Dyer Pond: Good for Kids, and Tadpoles

Today we went to Dyer Pond. My granddaughter Juliette brought two pails so that she could catch tadpoles. I wanted to go to the ocean, but we got a late start and the tide was no longer low, so pond it was. We walked through the woods under attack by millions of mosquitoes. Fortunately, I had put on Organic Bite Blocker Xtreme and not one bite did I receive. My son and his wife dislike the smell, but it does not bother me at all, fortunately. The mosquitoes were not deterred by the Badger Anti-Bite Balm they applied.

It was hot at Dyer Pond, and quite still. Several families were already there with young children. What's more, these bathers came in automobiles, which is a no-no during the summer. Everyone has to walk in, which limits the number of people able to access the small beach there. (I made a mental note to remind the National Seashore that the No Parking sign is no longer in evidence.)

Juliette was very excited to go to Dyer Pond because she remembered the tadpoles from an earlier visit two years ago. First she caught some small ones. She watched them swim before scooping up water. In the photo above, she caught two regular-sized tadpoles.

Later, I asked why tadpoles interested her so much.

"They're cute," Juliette explained. "They are fast and round. They swim with tiny feet and tails. I enjoyed holding them in my hand because they were so funny. I squeezed them."

"What did that feel like?" asked her mom.

"Slippery in my hand, and squishy."

I left early to prepare dinner. When the others returned, they showed me a photo of what Juliette had caught after my departure. I could not believe my eyes. How big the captive tadpole was! Check it out. This is one monster tadpole. Imagine the frog it will turn into ...

Once Juliette had finished playing with the tadpoles, she "threw them back to give them their freedom." It was a good day for both kids, and tadpoles!

Do you remember catching tadpoles during your childhood?

Thoughts While Walking to Dyer Pond

Sven and I are fortunate to be able to walk through the woods to Dyer Pond, deep in the National Seashore. The walk only takes a dozen minutes or so. Every time we go, I'm struck by the magnificence of Nature. How almighty she is, how precious. I think of my children, my grandchildren. Why allow pollution? Why destroy the planet? What are Tea Partiers thinking in trying to dismantle the EPA? Since I've been doing a lot of reading prior to Earth Day, I looked at the blue, blue water of Dyer Pond and railed against the world greed has created.

My latest read, Pollution: The Making of Our Chemically Altered Environment by Benjamin Ross and Steven Amter. The book is not on our blue bookshelf because the text is too darn technical and rather depressing. Pollution recounts the conscious choices made right before, and right after, World War II, ie. how polluters went about ducking regulation and "corrupting democracy," in the words of Robert Kennedy, Jr..

It was Rachel Carson who turned the tide. Then, environmental crises at the end of the 1960s drew the attention of the public, and the EPA was created. I graduated from college in 1969 and remember how eagerly a friend's husband joined after law school. It only took a couple years for him to lament the limited purview of this environmental institution and leave government service.

Earth Day was proclaimed April 22, 1970, one day after my son's birth. I would love to say how far we have come, but we haven't. The chemical industry has us in a stranglehold and has no intention of letting go.

But, but, but, people like you and me can change that.

Yesterday I read an article in Salon about how a young writer's fear of having gotten cancer led him to realize the toxic chemical stew we live in may be making us sick.

I got an email this week from Breast Cancer Action, "the first national breast cancer organization to refuse funding from corporations that contribute to or profit from breast cancer so that our work remains uncompromised." BCA works to:

"Eliminate toxins that permeate our everyday lives and increase breast cancer rates.

Build national collaborations with under-served communities to overcome health inequity.

Put patients’ interests before corporate profits through legal and drug approval processes."

Wait. Read those statements again. BCA is targeting toxic chemicals in the environment and putting our interests ahead of corporate profits. We need more organizations like this one. That's where I will be sending a contribution this Earth Day.

I'm waiting for the tipping point, where people catch on, where toxic chemicals will be acknowledged as one cause of cancer, where politicians are brave enough to stand up to corporate interests.

Do you think that day will ever come?

Dyer Pond Sunset

Today I went for a walk up to Dyer Pond. I've been reading a lot the past few days, and today I felt the need to get out and walk a bit. So I grabbed Sandy's handy-dandy directions to the pond and set to hoof'in it.

The weather today was perfect for a quick hike. Not much wind to speak of, nor any falling snow or rain. The sky was a gorgeous clear, pale blue, shining in the cold air. I met a nice dog along the way named Lucy, and her owner, Michelle, was bundled up to her eyeballs, as I was. All three of us were loving the cold air on our noses, which for Michelle and I were the only parts of our bodies exposed to the cold.

The pond is frozen in the middle, though the ice is melting along the banks so that you can see the frozen layer rise and fall in the gentle current. Footprints and bike tracks (!) leading across the surface alluded to the fact that someone had recently traversed the ice, which blew me away! I live in fear of falling through a frozen body of water, and honestly, that ice out there didn't look thick enough to bear the weight of a person, let alone several. Yikes!

Tomorrow I'm thinking I might head into Orleans to get some coffee at The Hot Chocolate Sparrow. At home in California, I spend a great deal of time in coffee shops, where I work, read, write, and just generally relax. I'm really enjoying my time in Wellfleet, but I wish there were a cafe within walking distance right now!

Finding Inspiration at Dyer Pond

Rainy overcast days are conducive to reflection. Yesterday Sven and I went walking at Dyer Pond, an ideal place to think about nature and the ongoing destruction of the environment. The serenity at Dyer Pond gives pause.

Disconcerting realization: leadership on global warming and the environment, ie. the future of life on this planet, is not happening.   Government seems to be failing us on a regular basis.   Look at the way the Gulf oil spill was handled, at how the climate bill was blocked. Even the media no longer does a satisfactory job. We must look elsewhere for inspiration, to Canada, which will ban BPA, to Facebook, where strangers can exchange constructive ideas, to Europe, which protected its citizens from GM crops and toxins a decade ago. I’m excited to be starting a working group here in Wellfleet to study ways to improve our community by going green, one town among many in search of transition. When inspiration does not come from above, we must find it within ourselves …