Little Cat Feet

Or the View Through the Fog


THE fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
~Carl Sandburg

The fog has not moved on lately here on the coast. While temperatures have hovered around 90 in Seattle and 100 in Portland, the Long Beach Peninsula has sat in the fog for days with only a snatch of sun between waves of fog. Tourists escaping the heat of those cities have hit the local thrift stores and conversations have been overheard to include such things as “Why didn’t you pack something warm?!”

The fog horns at North Head and Cape Disappointment welcome the numerous ships entering the mouth of the Columbia River, also known as the Graveyard of the Pacific. Ships have gone aground as recently as 1996. One not listed on the roll call of ships lost happened forty years ago and was saved. A tuna boat captain became confused in the fog and did not realize he’d missed the entrance to Ilwaco’s harbor until he heard the breakers around his boat. Too late to maneuver out of the breakers without possibly capsizing the vessel he put the engine on full throttle and drove it onto the beach at Peacock’s Spit, also known as Benson Beach. Thereafter began the salvage process which extended over three days while the boat was drug onto huge logs and then pulled by bulldozers across the beach and down a gravel road to the boat-launch located at Ft. Canby where it was successfully floated and saved. The process provided a carnival atmosphere for tourists and locals alike.

Tomorrow begins the Kite Festival. The temperatures inland are to moderate, but include thunderstorms and the possibility of showers which is in the forecast for the coast as well. It does not bode well for kite fliers as well as those having house repairs.