lazy Saturday

Today we are in Lewes. There is a breeze, the sun is shining, and it is pretty cool here in the shade. We are sitting in a park next to the lifting bridge. Cars and trucks make a humming sound as they go by. A large powerboat just squeaked back into its spot between the pilings: if it was a few inches larger it would not fit. The park is on the side of a hill next to the water and there are trees making a shady canopy overhead. We can sit on the grass: there are no fire ants here! There are about 7 old cannons around us: most were donated by the army and one may have come from a pirate ship. We are across from the post office which is a square traditional brick building with Greek details. The town of Lewes bills itself as the first in the state, and there are plenty of buildings dating back to the 1700s and before. Parking here is cheaper than in Rehoboth, and there always seem to be plenty of spaces. We have been alternating between reading Harry Potter and debating the fine points of the plot. Oliver is asleep. Arthur has been blowing up the baloons a realtor gave us yesterday in Crisfield: he has been decorating them with faces. The flies that have plagued us continually since we arrived in Delaware seem to be absent today: I'm hopeful that we just arrived at an unusually bad time for them. There is an enormous amount of boat traffic on the water here: mostly fishing boats and power boats, but one sailboat tood off to the left of us and there have been a couple of tour boats go by. I understand there is still a fair amount of commercial fishing in the area, but I don't smell it where we are. Looking on the map, I see that where we are sitting is the Lewes & Rehoboth Canal, and to the left (Northwest) of us is the Rooselvelt Inlet, which gives out onto Delaware Bay. Tom has just walked over to the dock where a pontoon boat has just rammed the dock. They were stuck but appear to have worked loose, so he didn't need to help. We have been in that spot before with the sailboat: it's humbling because you feel like everyone's watching.