... The Skagit of course. Started my day by it, ended it by it. Another very hot day, I decided to attack boat scrubbing. We have two houseboats, so that can take quite a while to do both. I started today scrubbing and washing the Lady K, the wooden boat. I started with that one because it's the one that requires more work. But today was the day. Around 10 I started, and spent several hours on it. Once I'm on it, I LOVE boat scrubbing. You got to have the right weather for that. Since the heat was early, I saw no better way to cool off than fooling around with the deck brush and the water hose. Oh, the infinite pleasure of brushing off all that slime! I had forgotten how cute that boat is, when it's clean. Every now and then I'd hose myself to cool off, and I'd wet my hat to keep my head cool. What is it that humans like so much to play with water? As far as I'm concerned, it dates back from my childhood and teenage years in Tunisia, where the heat was so intense in summer, that back from the beach where I spent most of my day, I'd have a cool shower and that was a taste of pure paradise, the coooool shower in that concrete floored bathroom, with the window opened on to the sea. In my dad's family we're all "bent el'bhar", sons/daughters of the sea. I had an uncle there, uncle Mohsen, peace to his soul, who at the age of 80 still swam several miles in the Mediterranean daily, and we'd sometimes accompany him. He'd do it every day and if for some reason he couldn't, he felt bad, if not sick. That was his food: the sea. At 80, he had a very lean, but muscular, body, and he was as tanned as an old piece of leather. He'd go for his long, slow swim, summer and winter, no matter what the weather was like. My dad, even though he'd lived in France for so many years, was also a very good swimmer, even in his old age. He also had that very slow, beautiful swim.
Now I have one problem here: the Skagit river is SO cold, impossible to swim in it. Last year I did dip in it for a few seconds, and could not safely stay in, unless I wanted to end up on the frozen food shelves of the local market. VERY frustrating. When I went gunkholing I experienced that frustration too, the water was so nice, but too cold to swim in.
So I was content today to dip my legs in the river-briefly- and hose myself like a child would.
Then I went on shore to water the garden, and played with the hose again. Oh, the tonic splash of cold water on the legs! Then when time came to sit and read with an aperitif, it was still too hot, so I came back down the gangway to the dock, where it was shady and cooler, though still hot. Again today I sat, this time on the cool dock by the river, with my book, and would stop every now and then to listen to the endless concert of the birds. This time of year the Skagit is like the Amazon: Lots of green, thick green screening, and hundreds of birds all singing different songs. The river has taken its turquoise summer hue, and after all the steady snowmelt, it is now a slow, quiet flow. This is an enclave, a hidden Paradise, and I never forget it. No neighbors (a part fom our landlord, on shore). No intrusions: You got to know there is a marina here, and you'd still have to find it. No neighbors but the trees, birds, beavers, seals, river rats, and other critters. This is my Walden Pond.
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