Summer has finally arrived and it's hot! Not that I'm complaining. Ever since we arrived in June, the weather has been lackluster. Texas weather has nothing on England in its ability to change rapidly. It can be sunny, cloudy and rainy all within the space of minutes. Mostly, it's been overcast and cool, which really depresses me. I was starting to wonder if I'd wear my shorts at all while we were here. But school let out for summer break on the 23rd, and along with it came the sun. (They only get five weeks for summer this year!) It's been getting steadily warmer every day. Now I'm thankful that Bill requested to have an A/C unit placed in our apartment.
Brendan and I celebrated the sun's arrival with a trip to Heaton Park to get a little exercise and breathe some fresh air. That's my biggest complaint with city living. Even though smoking has been banned inside public places, people smoke like chimneys outside. Not matter how hard you try, you can't avoid walking into and breathing in clouds of second-hand smoke. Brendan attributes some of his headaches to the stuff he inhales. At least Heaton Park is more spread out and the smokers are fewer and farther between.
We rented a rowboat and rowed around the tiny lake that was hand-dug by unemployed workers back in the 1800's and hauled away in people-pulled carts. It's not a very big or deep lake, but it's tree-lined and there are lot of geese and ducks to mess with. Rowing is a great upper-body exercise. Brendan did the bulk if it, but after about 45 minutes, we were done. We walked around the park, enjoying the cool breeze, but heating up with each step. We didn't believe it was going to get hot, and wore jeans instead of shorts.
We had to stop to look at these two long-haired cows in the paddock with the burros and goats. They look like a cross between a cow and a yak. I've read about them, but never seen them. They are Highland Cows, raised in the Scottish Highlands for their hardiness and lean beef. Most of their insulation comes from their fur. They have the prettiest ginger coats and sweet faces, and now we can say we've touched on.
Also, this past weekend, we took the tram out to Altrincham, and an area know for it's beautiful homes and scenery, to attend the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park. It's like a home and garden show without the home stuff. There were lots of display gardens and lots of stuff to buy for the garden, food and a band playing in the bandstand.
We didn't get to explore the area as much as we would have liked since we didn't have a car. But, it's good to know that there are "leafy" places not too far from Manchester that we would enjoy living. If this contract job ever turned into something more, we could live well here.
By the way, I learned a new verse for "Row, row, row your boat" when I was working with a Moms and Tots group at Grange Park Church. It's my favorite.
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
If you see a crocodile,
Dont forget to scream, aahhh!
