February 7th
The Story of the Glass Ponds
Hello! If you are keeping up with my news
page you will know that I am going to tell you about the Glass Ponds
(yes, there are actually two), Blue Sierra and the heron. But, I thought
as long as I am going to tell you about all that, I may as well tell you
about Flip and Flop and Queenie, too.
One afternoon, about 16 years ago, I came home and my husband and a
friend named Ken were out in the backyard looking at a very large hole
in the ground. Ken had ridden up the hill on his small
 tractor/dozer,
and he and Bill had dug a huge hole in the backyard. It was about 30
feet in diameter and 4 feet deep. Bill explained that they were putting
in a pond. I told them that's a good plan, but it's too deep. KD and Ian
were very little at the time, and I didn't want them falling into the
pond. So, Ken started up his tractor/dozer and put back in 2 feet of
dirt. I thought that was still too deep, but I think Bill told Ken to
turn the motor back on and it just drowned out my voice.
When I came home the next day, there was another hole farther down the
yard. This hole was about 6 feet in diameter and 4 feet deep. They saw
me walking toward them, and they turned on the tractor motor.
Before I knew it, both the holes were smoothed out, covered with that
heavy duty rubber stuff, filled with water and goldfish and connected by
a gurgling little stream. It was a wonderland and still is, to this day.
Ian would sit by it and pretend
fish, KD would sit and read, Annie, the dog next door, would cool off in
the summer, the deer would come by for a drink. Many of the fish grew to
12 inches and longer. They had babies and they grew. They ate all the
Skeeteys and Peteys (those are the mosquitoes), and Flip and Flop (those
are the frogs) settled in, returning every year to lay new egg sacs in
the pond. We had our own little nature preserve in our backyard.
Bill became a personal trainer for the fish. He would tap a rock as he
walked to the pond and all the fish would swim to him, waiting to be fed
their little pond nuggets. They would follow him around the pond as he
walked. We even checked out a library book on how to make your fish jump
through a hoop and smoke a cigar.
Then one day when I drove up the driveway, a huge shadow blew across the
sky. I parked and waited a few moments, thinking "how weird was that."
As soon as I got out of the car, a big shadow went by again, and when I
looked up I saw the heron. He was a huge gray heron, with a long sharp
beak. I knew exactly why he was there, and sure enough, when I went to
the pond, all the fish were gone. Every single one of them. It was a
very sad day.
 But
there is good news!!!
The heron had not found the smaller, deeper pond. Pinkie, Orangie and
Goldie were still swimming merrily in the water. So, while we were very
sad about losing all the other fish, we were still happy to see those
three.
It was about this time that Bill told me the heron was able to get the
other fish because the big pond was too shallow and the heron couldn't
get Pinkie, Orangie and Goldie because Bill had dug the smaller pond to
the correct depth. Well, I was feeling pretty bad already, but after
that I felt terrible.
I hung around the house for a few days, sad about the fish, feeling like
it was my fault, although Bill said it wasn't. About the third day the
heron came back. From inside the house, I watched him as he stalked the
big pond, splaying out one foot in front of the other, pointing his beak
down at the water. I wasn't too worried because there weren't any fish
in there, but I kept my eye on the smaller pond.
After awhile, it began to rain. I went to close a window and when I came
back to watch the heron, he was right there, in front of me, outside the
door, on the deck, under the roof, out of the rain. I was so surprised
that I couldn't do anything. I was mesmerized. He was like a statue and
I remember thinking, "well, we don't have fish, but now, we have our
very own pet heron. How cool is that?" I even wondered for a moment what
we would feed it.
When the rain stopped, the heron took flight and we have not seen it
since. I went out to the ponds and hung colored glass mirrors and beads
from the trees and bushes. Now when the sun hits and even on dark,
cloudy days, it looks like tiny fairy lights are flashing all over our
little nature preserve. I was very proud of myself because I was certain
the constant flicker of lights would keep away the heron.
A few months after this I went to the Blue Sierra. It is a nice little
fish store in Issaquah. A lady had just dropped off about 6 dozen fish
that were too big for her pond. I bought two dozen, some almost a foot
long, one dollar each!!! I brought them home and put them in the big
Glass Pond. I put one in the smaller pond. The next morning they were
all gone.
But, there is good news again!!!
The one in the small pond was still there with Pinkie and Goldie and
Orangie. And her name is Blue Sierra.
I told my friend about this and she said, "Come on over, I will give you
some of my fish." I went over there with my net. She had a huge pond and
lots of fish. We tried for four hours to get a fish in that net. I got
one about 3 inches long. I call her Queenie and right now, she is
swimming the big Glass Pond all by herself....
When I write again, I promise I am going to tell you all about my
studio.
Linda Lou
Live for color and the rhythm it creates
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