Thursday, July 23, 2015

July 23, 2015 - Queen of the Island


I’ve been watching these two small uninhabited islands off the coast of Maine in Harpswell for several years now.  No one ever goes to them.  I’ve never seen a person standing on the shore.  No one bothers with a canoe or kayak trip to have a picnic on one of them, so these islands have remained quite pristine and untouched by man.

I’ve always fantasized that if anything should ever happen, should our country ever alter drastically, I would go out to one of these islands to live.  It’s a ridiculous dream, of course, but I can’t help myself.  Fresh water would be a problem, for sure.  Fish and clams to eat in the summer, but what about the winter?  And not enough wood for heat?  Ah, yes, I know it’s foolish, indeed, but I want to be queen of an island, you see.

An island in need of a monarch.

I’d probably have to claim queenship of the island on the right.  If you look closely at the island on the left, directly in the middle, you can see an eagle’s nest high at the top of a dead tree.  Therefore, I am afraid queenship has already been claimed on this island, and I doubt she would care to end her reign as supreme being.  We could be allies, though, as long as we didn’t have to compete too much for the fish.

Do you ever do that?  Have ridiculous ideas and dreams that you know can’t come true?  Fantasize about just leaving civilization behind and foraging in the wild?  Even though I’ll never live on one of these islands and I’ll never be queen, the eagle is still free enough to do so, and I think that counts for something.  Maybe if I just get a little braver . . .