This is me in a boat. We are on holiday in France and our house is next to a lake. For a week we have waited to take to the water because all sorts of other things needed to be done first. But now that we have been to all the beaches, hiked through the mountains, bought French stuff and covered just about the whole island in our rental, there is no more putting this off.
It is a gorgeous day. You can tell by the sheer amount of light in the picture, the sun reflecting from the water, the clouds, my hat. The chances of sinking in this weather are slim, but Marianne is jittery nonetheless. She's in front, letting me do the rowing and I stay close to the side because I promised. It took me a while to talk her into this.
Now that we're on the water, we can see how isolated the village is. In the middle of the mountains, the newspapers arrive in the afternoon and our cell phones get no reception. Which makes even a harmless trip like this one slightly dangerous, I'll give her that. But come on, we are on holiday and after all, didn't we pick the house because of the lake? Turn around, I said, take a shot of me and the boat. She lifted the camera over her shoulder and took one in the blind, which is why the boat will forever remain anonymous. We rowed a bit more and turned around when my arms got tired.
Because Marianne used our digital camera, it is possible to pinpoint the exact time that this picture was taken. It is september 11, 2001, 2:39 pm. In New York, it is 8:39 am, with the first plane six minutes from Manhattan.