run, pack, golf, and , mozart

busy, busy day here in the heat, 2nd hottest day of the year at 82 and i know that doesn't sound bad by virginia standards, but in very closed houses with no air conditioning it is not pretty. more on it later-

out to run early sunday morning and it was warmer than it has been lately for sure. we ran north and headed up towards the old nunnery. but we ran into my friend lorraine out sitting on here moored boat trying to turn herself into the tanned goddess of oxford and somewhat succeeding. we took a minute to catch up and arrange to stop by for a drink on the way back. then we headed north again. running was ok as long as we kept it slow enough and about a mile or so north we turned back south. lots to do today and only so much time to run. down the thames we ran for almost the last time.

ran into a woman walking to london and we chatted a bit while i jogged next to her for a minute. she has been averaging 12-17 miles a day. says she was over 50, but in her heart she is 27- good attitude. said goodbye and caught back up to gail and then we did stop at Lorraine's boat for that drink, which was pretty good at this point. made arrangements to meet on tuesday afternoon to exchange books and give her one of our bikes as her trusting sole had her's stolen recently.

then we went headed back down the river past the grazing horse and cows and ducks and geese on the river. this would be our last run on this part of the trail as they will start working on it again tomorrow. but it was pretty out despite the heat and the drink helped get us through. down to the swan bridge and over and headed back towards home. caught back up to the london bound walker, a sweet lady, and she headed down towards abingdon and we headed back towards botley. and eventually we stopped at the store and headed home.

a quick breakfast and then we started in throwing things away and putting things out for FREE for anyone who would take them and packing and doing laundry, etc. a few hours of this in the very warm house despite the fans and i was ready for a break and headed up to the range to hit some balls and say so long to mark for now. went ok as i am hitting the good ones better than ever, but missing more often both left and right and you cannot play golf missing in both directions. will keep working on it but frankly i have too much to do to worry about it right now. more important is how will we send all of the books and pictures home?

and back home - to pack some more, make a few quick phone calls and grab some dinner and then head off to the jack gibbons "mozart" concert at the holywell music room, a great venue to hear a concert and jack g. is more than terrific. he was great! and with 225 other people we sat and listened and it was also very warm in the building, which like most buildings here is not air conditioned. very, very warm---but everyone but a few came back after intermission and he played a couple of encores, including a chopin which woke up everyone. just great. and then we walked the almost two miles home and suddenly it was 11pm. still, more to do as they collect refuse tomorrow, every other week whether we need it or not and this is our last shot so we did that and that brought me to the blog and now it is time to pack up some more. running out of time to wrap up everything and gail has to go to school tomorrow and we need to go to the shipper's also. all good and who needs sleep anyway.

someone took everything we put out except one nice coat that would be perfect for here and we will try it again tomorrow. bet it goes.

and off i go. 2974 miles done this year. two more runs to do i hope. we threw out several pairs of running shoes today and will throw out the rest after tuesday. a new wind is blowing and i am anxious to see how it goes. time will tell.