Aaaaaahh, a Day to Savor in the Heat Wave's Wake

Marbleheaders exhaled relief Sunday after a week of oppressively hot weather.
They awakened, rose and stretched, ready for a dry, mild morning and afternoon, a day-long yawn with slow walks and naps in chaise lounges. All in the shade. A hammock day.
Families relaxed at Devereux Beach, babies tucked beneath canopies, the tumbling surf unrolling against the sand, seagulls calling for scraps and bathers waist-deep in 60-degree water. Not a bead of sweat to be seen.
Lifeguard supervisor Gail Davidson said beach-goers were ready for a peaceful Sunday after the draining heat the last seven days. Attendance was up Sunday, at least over the days she worked last at Devereux earlier in the week.
Across the street at Riverhead Beach, friends hauled out long boards to paddle in the harbor's calm water amid moored sailboats.
Miles away on West Shore Drive, Rhodes Berube was the exception.
He spent the day brushing and rolling white stain on his newly installed Nantucket Picket fence outside his family's new home.
He worked in the shade, his dog, a beagle, kept him company resting in the yard just inside the fence.
By 3 p.m. Rhodes still had a ways to go to before he finished the front of the fence. His advice for prospective fence painters: invite friends over. Many hands lighten the labor.
Up the street and over at the Marblehead Animal Shelter the cats were in mid-afternoon snooze mode, too.
In cage after cage they lay curled and stretched napping easily in the pleasant afternoon, temperatures hovering around the mid-70s.
It was a day made in the shade, for humans and animals. A day to savor.