Earth Image Photography, Nature Photography, My Summer Office

3:10 p.m.-

A few trendy maples are starting to turn color, messengers of change stealthed in from the north. Dollops of sumac tinged with pale yellow are dress rehearsing. The deerflies are done.

A few minutes ago, rounding fast through a curve I surprised many men and women in a tubby pontoon. A man was peeing off the side, straight toward us. Watching us approach, he appeared unreservedly drunk. His friends grinned wide and waved. EZ, the only sober female in this encounter, saw his male member, blushed, and turned away immediately.

Mr. Zik and his wife are tied to their usual dead tree in the middle of the wide main river. He and another couple are drifting in floater seats thirty feet downstream of their pontoon, umbilical ropes holding them there. A bright red cooler surrounded by an inner tube floats nearby. And the sun shines warm.

"I haven't seen you for a few weeks. Figured for sure summer was over."

"I looked my partner in the eye around eleven o'clock this morning and said, 'I'm outta' here!' This might be the last chance and I don't want to miss it."

6:35 p.m.-

I sigh and submit to the wind's edgy chill, pick up the sweatshirt, then look at the sun beginning to re-emerge from a cloud-bank, say "no I won't" and throw it back down.