A steady roar sounded in the woods. The tree canopy shimmered with traveling fixtures of light that bounced off transparent wings. I stood outside and took in the sights and sounds. Then I noticed someone on my shoulder.
On the south side of Chicago, I walked across snow-covered sand on an icy lakeshore. The ice that had formed where water met beach lowly creaked as water moved underneath it. The winter day was cold, but, thankfully, there was a lack of wind whose harshness would have only been magnified by traveling across Lake Michigan.