show up. The musician from Gustine, for example. Never missed a year since 1940 until finally a year missed him. His son and family still return. Another man who always rented a boat and sat on the gunwale (gunnel) as he steered his way across the lake. We never knew if the smoke trailing him was from our motor or his endless cigarettes. He built a camp at the river mouth that people still enjoy. The one legged-man who uses Florence Lake as practice for his big annual event, the swim from Alcatraz. The full-time carpenter, part-time actor whose crowning achievement was as a major guest star on Star Trek: The Next Generation. And the perennial re-appearance of Robert Redford, getting off the Muir Trail mid-way as he has done for years. He still looks pretty good, so he’ll be coming back.

The cycle repeats.