I don't care what you say, there is nowhere better to view fireworks than the end of my pier. Amusement parks, baseball stadiums, you name it - they cannot hold a [Roman] candle to the feast of pyrotechnics that is rolled out on the Delaware River twice a year. Eye-dazzling, chest-pounding, thrill-inspiring, there is something magical about watching and feeling the huge displays right above one's head.

As usual, the end of the pier was mobbed. I got there about ten minutes before the display started and ended up explaining how they launch to a young school teacher who was there visiting a friend. Three tugboats escort a huge barge into the middle of the river where they fire them off. The whole show lasts about ten minutes - it's pretty impressive. My favorites are the big ones that explode once and then their "tendrils" shoot off again in another color on the way down. Luckily we were not downwind tonight, so were not overcome by smoke.

Of course it would be hard to tell, since the entire region is blanketed by smoke from a fire up in Canada, of all places. I noticed it this afternoon - it smelled like "fire season" in Southern California. I guess the thing that bothered me about this is that obviously this is a huge fire, yet the only time we hear about it is when it affects us. Americans are so incredibly self-centered.

Suki let me sleep in until 6:15 today. I lazed around with her during the morning since it has cooled down from the last few days. I made breakfast and read the paper until around 11:00 and then went skating. I didn't feel like dealing with either the traffic or the crowds, so I went over to Penn's Landing (right next to my pier) and skated on the access road underneath the bridges. It runs about 2/10th's of a mile, is mostly in the shade, and usually isn't too crowded. I skated for about 45 minutes - probably about 8 or 9 miles - and then went home. I enjoyed the sun at the end of the pier for a while, then did some website work during the afternoon.

Suki spent most of the afternoon trying to:

a) Eat the fish in the fish cage
b) Escape from the balcony to the neighbor's balcony
c) Eat the fish in the fish pond
d) Remove the mulch from the tops of the potted plants

I noticed her balanced precariously on the edge of the fish pond - after several admonitions to the contrary - and jostled her so that she got two of her legs wet. She wasn't at all horrified by it - she immediately stood looking into the pond as if to figure out how the fish managed to do that to her. I went inside to get a towel to dry her off and she wanted in as well. I kept her out, but when I returned, she had CLIMBED THE SCREEN DOOR and was hanging by her nails about five feet in the air, meowing.

[*sheesh*]

I bought groceries yesterday before I returned the car, so I did some cooking this evening. I had some mango salsa left over, so I grilled a little swordfish steak for dinner and had it with the salsa - yum. It's a nice combination. I also made shrimp wontons to freeze. I bought a little pot roast, so I will probably cook that tomorrow to have something to eat during the week. I am trying to reinforce my Atkin's-esque diet again - I have been feeling fat, so have been really trying to avoid the carbs. I was pleasantly surprised when I weighed in today after skating - I had dropped three pounds since yesterday! Woo-hoo!

I'm rescanning pictures of the house under construction. I'll redo the web pages soon, but wanted to get some larger pixel images so that I can do a slide show of the whole thing in progress once I move in. No, no, don't get excited. As far as I can tell, it's not going to be next week.

[*sigh*]

Quote du jour:

"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope."

John Buchan (1875 - 1940) Scottish author, government official

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