The bay was still, calm, flat, and warm this morning when Angie and I headed out at the Albany Bulb. The water was warm and swimming was so easy that we stayed out for over an hour.

Without meaning to (there was something orange bobbing in the water near the shore at the point and we had to investigate), we made it all the way to the point, a feat we haven’t accomplished since the water got cold in October. 

It was one of those days when ugliness mixes with beauty; when brownish air makes for a pastel, hazy view, and pinks and golds ripple in the silky water, marred by blobs of seaweed and occasional garbage.

The Albany Bulb itself is a testament to this mingling of what we think of as beautiful and that which we might usually avoid. It was a construction debris landfill site until 1984 and pieces of rebar and concrete slabs rise up from the wildflowers, adorned with spray paint or turned into sculpture. Junk turns into art and nature grows in and around all of it. According to Love the Bulb (a community-based non-profit started by our swimming friend, Susan Moffat) there are over 150 bird species at the bulb.

Swimming all the way to the point meant we got to see some of the art from the water, which is always fun.