solstice cycle / Montreal / St. Lawrence River

I haven't been cycling in Montreal yet this year because there were too many people on the paths. However, it's been a tradition (if only in my own mind) that we go for a cycle for summer solstice.

I like to go in the early evening when the sun is behind us, and our shadows stretch far ahead. We cycle into them. Or *I* cycle into mine. I don't know what R is thinking. With the steep angle of early evening sunlight, the contrast of white foam against darker water is high. The white looks almost phosphorescent.

However, this year it is very hot. Right now, as I write, it's 33C (91F) at 5 pm. The sun is brilliant. I knew I would be unlikely to get on a bicycle. So we went this morning.

I didn't chase my shadow. The rapids weren't phosphorescent. They're not even very high because the river is low. But I cycled past my favourite view of the St. Lawrence around the island of Montreal.

I had to stop to take a pic of this table. A printed tablecloth, a vase with some branches. So hopeful that someone will come sit and maybe have lunch, even though the sun is high and the grass is scorched. Behind the trees is the river.

Here's me with Kahnawá:ke across the river in the background. Last fall I did a walk, organized my friend Matthew Anderson, across land from which the Mohawk had been expropriated. A walk like that isn't much, but it's a way of being aware that this act of violence was done.
https://alicezorn.blogspot.com/2019/10/walking-from-kahnawake-to-montreal.html

And after today, the days begin to get shorter again.