The Southern Resident Killer Whales have come home because the salmon are returning. And if Fauntleroy Creek advocates and neighbors are lucky, they’ll see some of those fish any day now. That’s the reason for the annual drum circle to call the salmon home, organized by Judy Pickens steps from the creek on Sunday afternoon:
Judy told the all-ages attendees that the annual volunteer salmon watch was on, and there’d been a good sign – a female salmon spotted near the mouth of the creek, though she didn’t make it up the creek and her fate is unknown. Jamie Schilling led a bit of singing and drumming, as she does every year, but then – something new:
Visitors were invited to take a stone from a plate of river rocks longtime volunteer Dennis Hinton had brought back from a trip to Yakima, and to write a word or two with a wish for the salmon:
Before taking their rock-borne messages over to the creek banks, everyone was invited to share what they wrote – Messages of welcome, like “you are welcome here”; messages of encouragement, like “Go for it” and “Keep swimming”; and messages of hope, like “glory,” “love,” “peace,” “healing.”
If spawners show up in the creek, watch for word of an “open creek” chance to visit on an upcoming weekend.
19 showed up last year – we’ll know soon how this year turns out. As Jamie observed, despite the pandemic, “life goes on.”
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