Surf

Not in Maine yesterday for the big waves. We left Saturday noon just as the ocean was stirring itself -after a long period of very calm seas - in response to Hurricane Bill. For much of this month we could have been living on a lake somewhere in the country's interior: no surf, hot temps, little breeze. But then it's been a strange summer all along, from the deluges in June to unsettled lives in July and early August, and now as summer finishes, my mother will come to visit and my daughters will travel to France.

I would have liked the shore yesterday. The power of the water is stirring. Big waves seem to bring a message from the ocean: "This is what I do, I am alive and powerful." To me this is comforting. A still ocean is more frightening than a rolling one. As long as it's flexing and bending and moving, I don't really think about doldrums and emptiness. I think about life, even though it can be dangerous.