Returned in Force

Ryan Park, Foster City, 9:30 a.m.

The air was still as the morning warmed quickly .

Every few yards along the walkway a faint smell of decay drifted from the lagoon.

I had to step around the clumps of waterfowl scat (was that the inspiration for the name of my current search engine?)

A brood of ducks, evincing no fear, marched by. With summer approaching, the ducks have returned in force.

Decades ago we didn't have the money to purchase a house on the lagoon; instead we bought one a block inland. The burden of maintenance and repair on a waterfront house is high--a friend of ours said that he had to hose off his deck several times a week--so I'm happy that our finances were thin.

I like ducks, but preferably at a distance and not in large groups.