I woke up way too early again today -- nearby construction equipment at 6:30-7am, followed by sunshine turning my tent into a microwaved hot pocket by 7-7:30. Even with everything open, I was sweltering. As opposed to freezing, which I was the night before! LOL!

So since i was awake & sleepy, and didn't have to work until 10, I put on a bathing suit instead of clothes (thinking it seemed like a hot day) and drove the 7 or so miles to Echo lake. I sought out the "nudist" ledges, but found a well-marked park trail and some fully-clothed tourists instead. The ledges were in the shade anyway, so weather they were the "right" ledges or not, I didn't go in. Instead I went to the tourist beach at the south end of the lake.... and promptly discovered that it was not hot, calm, and sunny -- at Echo lake it was cool and windy, with more clouds than sun. The waves (on a LAKE!) were 1/2 to 1 foot high, really tough to swim in! Some wind, huh?

So I looked around. One woman sat in a chair on the beach, reading. She was wearing a jacket. Always optomistic, I was in my bathing suit. Another woman, armed with nets and jars, was cautiously approaching a stand of trees & brush. She pulled out two pieces of plastic, and captured a bee in a little petri dish! So I asked her what she was doing. She was a pollination expert from U Maine, studying bee pollination in Acadia. We talked a bit. Yes, bees throughout the US are declining, largely due to mites in their trachea and another mite ... i forget now. But many commercial products could soon be in trouble.

She invited me to visit her in Orono. Guess not too many people ask about bee-collectors!

I wandered off to the water. It was cold. The wind was only slightly colder. After a long cautious saunter into the water, I dove in, and swam for a few minutes in the chilly waters.

I have this theory that choppy waters are so chaotic, have so much movement and energy, that the -- umm... is it dipole-dipole bonds? -- in the water are shaken loose and it becomes less viscous. Because it feels like you swim forever and get nowhere pushing against the choppy waters like that! I wonder. I did better diving down and swimming near the bottom. But it was a short chilly swim, and then I changed and headed to work. Where it was already hot.

Actually got to work just exactly on time for a change! Then it was suddenly so busy that poor M. had to stay a half hour late anyway.