Rock Island Geese

We've often had Canada Geese use our little island as a nesting site. It's got lots of advantages--protected from the wind, gets lots of warming sun, fairly high so it's easy to see intruders, etc.

Sue took the canoe out on a beautiful sunny morning during the Memorial Day weekend and got some good close-up pictures of this year's nest. It's amazing how well camouflaged the mother is as she's lying on the nest with her head down. We won't be able to get back to the cabin until late June, so we'll probably miss hatching time.

beauty, dust and rain

Those were the three key elements to yesterdays outing to the Taj Mahal.  But it was worth every minute of it.  the city of Agra is about 4 hours from Delhi, in very interesting highway.  Once we were out of the main stretch in Delhi it got smoother, but it was not uncommon to see carts being pulled by humans, cow, and camels all in the same stretch.

However walking through the gate into the gardens was truly a moving experience.  we went all out with it as well, complete with the "tourist" photographer.  we didn't really want him to take out pictures, but he kept posing us and taking them.  It turned into such a funny experience that we did end up buying the photos after all.  

But things changed when we were leaving the Taj.  we were supposed to go to the Agra Fort, but the weather told us otherwise.  when we returned to our car (not driven by us)  the skies turned orange and menacing, and within seconds the winds kicked up and we were engulfed by sand.  Which after 20 minutes turned into pouring rain.  and with no sign of letting up, we called it a day and made out trek back to Delhi.

Oh Crepe!!

well Amanda and I have successfully run around Paris and did about as much as we could cram in, while still trying to relax.  The weather was fantastic, really sunny and warm, which made it that much more tempting to sit outside in the parks.

London has been great as well.  We were fortunate to witness a secret graffiti show that was announce the Thursday we arrived.  There were hundreds of artists painting in an abandoned roadway tunnel.  the festival was organized by street artist Bansky.

a few pics from NH weekend

We had, as usual, a glorious weekend up in NH. The weather was great, and of course, Max couldn't have enjoyed himself more. Here are a few pictures to capture the weekend.