This little movie was made on Saturday morning. I was the only one on the beach. It was a warm, grey, sultry and rather calm morning, the calm before the storm. There were no boats at the time. It was just me and Lake Superior. Today, Anne and I unpacked. It doesn’t sound like much, but it took most of the day to accomplish what we did. I guess in this way you could call this day my first real retirement day, “I don’t know what I did, but it took all day to do it.” Anne and I walked to lunch at Saint Louis Bread Company (Panera) and then on to the grocery store, where we shopped for ingredients to make Jane’s Chicken Enchiladas tonight. We’ll let you know how it turns out.

In other Great Lakes news: About 1,500 Americans floating down the St. Clair River that separates the US from Canada had to be rescued from the water when strong rains and winds sent them illegally into Canadian territory, the Canadian coast guard said on Monday. The Americans were taking part in the annual Port Huron Float Down on Sunday, between Michigan and Ontario. The winds blew the flotilla of inflatable rafts and inner tubes off course and toward the Canadian shore. Some rafts deflated, spurring a rescue effort by the Canadian Coast Guard, which said, “They were terrified of entering another country without documentation. No one carries their passport or any ID, and a lot were drinking alcohol.” Some tried to swim back to the United States. “We had to pull a lot of people out of the water and say ‘no,'” the Canadian spokesman said. The Americans were gathered at Sarnia, Ontario, and bussed back to the United States by the city’s public transit. News reports say that the event has no official organizer and poses “significant and unusual hazards” due to the river’s fast-moving current and participants’ lack of life jackets. A Facebook page associated with the event later thanked the Canadians.

Over the years, we’ve helped a couple of small parties of Canadians in distress, who’s boat either ran out of gas or fouled its engine with rocks. We were glad to do it. We’re neighbors after all. I guess that this event significantly slides the debt into their favor now.