Beach, end of September

We have had week of superb weather here in northeasternmost Illinois.  Cloudless sky, warm days, cool nights.  

 We went to the beach this afternoon.  The surf was up!  It looks more like the ocean than Lake Michigan. 

There has been a tremendous amount of beach erosion this year. You can see the difference with this driftwood log, which I photographed in June: here  It is now nearly in the water. 

I looked up "beach erosion" and found this :  The Illinois coast of Lake Michigan is a dynamic setting influenced by waves, ice and changing lake levels. The potential for coastal erosion exists along nearly the entire Illinois coast.   
Two aspects of coastal erosion along the Illinois coast are important as a framework for understanding past, present and future erosional trends.  
Prior to any human modifications, the natural setting along the Illinois coast was nearly all erosional. There was an abundant supply of littoral sand moving along the shore. However, this sand was in transport to a depositional zone along the central Indiana coast. The exception to the erosional trends was the southern part of the Zion beach-ridge plain from near the mouth of Dead River southward to the North Chicago shoreline. This was the state’s only accretional shore. The accretion resulted from the southward translation of the beach-ridge plain.
Meanwhile, back in the beach ridge woods:  asters are in their glory!