kayaking on the thames

morgana and her friend james went kayaking out in the bay at leigh-on-sea.

james' parents have a new dog named patsy, who looks very much like their old dog . .

named lily.

the fourth of july

 happy fourth of july! i missed being at sturbridge, like last year, but we enjoyed biking in the neighborhood and along the river.

first, greg and i drove morgana to her dance intensive this morning. she didn't have a holiday, and marymount college, where they're having the workshop, did not have their air conditioners running. the rooms were very steamy and uncomfortable. morgana's mouth has been having an allergic reaction to some citrus she ate in ice cream and mayonaise this past week, and the heat didn't help today. she was happy to finally come home and take a cool shower.
 

driving back home after dropping off morgana, the streets were quiet and it was easy finding a parking spot when we got back home. then we went to the river where chanda has been wanting to go kayaking . . 

 today she got her wish . . 

 it was a lot of fun being out on the hudson river . . kayaking takes a lot of arm muscle . . we worked hard for almost an hour. the breeze on the water was refreshing.

 we then went biking with greg. he decided to try out the citibike today. he said it takes some patience to wait for the access code, change bikes every 30 minutes, get a new access code . . etc. but the plus side for him if he gets a year's subscription, is that he can ride to work, park the bike, and not worry about anything. he can ride home again, or if it's raining, take the train. it's very convenient. on a yearly subscription, he gets to take the bike out for 45 minutes. it should take him a little less than that to get to work . . he would have a nice ride along the river.

 chanda and i had to wait several times while greg changed his bikes . .

 it was so hot. finally we cooled off at the park just south of stuyvesant high school. we call it "bucket park, " as the playground has buckets that fill with water and then dump on you. it feels great on a hot hot day, like today.

 at home we had shepherd's pie . . after being all cooled off from the park, i got pretty hot again making dinner and had to cool off again in the shower. i look forward to when we get our free "heat pump" which will also allow us to have an air conditioner. it would be nice to cool the apartment off on these hot days. our coop is replacing everyone's air conditioner models for a heat pump/air conditioner that is more energy efficient. they're free and even come with free installation. we won't say no to that . . 

 after dinner we walked south to site one to see the fireworks from the roof. 

 it was a beautiful sunset . . 

and the fireworks were spectacular.