An unprecedented beauty on the lake this morning. The pink cherry blossoms at their most embellished against an early royal blue sky. Micropockets of fog hugged groups of vertical things: The city Bellevue and the lavish boats clustered in tiny marinas were glamorous in misty boas, their glass and metal jewelled in the bright morning light.

It was bright—the shock of sunshine saturated hues; it burned the grass, recalling the nighttime moisture in sheets of smoke; and it cast flaxen reflections that swam among the trees along the shoreline.