End of summer is my favorite time for swimming. The sweaters come out. The air temperature may be dropping but the water is the warmest it’ll be till next year.

Silas and I have been staying close to home this year and so I’m visiting a summer past.

A few summers ago, I spent a week on an island in Lake Huron in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, close to the Canadian border. A friend I’d made on forest walks at a previous residency (ACRE in Wisconsin) invited me to a friends residency at her family’s cottage. There was little cell reception. No electricity. Big skies, lots of stars, sun, and swims.

I spent the time walking around the island, collecting rocks, watching the lake turn colors with the changing skies.

In the middle of the island was a small pond with a dock, perfect for those late summer swims. Here are some photos from that week: