The lake at the end of the day

After sitting at the computer much too long during the day, taking a walk at dusk along the lake is not only good for my muscles, but for my soul. Dusk is earlier, no longer almost 22:00 but closer to 20:00. It is not something I do daily, but enough. Knowing the lake is so close and is an option at any moment, is a sense of security.

The lake, like the ocean, has many moods, and the night this picture was snapped it was rocking the ducks trying to settle in for the night making them raise their heads often from under their wings. I often wonder if ducks can get seasick, and that, in itself, would make a great children’s story, The Seasick Duck. The sound of the waves was a regular slap, slap, slap as water hit the large stones. The boats bobbed. Other nights the water has been so still that it resembled a carpet ready to walk on, something I knew better than to try. It reminds me of one of my mother's favourite joke with Jesus walking on the water. He looks back at his disciples floundering behing and calls to them, "On the rocks, stupid."

The colder weather is a hint of the fall to come and I’m already thinking of Auer’s hot chocolate, roasted chestnuts, fuzzy socks and sweats.

But then a late summer day will put these desires into limbo, rather willingly for sandals, days in outdoor cafés, and walking with the sunshine warming my face.

This has been the summer that wasn't, with too many cool days, but least it comes as a complaint, give me cool to cold weather over heat any day. And give me a lake or ocean within walking distance.