<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><font color="#333333" face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" class="">The Carmel River </font><div class=""><font color="#333333" face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#333333" face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" class="">The Carmel is a lovely little river. </font><div class=""><font color="#333333" face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" class="">It isn’t very long</font></div><div class=""><font color="#333333" face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" class="">but in its course</font></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">it has everything a river should have. </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">It rises in the mountains, </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">and tumbles down a while, </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">runs through shallows, </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">is dammed to make a lake, </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">spills over the dam, </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">crackles among round boulders, </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">wanders lazily under sycamores, </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">spills into pools where trout live, </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">drops in against banks where crayfish live. </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">In the winter it becomes a torrent, </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">a mean little fierce river, </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">and in the summer it is a place for children to wade in </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">and for fishermen to wander in. </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">Frogs blink from its banks </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">and the deep ferns grow beside it. </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">Deer and foxes come to drink from it,</span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""> secretly in the morning and evening, </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">and now and then a mountain lion </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">crouched flat laps its water. </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">The farms of the rich little valley</span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""> back up to the river </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">and take its water </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">for the orchards and the vegetables. </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">The quail call beside it </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">and the wild doves </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">come whistling in at dusk. </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">Raccoons pace its edges looking for frogs. </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><font color="#333333" face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" class="">It’s everything a river should be.</font></div></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><font color="#333333" face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" class="">- John Steinbeck</font></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> (From “Cannery Row”)</div></body></html>