Looking out across Waverly Lake on Oct. 13.
It was just a month ago that Waverly Lake in Albany was covered — much of it anyway — with thick mats of algae or maybe something else like duckweed. On Wednesday, Oct. 13, almost all of that unsightly growth had disappeared.
This change was not at all unexpected. On the contrary, it happens just about every year
During the warm and dry months of summer, the pond water gets more and more tepid, and algae and other water plants take over.
As soon as it gets cooler and it starts raining again, the pond’s surface starts looking clearer. There’s still a lot of growth right below the surface, but at least the little lake looks a lot more like a lake instead of a swamp.
Why make a big deal about it? It’s not a big deal. It’s just what I happened to notice on a bike ride around town between showers one afternoon this week. (hh)
And in case the other shot wasn’t enough, here’s another one.
Nice
The author writes, with delicious irony:
“As soon as it gets cooler…the pond’s surface starts looking clearer. There’s still a lot…right below the surface..”
Is this a metaphor for the current state of the Albany social/political scene?
Is the forward-looking facia of Albany just “looking clearer,” but dreadfully,
“There’s still a lot…right below the surface..”?
Hasso is not precise in his assessment…more along the lines of informed conjecture and foreshadowing. But Hering’s analysis, metaphoric or otherwise, is a clarion call for Albany residents who value substance over style. In the case of Waverly Lake, style seems ascendent. Let us hope Waverly Lake is not an adumbration for the larger community.
“Adumbration” was a nice word choice. Hardly ever used…
Adumbration
Interesting word that.
One root deals with shadow (umbra)
Another root deals with into (ad)
Extended meanings
Foreshadow, overshadow, unclear outline
Hasso, Waverly Lake is not a pond. A pond is a body of water with no inlets or outlets. Waverly lake has both an inlet and and outlet. There is water coming in from Swan Lakes and leaving on the other side to be discharged into the river.