But.
I am trying to extract from it the best that can be had.
Since mid-June I have been working two jobs, at an outdoor outfitters and a garden center. This is all well and good. I am employed, I have a small amount of money, and I've been able to support myself and help Mike with his grocery bill. The trade-off has been time. Time--I mean having it--is pretty much the essence of summer to me. Summer Time is the special time when one is able to work on random indulgent projects. Not this summer. I've had to scrim and save my time, hoard it and even then there is not enough of it, for my one day off a week is spent on business-type affairs.
BUT.
There have been some good outings.
Over the 4th of July weekend, Mike and I were very unpatriotic. We ran away to Quebec and had a fine time exploring in the botanic garden, attempting to photograph monkeys in the Biodome, and hiking on Mt. Tremblant (a mountain in the Laurentian range home to a swanky ski resort, the "Vail of the East"). Then the following Friday we went to a baseball game. Herewith, some highlights:
Chung, Ellen, & Mike reflected in the windows of the Biodome
A tiny stream with a minuature dock in the Japanese garden area of the Jardin Botanique
Toadlily
On the main roadway within the Jardin Botanique
Roseate spoonbill
Les Ruisseaux/The Streams, Mont Tremblant
July 10, Red Sox v. Kansas City Royals
Dear old Fenway.
We got frozen custard and cotton candy. It was a swell time. And our team won!
