yes, this places still exists in winter, although reduced ferry service and a wind that rattles the bones of the skeletal trees lining the beach certainly make it less accessible. and the sand is coarse and hard— the weight of too many ghosts has compressed it and the ice has cooled summer’s too-hot-to-stand-in dreams. but the pole we took turns throwing stones at still stretches from the sand and the spot we drifted to about twenty metres out still glistens from the sun and the memory of that moment . . .