To the lake and back

The deck was still cold when I lifted the drone off the railing. Seven o’clock. The hill was in shadow, and two miles below, the lake sat under a lid of inversion fog. I sent it out and let it fall with the land. Sugar maples had gone to brass and fire, oaks held a deeper red, and the pines stayed green along the gradual slope to the lake below. The early sun caught the upper canopy with deep shaded areas under the trees. The lake was covered the fog slowly rising from the warming sun. I held just above the mist and followed it until Readfield showed on the far side—roofs, the white steeple, a truck already moving past the corner store. I turned there and pointed the drone back uphill. The climb was the same trees seen from underneath, the gold walking up the slope ahead of it. The house was now in View higher up on the hill surrounded by green meadows, the hillside was lit, red and yellow and the permanent green of the Pines. Heading for the Driveway. The drone made an easy landing. Down in the valley the fog would hold another hour. Round-trip, 4 miles in ten minutes