Last Outing for a While

 J and I have been going on almost- weekly outings since he was a few months old;  now he's getting ready to leave for a year in Switzerland as an exchange student.  Today was what we think will be our last outing together for a long time.  It was roaring hot and fiercely humid, but we trekked out to a strange little wasteland place near the Nature Center where the river passes through and hundreds of black-eyed Susans bloom on the banks.

J picked a flower and plugged the end of the stem into the sand beneath the shallow water.  He took several shots with his phone, which has a waterproof case.  Tadpoles swam nearby and the sun beat down.

And then we found the sweet spot:  the remains of an old dam under the automobile bridge that leads into the park.  We found a sort-of trail that led us behind the dam to some ancient bits of the dam structure.  This circular opening was about ten feet in diameter and had a heavy  metal guillotine-like door above it.  Shallow water formed a puddle in front of the opening.  J took lots of good shots of the dam, and soon we will post a collaboration involving the dam.

(On the right is a leftover sketch that I made in the taxi that we took to the airport last week.  The cabby was a good driver but didn't stop complaining-  about the traffic, the weather,  the way cabs are run in NJ, the traffic again, the airport, etc-- for the whole ride.  We secretly referred to him as Mr. Cab-Half-Empty.)