Kootenay Lake

*This is a journal entry from my time in Idaho, written during a weekend we spent on the shores of Kootenay Lake in Nelson, British Columbia*

 This morning I walked down to the lake.

Loons wailed out one last time to welcome the dawn. The mountains around Lake Kootenay were still wrapped in a deep shroud of blue, only the most distant ones to the east showing a soft orange variation as the sun rose behind them. Ospreys flew overhead, calling to one another as they scoured the water for fish. A few ambitious gulls were just starting their day. A flock of geese flew past, almost militaristic in the flying-V formation. Crows discussed their plans for the day, the noisiest of all the neighbours this morning. The waters were somewhat turbulent, as if the heavenly peace of the morning nauseated them.

As I stood watching, the distant orange hues began melting closer into the mountains' blue. Sunlight pierced the veil on the hilltops behind me, revealing the lovely greens of the forest. Half of the mountains I could see were retaining their misty blue, their features still indistinguishable, and half were covered in a hazy orange reflected from the vanilla-peach clouds above them.

The clouds themselves seemed too light and wispy to have such a profound effect on the mountainscape. A horse's tail here, a bird's wing there, white sponge pressings, and pink sky-ripples all littered the great blue expanse above me. Impossible to truly duplicate on a canvas, yet infinitely unique every day in the natural world. The result of a great Artist's eternal creativity.