While walking along the Huron River last weekend, we found ourselves in one of those places that would probably prove a bit dodgy once the sun set but that in the late afternoon simply provided an image of nature and infrastructure in uneasy harmony. Much of the view from Amtrak’s Wolverine arrests my attention in the same way — the detritus of industry overlaid with fleeting glimpses of wildflowers and birds. I drove this time, but I think I will take the train again later this summer.

Today after chores, a long walk, main meal, and a short nap, I am settling into my favorite chair with the latest issue of The Atlantic to read Elizabeth Bruenig’s “Witness.” Beside me are Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Rosalind Rosenburg’s biography of Pauli Murray, Jane Crow. A long and dangerously hot weekend is forecast. Stay hydrated. Seek shade. And keep your cool.