Short Journey of the Cucumber Boat

Evening on the island, after the swans — slow time with my 3-year-old

“Now I have it all”, said my 3-year-old while we were sitting on the cliff on the Swan Island, watching the sun sink low in the sky. I smiled and asked what she meant. She answered: “Bread and water”, meaning the snacks she was eating. I smiled even more.

We looked out at the lake, and followed the bark boat we had thrown into the water, and saw some small perches swimming near the edge of the cliff. I pointed them out, and she saw them too and said: “They are my fishes”. She’s at that age when everything has to belong to someone.

When we arrived to the island, we saw large white swan feathers scattered along the shore. There were so many, it looked like some serious bird business had happened before we got there. “This is definitely Swan Island,” I said, while my 3-year-old collected the huge feathers in her small hand.

While we sat eating, we listened to the ‘liplatus’ — the sound of water lapping against the rock. I asked how it sounded to her, and she showed me by making a small shriek. Then her cucumber slice fell out from the sandwich and rolled into the water, beside the bark boat. We declared that it was the cucumber boat now. We watched two very different boats disappear into the horizon.

As we settled on the cliff, we noticed empty juice bottles floating in the water as a sign of fishing nets. She had asked what they were, and I told her that fishing nets are below them. I described that just like spiders have webs for catching insects, humans also have webs under the water for catching fish.

When we were sitting and eating, a man in a rowing boat came out behind the island in front of us, said hello, and started pulling up the nets. My 3-year-old said: ‘He is taking the fishwebs!’ I laughed at the funny but understandable word mix.

But then we saw there weren’t any fishwebs after all — they were crayfish traps. The man showed us a crayfish and told us where the good spots were. That was interesting to hear and watch. When he rowed away, we finished our eating. I drank my coffee and we paddled back to the home shore while the last rays of sunlights slipped behind the trees.

Fishing nets spotted!

Just before the cucumber accident.

Drifting to Sandwich Land.