mud left by the flood

mud left by the flood

from ice melt and rain – sculpted

into soft scallops

The receding creek deposits shelves of soft, luscious mud. For the past two days, walking along Pilgrim Creek, admiring the mud, I keep thinking of my friends in Japan, wondering how they are faring. I have not been able to contact them directly, but from the online maps I see that their area near Fuji-san is not in the major earthquake and tsunami zone, though I’m sure they experienced the incredible shaking. My friend Hiroko Goto at age 3 lived through the Great Tokyo Earthquake of 1923, which spawned fires that wiped out Tokyo and Yokohama. After the Great Pacific War and the fire bombing that destroyed Tokyo, Mrs. Goto became a peace pilgrim. Now, at age 87, she is witnessing the destruction caused by an even more massive earthquake and tsunami. The flood and the mud left by this flood will cause untold damage.