It was a Friday evening in late September. Summer was starting to peel away from Vermont, replaced by longer nights and the promise of apple picking. We had planned to take the kayaks out on Lake Champlain in this last stretch of warm weather, but the day had gotten away from me as I ran from one task to the next, and soon the sun had sunk dangerously close to the horizon. Nevertheless, with a flurry of life jackets and paddles, I managed to push students off into Eagle’s Bay into the last gasps of sunset.