September....Going, going, gone....?

After the heavy rain and generally dismal weather of the last several days put the kibosh on open-water swimming, I awoke this morning in the early-morning darkness heartened to find the stars shining through the remnants of the departing storm’s clouds...Carole and I happily made our way to the beach where the gradually lightening sky revealed windless conditions and a glasslike surface to the water..... Joined a short while later by Ken (Gae having overslept – for which she will undoubtedly kick herself from here to Tuesday), we made a langorous swim out to the buoy, enjoying a kaleidoscopic medley of pink- and blue-tinged sky-views along the way as the sun began to burn its way through the remaining clouds and mist.



Carole brought up the rear as Ken backstroked alongside me while I played the role of border collie, nipping at his flanks to keep him in line and on course. After the de rigueur but thoroughly enjoyable “buoy chat,” we headed back to the beach, aided by an outgoing tide. Toward the end of the return trip, I flipped over for a few minutes of backstroking alongside the Master...That fortuitous “Ken’s-eye-view” enabled us both to see the extraordinary sight of the just-risen sun emerging through a rainbow-haloed hole in the clouds...Of course by the time I swam to shore and dashed up the beach for my camera the rainbow had faded, but through some inexplicable quirk of the lens, my camera subsequently captured an image of a rainbow that none of us ever saw!



The window of sunshine that opened for us today is expected to close again tomorrow, with heavy rain likely through Thursday and perhaps into Friday, making today’s gift of a swim all the more precious. But the weekend is expected to be sunny, and with the water temperature still in the high 60's, this open-water season is still going strong....See you in the Salt – in October!