Harpswell and the Seal

      This past week, I have been visiting Harspwell, Maine.  It is one of my favorite places to visit.  I love the magnificent sea, Maine’s rocky beautiful craggy coastline.

My daughter and her husband joined me.  It was truly wonderful.  Family time is precious.  We love just sitting by the sea wall, and taking in the sunshine.

I usually stop by the Giant’s Stairs,  a beautiful trail that overlooks Casco Bay,  and has rock formations that indeed do look like Giant’s Stairs.   With wonder, I take in the breathtaking view and  and relish this geographic novelty.   As I was leaving the trail, a little boy ran ahead of me, being careful to step around me. I figured he was running ahead to catch up with his parents.  But  he stopped ahead and said to me, “Look, a seal”-  It was a seal, but it was dead.  “Oh,” I said.  “That’s kind of sad”. “It’s big, ” I added.

I noticed the seal  seemed to have a red   X mark on it, probably for scientific study.  I wondered about that seal. Had it died of natural causes? Or had it eaten something bad due to human’s folly?  I’ll never know.  But, I do hope the seal had a good life.