the country life

greg and i drove two hours upstate to see our friend kendall in her new house that she's had for about two years now. the house is named after it's prior owner, dr. bird.

 

 it was so peaceful lying in the heat, listening to the woodpecker hammering in the maple tree and the leaves stirring in the light breeze, the chipmunks chirping busily (sometimes angrily) and the fly buzzing around my head.

 dinner was so good: grass fed beef burgers mixed with onions and parsley, roasted corn on the cob, roasted zucchini, garlic snapes and onions, and an heirloom tomato salad with goat cheese and fresh basil.

 morning walk . .

we saw this fellow sitting on top of a neighbor's mailbox . .

 
good-bye until next time.

london update

in june, morgana made an excursion to hadleigh castle, east of london on the thames estuary. you can see the castle in the center of this photo, way off in the distance. according to wikipedia, it was built after 1215, during the reign of henry iii, by hubert de burgh, 1st earl of kent, justiclar of england (a medieval term for prime minister).

 the path leading to its tower . .

  it's a stone ruin now, though protected by english heritage trust . . 

 and was once a sizeable fortification to protect against a possible attack from france.

 while she was there, she came across a sign commemorating general william booth, founder of the salvation army along with his wife, catherine, and explaining the working farm they have in hadleigh. this was important news for me as i always thought the salvation army was founded in the u.s.

back on the boat: one day she called me while transporting her laundry on a cart to the laundrette. it sounded like a long way to go . . she had to cross the highway and walk twenty minutes to a place on st. stephen's road. this hike took her along the roman road (sounds very ancient and romantic), which has an open market on thursdays, saturdays, and tuesdays. unfortunately, i think it was a sunday evening.

i think these pics were taken the day after wash day. she was happy there was sunshine.

one day she received a vegetable box. 

broccoli, carrots, cabbage, onions, endive, fava beans . . 

and cucumbers . . it looks like a good meal.

mama duck and her ducklings . . 

the lymehouse mooring . . 

off to the cafe now . . 

to sit and write and drink cappuccinos until . .

 her friend deychen finally arrived for a visit.

 breakfast at a cafe directly across from the boat one morning.

 steering the boat along the canal to a new mooring . .

 museum visits . . 

 

 at the tate, i think.

in hyde park, overlooking christo's barrel pyramid which you can read about here.

a beautiful view with the millennium bridge and st. paul's . . and another haircut . .

a jedi birthday

from korrina . .

sunday travels

 i often think that madeline is the most comfortable living creature in this apartment.

 chanda spent a few days at a friend's lakeside cottage, and is now getting ready to fly to sarasota for a week's ballet intensive.

 we stopped in the car outside the rite aid drug store so she could get a travel size toothpaste . . doesn't everyone leave a package of granola on top of their bicycle seat?

(greg was talking about the weather in florida . . )

 driving through the canyons of nyc on a very hot summer's day . . 

 la guardia airport is all torn up as they're putting in a new parking garage . . i think. they're doing something! they actually had good directions on where to go for one's terminal, and also several people outside helping out and welcoming people to new york! this is risky. it'll give people the impression that we're actually nice.

almost forgot a good-bye pic . . she's heading down the ramp to security . .

 i love this view of the empire state building and the city driving west along the long island expressway . .