Salty Veins

Yesterday on the steam out to the West Grounds, I spotted a black, shiny round thing bobbing on the water's surface. At first I dismissed it as a dirty, algae-covered buoy, but the second time I looked, I realized it was a seal. It glided through the water effortlessly, probably curious about what we were doing. Then Cap accelerated to full throttle and the seal's head dove followed by the smooth curve of its back and it disappeared out of sight.

I'm glad to see the seals back. I enjoy their company in the summer months. They are sweet, playful, and curious about human activity. And they remind me of my black lab, Liza, who we had to put down last July. That girl took to water just like a seal. Her head even resembled the shape and shininess of a seal's bald head when she swam. Liz and I used to swim together in Back Cove in the summer. She'd swim alongside me, puffing gently out of her nostrils from the exertion, both of us smiling contentedly. There's nothing that she and I liked better in the summer heat than taking a refreshing dip in the ocean. Simple pleasures.

In fact, I've been known to swim almost every day in the Cove during the summer months. Last summer I wasn't down there much, because my job was SCUBA diving, and I'd had enough time in the water by the end of the day. However, in previous years, especially on hot stuffy days of cleaning my parents' cottages, I so looked forward to that icy splash at the end of the dock. The fishermen used to say that my shiny dark head of hair looks like a seal's head when it's slicked back from the saltwater. I'd be swimming along and the boys would say from the dock "Look it's a seal! Oh no, it's just Katherine swimming."

I look forward to that cleansing dip at the end of a hard summer day's work. There is something so pure, so re-energizing, and so buoyant about immersion in saltwater. Freshwater simply doesn't compare in the scalding July heat. As a warm-blooded Mainer who doesn't do well in heat, I have to have the ocean within earshot in case of emergency so that I can run and jump in when I overheat. But then again, I don't do well far from the ocean any time of year. It nourishes my soul.