Ahh, autumn on Shiraishi Island when I wake up to quacking ducks paddling around in the port in front of my house waiting for me to open the Duck Cafe.

After feeding the ducks their moldy breakfast, I linger and watch the activity in the port. The wildlife gets wilder every day. The elegant blue herons stand in water up to their ankles, carefully stalking their prey. Must be nice to be able to eat sashimi three meals a day. No wonder those birds are so healthy! After all, you've never heard of a bird getting cancer, have you? And the blue heron's healthy diet probably contributes to their beauty. Maybe we should be taking our beauty tips from animals. Those herons sure have a nice set of legs.

The bora fish are busy jumping out in the deeper water. Bora in English means "mullet fish" perhaps because of their hair cuts. They swim below the surface, gain speed, and jump three to four times in a row in the manner porpoises do, except bora have long, stiff bodies so they jump out of the water at an angle and belly flop. I used to wonder why these fish were always jumping, but after careful observation, I've figured it out: They're curious. They want to see what's going on above the water. The other fish are content to swim around in ignorant bliss, but the bora want to know what all the noise and ruckus is up there making all the waves. Or maybe they just want a suntan.