Looking at life reflected in the ever-changing River Clyde – walking by and seeing the changes in the river and the sky, and even the wildlife (human and otherwise) brought us to Jonathan Livingston and friends in the middle of the day!

I kept an eye out for a quick place to shelter in case the birds flying above decided to grace us with some bombs (they were very polite and did not).

I know it all keeps coming back to the weather, but it’s amazing – on the river it’s windy and even chilly – 3 blocks away it’s still and muggy!

The architecture is thrilling to see – ancient (well ancient to me as an American) next to modern, and some ancient definitely repurposed.

When I was a child, my dad and I had a Friday night ritual. After dinner, he and I would drive from our house in Bayswater, Far Rockaway (not Bayswater, England) to the really big library in Belle Harbor. I don’t know if it really was big or if it’s grown in my memory during the ensuing years. This was a major treat since the library closest to our house (about a mile away) had burned in a fire and was closed for several years. When we got to the library he and I would search through Books in Print for my latest reading adventure – that generally meant either a time period or a place. Often it was England, Ireland, Scotland, or Wales. Thomas Costain was my introduction to the world of medieval historical fiction and that fed my imagination for so long: The Black Rose, Below the Salt were two of my favorites. Those led me to The Darkness and the Dawn and The Silver Chalice. I was totally hooked. My imagination was engaged. Maybe these books led to me love genealogy – tracing anyone’s family history, imagining what their lives were like, attempting to take myself out of my 20th and 21st century understanding of the world and put myself back in the days when our ancestors lived. Many years ago I purchased a medieval cookbook and tried some of the recipes – I decided I preferred the food we have today. I suppose, though, that if I had lived back in those times I would have found food I like to eat too.

No matter where my travels take me – Israel, Greece. France, England, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Scotland, and more, I am always in search of the old buildings and imagining what the surroundings would have looked like then.

But back to today – as I walked from chilly to muggy and hot, from bright sunshine into windy and cloudy, I had to shop. I didn’t buy clothes that would help my unsuitable packed clothes – in the store I forgot what I really needed, and instead, just looked at what was on the racks. I bought 2 items which, for the moment, I simply couldn’t live without rather than what I needed. Well, it’s inevitable, maybe the weather will change. Maybe my boots, raincoat, and umbrella really will come in handy. Tomorrow, is, as they say, another day.