At Last, Summer

I came back from Santa Fe with great intentions for my summer. I was going to do tons of walking and swimming. I had a new photography project planned, involving driving to a different Franklin or Hampshire County hilltown each week, wandering around and taking pix. But then the rains came. In June, it rained something like 24 or 25 days out of 30. I tried to tell myself that walking in the rain would be practice for London, but most days the thought of it made me just too miserable. I swam all of four times all month, and my work on the photo project was zilch.

As we turned the page on June, the sun started to emerge. So far in July, each day has just gotten better and better. I was so excited about it that on Sunday I did a 3 mile walk AND swam 15 lengths of the pool, getting a bit of a sunburn in the process. At the pool, I started working on my London plans, pouring over last year's Open House program and making index cards for things I'd like to do this year. Major contenders (if these sites are open again this year) include:

• Crossness Pumping Station -- Bazalgette's Victorian cathedral of sewage
• Hampstead Garden Suburb -- an early 20th c. planned residential community
• Roof Gardens in Kensington -- on top of the former Derry & Tom department store, now owned by Richard Branson
• Some bits of Westminster -- government buildings or whatever

I may get back to my hilltowns photography project yet, as I've got some ideas for it in my head. If the rain stays away, that is.

P.S. -- Within an hour of writing this post, the sky turned dark, thunder rumbled, and the rain poured down again.