A few days ago, I decided that the curtain rails should be re-installed and the curtains rehung, after being taken down in preparation for the decorator to paint around the new windows. Saturday was pencilled into the schedule as Curtain Day.
The curtains had been washed, dried and folded, and only required ironing to remove the worst creasing. But it was far too spectacular a day to iron indoors. There was not a cloud in the welkin and the winds were light. A walk was in order, and I set off for the harbour. I hadn’t planned to go to the Trinkie, the salt water pool south of town, but found my feet taking me there.
Waiting
From a distance I could see a few parked cars, and assumed they were tourists or volunteers working to repair the pool, which was severely damaged in winter storms. On approaching, it was plain that it was neither. Most had tripods, binoculars, and lenses as long as your arm. They were cetacean watchers, on the lookout for a pod of orca.
A pod had been sighted to the north at Duncansby earlier, moving south. This would be a good opportunity to see them, so I waited for a while. Not having the patience of a die-hard orca spotter, and having curtains to iron, I started home after a while. However, on my way, I asked one of the watchers how they knew where and when to go. I knew there was information online, but had never found it. She said there were Facebook and WhatsApp groups. The Facebook feed was slightly too old to be useful, but the WhatsApp group, which she checked frequently, had more current information.
Watching
Eventually the pod was sighted off North Head, just a mile or two away. We couldn’t see the orca, but my new acquaintance could see a group of people watching them through her camera. When the orca finally passed us, it was, to be truthful, a disappointment. They were difficult to see in the darkness of the sea, and were far offshore. We could only see the occasional white flashes of their sides and an exhalation of vapour when they breathed.
But still – orca!
What does this have to do with curtains? They’re still not up. Waiting for the orca delayed the plan; only half of the curtains got ironed.
Easter Chocolate
In gansey news, there is not much progress, as my week is now busier. After a long hiatus, there was a return to the museum, which seemed much the same, from the displays to the welcoming volunteers at the door. At the top of the stairs, however, the first thing in view was a new gansey display, which had been moved from a corner to a more prominent and better lit location. Surrounding the ganseys are enlarged photos of fishermen in ganseys from the Johnston Collection.
We have orca pods where we are. One evening, my daughter had seen a large pod while heading out to Prince William Sound, and she came back to town and gathered me up to the spot and there were at least a couple dozen of them swimming all around us. Babies too. We just sat quietly in her boat with the engine turned off as they were following schools of salmon we thought, and extended across the channel rising up and down. It was beautiful. I was in the midst of work that had to be done.. not a curtain to be ironed, but same sort of thing, but a night in summer where there is still a lot of light, and seeing them, the work was meant for another day. And even if far off, the sea is always such a good place for us to be…
Happy Easter. Thanks for sharing your story. My gansey is taking a nap this week as well.
From an alternative view one might imagine the orca conversation
“”If you look to the south slightly west you might see a pod of humans…quite hard to see in the distance..those little dots on the cliff…..
Thank you Margaret for sharing. Your photo of the Orca watchers and their parked cars above a sparkling sea was so atmospheric I could almost feel the salt on my face and the breeze ruffling my hair!
Thinking of ironing, before the Easter break I had bought an “easy to fit” ironing board cover to help ease the chore …. An hour and one super human effort later and it was on! It really warranted a two person job!
Pasq Hapus Margaret and thank you once again for your wonderful updates!