A cloudless sky overhead and windless air resting heavily on the earth, today provided a wonderful excuse to enjoy a long walk.  Temperatures hovered around 54° F (12° C) by the time I left home at 10:30 this morn.  Despite a blanket of haze draped over the world from too much sun, too little wind, and way too many humans, I found myself lost in the roaming, adrift for hours as I floated around the lake from spot to spot.

I had my camera with me but did not focus on photography.  My mind wandered to and fro just as my body did.  Nevertheless, I returned to the spot where I started with a healthy load of pictures.  I’ll share some of them here and will share others in the future.

As I crossed the new footbridge spanning the north point of the lake, I found myself beguiled with an ordinary sight in these parts: a kayak and its operator making their way from shore to deeper waters.

Even the ripples he sent out with his activity could not disturb the stillness.  Try though he might, his impact remained small, much as he seemed as he pressed further on, further ahead, and away.

Nature seemed intent on muffling his disturbance.  His diligent paddling caused little upset to the serenity carefully placed around us.

Like the distant shore cloaked in climate’s shroud, I watched as the kayak became a blur and more mundane as it moved away.  With no wind to displace the contaminants that hung heavy in the air, things far became things obscured, and eventually, in the distance, clumsy brush strokes ruined the painting altogether.  What a shame…

So I continued on my way.

The smallest of things intrigued me, I found.  My feet carried me along the shore as my eyes feasted on this and that.  Ay, plenty of wildlife was to be seen, yet I felt no compulsion to focus on it.  Instead, I focused on the moment, on being in that place.

Nothing seemed to disturb the watery vista laid carefully before me.  I could find little evidence of waves on this day.  The calm tranquility filled me to the core.  I felt like a reed held gently by motionless hands.

No matter how far I walked—and it was quite far—I never felt rushed.  With too many souls to count busying themselves with this and that, hurrying to grab a bit of exercise or to try enjoying a rushed meal, I walked among them invisible and silent.  They appeared alien to me.  What a waste of a glorious opportunity to enjoy being instead of doing.  To enjoy reflecting…