A wonderful day. No humidity. Woke up feeling bad because I accidentally elbowed Bill twice in the skull last night. I apologized and Bill accepted knowing it was an accident. He was running out the door driving some big wigs from his bus company to a wedding or something like that. I left soon after and walked up to the boulevard to buy bagels and newspapers for Julio, Stine and myself.

I wasn’t going to hang out and have breakfast with them. I just put it in a plastic bag and hang it on the doorknob. I came upstairs and had my egg breakfast again. Lot’s of newspapers and news shows on Sunday mornings so I was occupied most of the time. It was an exquisite lazy Sunday morning. Not much to do but chill out and that was fine by me. I did get a text message from Juan who started work today. He seemed to be enjoying his employment thus far.

After that was a phone call from Julio, suggesting that we, Julio, Stine and myself go bike riding. Sounded like a good idea. I was in total agreement with the idea of riding to Liberty State Park. I hadn’t ridden my bicycle since last year and a 16 mile tour seemed just right. It wouldn’t be too stressful for Stine either, especially since she has the heaviest bike out of all of us.

When we ride, or when I ride alone, I might do 30 or 40 miles but it’s certainly not non stop. We stop and eat, chill out and occasionally play Frisbee. Which marked the return of Frisbo, who hadn’t really been seen since last summer. The park was crowded with people like us who couldn’t or didn’t want get out of town. Lot’s of families barbecuing, kite flying, soccer. Wholesome entertainment. We rode along the river walkways, even chancing upon Allison Lee and her son Hank. Julio and I have known Allison since the McSwells days. Now she’s partnered with the wonderful Pat Longo and their union has produced a wonderful boy named Hank. Not Henry. Hank.

They were just enjoying the Jersey City waterfront as we were. Soon they headed back home and we three rode off into the light breeze off the Hudson River. We rode through some very tall buildings which lead to the Morris Canal which was a major transportation base back in the day, a canal for moving cargo into the interior of New Jersey. Now it merely smells bad. We stopped and ate some sandwiches and stretched out on a blanket away from the odors with the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

Lot’s of tourists waiting in the sun to buy ferry tickets to go to Ellis Island and Liberty Island. The ferry to Monster Island was closed today for the holiday weekend. The other monster island, Staten Island was open but you’d have to go to Lower Manhattan to catch a ferry there, and there was no guarantee that you’d make it back in one piece. We found a quiet field away and Julio and I played Frisbee. Both of us have good technique when it comes to throwing a Frisbee. No suicidal dives for the flying disc here. This wasn’t sand. It was hard ground, covered in grass and wildflowers but still quite hardscrabble.

We rode back through the bulrushes, past memorials in the making for the victims of the attacks on 9/11 over the Morris Canal and into Jersey City proper. We rode past the Holland Tunnel into the back end of Hoboken where I pointed out two apartment buildings that I used to live in. We sat on the stoop and each had a bottle of Stella Artois. We also looked at the overgrown jungle that the backyard has become, then Julio picked up a grass whip and started whacking the weeds. After a few minutes of that we all went to our apartments and showered making plans to meet an hour later for dinner.

After burgers at O’Neill’s we came back home where I sit with Juan watching Bjork videos. Simply really. Homegirl is crazy said Juan.

and here are some pics