 The path cut a narrow line through fir and head high salal, leaves glossy dark in the rain. We walked single file till the forest opened into a thin strip of prairie and rock above San Juan Channel. The islands across the water were soft gray against a gray sky. Below us, the tide ran in a fast river through the kelp beds. Two sea lions cruised up the channel, casual against the current. Gulls and harbor seals fished the kelp. The gulls paid us no mind. The seals watched us, a baby and two adults, with round, liquid eyes. We scrambled down the rocks to stand at the edge of deep water, looking in. One seal swam closer. We could see her fat, sleek body through the water, her dark speckled back, and the rust-orange wash across her pale belly. She swam parallel to our rock, and then looped around the other way. She twisted and spun, back and forth in the green water. We stood still in the rain and watched her dance for a long time. Every time she surfaced, she was facing us. She would tip her head slightly, to the right, and then to the left, like a human tipping water out of her ears, then roll back below the surface. Eventually, the others wandered away to explore up the coastline. I stood alone at the edge. The seal’s sleek head popped up, dark eyes on our rock. She looked at me and tipped her head, to the right, and then to the left. Then she slipped back under the rain pebbled water and swam away into the kelp. An audience of one was not enough. TODAY AT MARKET Red & White Oat & Honey Mountain Rye + Vollkornbrot Malted Chocolate Chip + Bittersweet Chocolate Cookies Oatmeal Scone Plum Cake Shortbread WEDNESDAY BREAD SUBSCRIPTION Red Wheat & Apple Mountain Rye Comments are closed.
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