This week has been hot for the Adirondacks. Not as hot as downstate, of course, but temperatures in the 80's feel hot to me. I'm not accustomed to temperatures in the 90's with 80 percent humidity. When I get hot, it's easy to hit the water around here – 3,000 ponds and lakes, most with public access.
Since I had the 4th of July off, I threw (well, lugged, grunted and hoisted) the kayak onto the roof carrier and went to the local put-in. There are plenty of places to launch paddle crafts, more than for motorized boats.
There was a sporadic breeze and the sun played in and out of the clouds. Dragonflies rested on my boat before moving on to hunt smaller insects. Something I couldn't identify must have been in bloom on the shores because a sweet fragrance was blown to me again and again. A turtle plopped into the water belatedly – I had nearly passed him by with silent strokes of my paddle. For a while I drifted with my feet dragging in the water. There were other paddlers out (It was a holiday, after all.), but I let them pass me until I could no longer hear their chatter.
Ahhhhhh . . . .  Mere air conditioning doesn't have the advantage of water-based cooling with meditation.

Author: Ann Melious moved to Hamilton County from the Hudson Valley in 2011 to become Director of the County Office of Economic Development and Tourism. She lived in the Adirondacks for 20 years before going to the Hudson Valley.