Had a great, relaxing Fourth of July weekend on Martha’s Vineyard with Becky, Ken and Dianne. As always there was good food, fun, and sunshine. The weather was terrific, and the flowers in Dianne’s garden were in full bloom. I’ve got some photos, particularly heavy on the flowers this time, and you can see them ***here|http://gallery.prwdot.org/vineyard_20040704***.

The one notable incident of the weekend occurred Sunday afternoon as I was kayaking on Sengekontacket Pond. Admittedly, I am an inexperienced kayaker, this being only my third attempt at doing so. I do know about various kayaks including the best ones thanks to www.humbersport.net, but physically I do not have much experience on one. Nonetheless, I felt pretty confident that I wouldn’t have any problems since I had kayaked in the same pond a few weeks earlier. But after examining a small island in the pond, I paddled away, at which point the kayak flipped over and I was thrown into the water. I came up pretty quickly outside of the kayak, so I was not in any danger, but the kayak was filled with water and I did not have the muscle to turn it over to pour the water out.

Furthermore, when I plunged briefly under water, my eyeglasses, which I had been wearing at the time, were pulled off and lost. I didn’t realize they were lost until after I had started swimming back to shore with the kayak in tow. So for the rest of Sunday and most of Monday, I was without my glasses. I can’t drive without my glasses, so Becky drove us home on Monday. Luckily, LensCrafters at the North Shore Mall was open, so we went in with my latest prescription and had some new glasses made. The price was actually pretty reasonable with my AAA discount, and the new pair even came with matching clip-on sunglasses. I had lost my clip-ons a while ago, so this was actually a blessing in disguise. Those glasses were a couple of years old anyway, so it was probably about time for an update.

Here are some photos of me with my handsome new eyewear:

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The new glasses|ppp

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The new glasses with the sunglasses clipped on|ppp