sunday night jam session

and then dinner!

sunday at the lake

today everyone relaxed at the lake . .

swimming, canoeing . .

. . and fishing! adam likes to fish and the girls had fun learning how to cast and reel in . .

chanda went off on her own and practiced for quite some time.

they used lures for bait, which is what i noticed a few other people were using as well. no one caught anything today, however.

canoeing with uncle warren . . he got to sit and navigate.

just taking it easy . .

gillette castle and an evening bonfire

uncle warren was on holiday today, it being saturday, so we traipsed off to gillette castle with our bicycles. after biking around the grounds for a bit, and having a picnic overlooking the connecticut river, we watched "all the comforts of home," a drawing room comedy written by william gillette. it was free, and was performed outdoors by the east haddam stage company. it was delightful, and thankfully only twenty minutes long (having been adapted from it's original four acts by a member of the company). it was very warm out, and some of the older members of the audience found sitting out in the heat a bit soporific (cough, cough); having the play be only twenty minutes long was a wise choice.

after the play, we hiked down the hill to the water.

there's a small ferry that shuttles cars back and forth. we've taken it a few times and it's a fun trip across the river. today we just watched it's journey back and forth, and watched other boaters who were out tubing in the river and swimming along the bank.

in the evening, adam made a bonfire in the firepit . . which was once was home to the above ground pool! we do miss swimming in it, but we really enjoyed the fire. kathy picked up milk and dark chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows for s'mores. they were delicious . . and i was able to toast my two marshmallows to a brown perfection! they tasted so good with the chocolate and cookies. they were the best s'mores i'd ever had.

friday at the aquarium

we left early this morning for mystic aquarium. it was a good day, not too hot, with some clouds. we also had a coupon from the library for three dollars off each ticket, which was nice.

these photos were taken along the marsh trek, which isn't labeled as being an exhibit (!), but was one of my favorite parts of the aquarium. observing water lilies, tadpoles, turtles and frogs always interests me.

i love watching the turtles swim through the water with their little heads poking through the surface of the pond, and laying on logs or lily pads, sunbathing.

there were many exhibits inside. one was about florescent fish at night and in the deep.

this is a lionfish, originally found in the Indo-Pacific, but now an invasive species along the US east coast.

touching the stingrays . .

. . or attempting to touch them. i didn't. but i did touch one of the small sharks.

at the touch tanks for the sting rays. m and c enjoyed this part.

we had a great time and learned about the nautilus live (a group of scientists who explore the ocean and broadcast live about their work), penguins, and beluga whales.

we also saw the california sea lion, and the steller sea lion. steller sea lion males can weigh between 1200 and 2500 pounds, females around 660 pounds. they range in the northern pacific from china, up through the bering sea and alaska, and down again to the western states. their numbers have significantly dropped in their alaskan range. the california sea lion is the common sea lion usually seen in zoos and marine shows, and off the santa cruz pier, where greg and i saw them years ago. they're smaller in size (females at 220 pounds and males at 850 pounds) and range from alaska down to mexico.

we ended the day walking around the shops across the street, especially the norwegian store, bestemors, where i bought a few small trays with copies of paintings by carl larsson as gifts for friends at home. aunt kathy also treated us to ice cream cones!

late night card game

we played a few rounds of may i with aunt kathy, uncle warren and adam. i felt tired and wasn't faring well, but m and c hung in there, though i think adam won the few rounds we played.

after swimming . .

sitting around reading in aunt kathy's cozy chairs is always a favorite afternoon activity after a morning spent swimming in the lake.

or lying on the bed reading funny cartoons in jason's room . .

and swinging in the hammock . .

jack is very good at relaxing all day.

at lake terramugus

chanda began her swimming lessons yesterday. now each morning we're out at the lake by 8:45 am. she practices her strokes and works on her endurance by doing laps for the forty minute class. for the last five minutes, or less, they usually tread water.

it's wonderful to be sitting out by the lake, reading and knitting.

chanda's favorite place in which to sit and eat lunch.

a jewelry making workshop at the library

there was a jewelry making workshop this evening at the library. the woman who ran the workshop is a talented jeweler, and enjoyed showing the girls how to make earrings, bracelets and necklaces. she was also wonderfully generous with all her beads. morgana and chanda had fun making different jewelry sets for friends, themselves and korrina. it was a fun night.

in connecticut

greg saw us off this morning to connecticut. he's staying home with korrina who is supposed to be in rehearsal as stage manager for an HB play, but it may be cancelled. we had a good drive up, and arrived in the late afternoon. the air is wonderful, and i love hearing all the birds and crickets and cicadas.

the (short) date and the playwright (and the heat wave breaks)

before heading over to the beckett theatre on 42nd street, between dyer avenue and ninth avenue, greg and i stopped at westway diner for a short "date." thirty minutes, actually. he's been reading anna karenina, and i've been reading a series of mystery novels that takes place in venice (in addition to studying maps and tour books, travel books and other non-fiction books about venice). i also had my knitting, which i had been working on in the car, so it's not like i expected to sit in the diner and read and knit and talk to greg. i expected to read and eat and talk to greg. instead i took pictures and talked to greg. and i ate. i had a chicken salad sandwich of which i ate half and of which the other half is now sitting in our refrigerator (our NEW refrigerator, as our OLD refrigerator was no longer keeping food cold and everything was rotting . . ). greg and the playwright. korrina works with the MCC youth company; part of the MCC theatre begun by a group of actors, writers and directors in 1986. she's part of the playwriting lab which she auditioned for two years ago. it's a free program for nyc youth who get to work with professional artists to gain experience with writing, and acting in their own productions. her teacher is lucy thurber, whose expertise and thoughts she appreciates, and whose exuberance she loves dearly. korrina's play was wonderful. afterwards, she joined the actors for a discussion of the process with the audience, facilitated by her teacher. it was great to see her up on stage. she looked so grown up and capable; a young person really getting to work hard on something that means so much to her. it was really special to be there. where are we here? on rockaway! we met morgana and chanda with lizette and joe and sami at plum tomato, an italian restaurant on beach 129th street. (korrina traipsed off with her friends). when greg and i saw what lizette was having, we had to have one of that too: salad with goat cheese, beets, pear and raspberry vinagrette. and what's this . . . ???? an italian pastry cafe! conveniently located across the street from the restaurant! i tell you, rockaway is the place to be . . we had espresso and our favorite italian butter cookies filled with jam! we had the best time at a neighborhood cafe with neighborhood people who come up to you and say, "hey, let me take a picture of all of you!"

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so that's it for me for two weeks. we're off to connecticut for chanda's swimming lessons. greg and korrina will be holding down the fort and taking care of the cats (korrina begins rehearsal for an HB show for which she is stage managing). jack comes along with us. oh! and we're all happy tonight because the temperature has dropped and it's a balmy 78 degrees with a "real feel" of 85 degrees and we can sleep comfortably. all the pets are breathing more easily and not looking quite so torpid (as are we!).