We are on Bainbridge Island appreciating the nature. We are reveling in the natural air conditioning of the respiring trees and the fresh ocean air. Looking back over the pearlescent water of Puget Sound, Seattle and Mt. Rainier look like a mirage. 

Today we kept cool by walking through the water. We crossed Rolling Bay on foot, wading sometimes knee deep. Our “path” carpeted with sea lettuce, eel grass, kelp crabs, and soft sand. The water and the breeze keeping us refreshed as we walked over the tide flats at a midday -0.5 low tide. We watched as an osprey  first fished with their eyes, getting into position, and then dove impressively straight down, disappeared into the water and popped back up, successful in catching a fish. Awesome!

We got to comparing “hottest ever” notes. Greg had the bottoms of his Birkenstock sand led melt off in Los Paz, Mexico when he set his feet down on the pavement from the seat of his motorcycle. Julie witnessed seagulls actually panting from heat in Potholes, WA. I’m not sure what my hottest hot experience has been thus far. Lake get heat rash, or prickly heat” fairly often these days so it normalizes it. It’s common for infants because their sweat glands aren’t fully developed, though not a normal physiology for adults. I remember having heat rash at Turtle Bay Resort in India at Christmas. And that was right on the water. Working in West Texas one summer (1995) in the Guadeloupe National Park, we were always laughing about the perpetual weather report. 

Sunny with highs in the low 100’s. 

And we had to wear helmets, long sleeve work shirts, long pants and leather gloves and work boots. That might have been the hottest, and every day the same. I couldn’t drink enough water. Not being able to drink enough water remains a constant these days. Lake drinks it all off me. 

Lake is stalwart through it all. Enjoying his air time. Developing heat rash. Walking through the water. Simple in his needs, always open for taking in his environment. He is easygoing company. A perfect summer day.