What we did this Summer

 So here it is.  The last day of the Summer Holidays.  Tomorrow is Fall Semester for Thomas, Jami AND Simon.  Thomas is actually in Ann Arbor, meanwhile we're taking/teaching solely online.  So where did the time go?  If Jami could ever spare the time she'd tell you about the classes she took and taught this Summer.  Meanwhile, Frederick and I went walking and swimming every day.  Where did we go?  Well, we had favorite spots.  There was Holly Recreation Area, which features three lakes.  Here we are (20th July) about to get into Valley Lake:

And we swam through the channel into Wildwood Lake

And here (July 23rd) we're swimming entirely in Wildwood Lake, which has an island that makes me think of the island in Life of Pi, because it's built on rubbery water lily roots:

 

Then there were the many delights of Seven Lakes state park, of which we sampled Sand Lake probably most often (because it was deeper than most lakes we found, and thus not clogged with weeds, an unfortunately common feature of Michigan Lakes - one lake we tried once was so shallow that we rubbed our knees raw on the rubbery weeds just a foot or so below the surface.  It was also by a campground (picture from August 7th) 

so we got to hear about the many legends of the lake, such as that there is (a) a digger and (b) a bus somewhere below the surface.  What is certainly true is that there is one place shallow enough to stand up in right near the center and it's fun trying to find it.) [July 21st]

July 26th:

Then there's "Big Seven" lake, which we have swum across many times before, but only in the same place.  If you look at this handy map:

...the route we've always swum in the past was from 1 to 2 (red numbers).  But this Summer we swam all over, from or two each of the seven red numbers.  Common routes were 5 to 6 (easy) or 5 to 7 (more adventurous), 4 to 6 (easy) 4 to 7 or 3 to 6 (less lazy) and 1 to 7 or vice versa.  Here I think we're swimming from 1 to 7 (July 22nd):

Here's the view from where we parked, which is by the white number 4:

Here (July 31st) is just off the island between the red 3 and 7):

And here, at the red 6, with our new (August 11th) float that could be carried deflated in the backpack on the way there, because it didn't need much air to fill it:

 

Here where the path meets the lake at the red 7 (August 22nd):

Then there was the little beach at Teeple Lake at Highland Recreation Area.  Not for the major swims possible in the others, but just to cool off in after a nice walk, in this case on July 29th:

Finally, there was Lake Minnawanna in Metamora-Hadley Recreation Area (here on August 10th)

...and August 21st:

And very occasionally (like August 6th), it wouldn't be quite hot enough for a swim, so we would trot off to the Shiawassee bird reserve, where there's a lot of water, but none for humans:

Or we'd visit Highland just for the walk, like way back on May 30th:

Or June 14th:

...but of course we'll be doing THAT year round.