a lazy afternoon

Dorothy and I were invited to lunch at the cabin of some friends. Their log cabin perches on a bluff overlooking the Illinois River, and we ate barbecued hamburgers and spent the afternoon sitting in lawn chairs and visiting as the Illinois flowed lazily below us. Vultures rose on the air currents above us, Red Tail Hawks stalked their prey from the heights, and herons glided just above the surface of the water on their way downstream. We watched as a young couple far below us slowly made their way down river in a bright orange raft. The girl soaked up the sun as her boy friend languidly propelled the raft while half in and half out of the water. It was unseasonably warm and the only sound was the wind blowing through the pine trees. We took a walk along a trail that led through a copse of flowering dogwood trees and out onto a rocky point where it seemed like you could see forever. Late in the afternoon our friends played a tape of owl calls and before long the biggest owl I've ever seen flew to a nearby tree where he proceeded to answer the calls while keeping us under close scrutiny. What an afternoon.