London scorcher

wonder | wander | women will remember this summer forever. We have seen solar eclipses before, and Mom was lucky enough to see a total eclipse, but this was the first time I was able to see one where the sun was almost fully covered.

Watching the solar eclipse at Wanstead Flats

goodbye summer

wonder | wander | women love the change of seasons but this year autumn fell like evening, too fast. It feels like we were barely able to enjoy summer before it was already over. Still, we made the most of it while we could.

An afternoon drawing in a local park

When people try to portray memories they show scenes like clips in a video. This year our memories of summer are more like fragmented colours and sensations. Bright colours, cool breezes, scalding sunlight.

light in august

Summer is in full swing over here in the Northern Hemisphere and wonder | wander | women are enjoying every sunny minute that we can. In London the heat waves come in between cooler grey days, so our brick houses don't overheat like previous summers.

Fountain at Southbank Centre

Events like ESEA Encounters at the Southbank Centre, Barbican's Outdoor Cinema and the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition get Londoners out of the house, a "staycation" away from the crowds of tourists visiting our parks and palaces.

Rainbow in the fountain

Londoners, like wonder | wander | women, are historically river people and love water. Although the city is away from the sea, the citizens love playing in the fountains and boating down the many canals and smaller rivers that run though town.

Houseboat mooring at Coal Drops Yard

The old industrial areas on the Regent's Canal around Kings Cross have been turned into a residential and commercial complex with shopping, restaurants, canalside apartments and outdoor events. 

Watching Frozen at the Everyman Cinema on the canal.

But on the canal itself, the historic boating community still thrives along the new developments. The Canal and River Trust operates guided tours through the area, and regular houseboat owners often come by, passing through the ingenious canal locks.

If you prefer a quieter weekend and a simple walk around the neighbourhood, the Sunday farmers' market at Chapel Market is a comfortable experience. Cheese, bread, pasta and fresh produce stock the tables of some of the friendliest people we've met, coming in to sell their wares in classic British style. 

And on days when not much is going on, we spend what time we can at the nearby parks and gardens. Summer is a brief but flamboyant time for British gardens, and we love seeing the peonies, roses, irises, and hydrangeas in rampant bloom everywhere.

Mini hydrangeas

Spring is the season most famous for flowers, but the intermittent cool rains of British summer time nourish a range of summer colours, as well as lots of flowers preferred by bees and other local pollinators. 

Pale peonies

This mix of fun, community, culture and convenience is what we love most about living in the city. It's also why summer is our favourite season. While we miss our home country and its beaches, for just a few months we can feel like our true selves in our adopted home.

summer eating for damp days

This summer in London has been a rollercoaster. wonder | wander | women are all turned around between sunny summer days and wet rainy days...and often sun and rain chase each other in a single day. This has made the garden mushrooms pretty happy.

mushrooms and moss

It's been an unusually "normal" English summer, by which we mean cool and rainy. After the blistering heat we had for the past few years, this mild weather was a relief. 

seasonal sorrows | at the cusp

Switching seasons in a land of four seasons is something our wonder | wander | women tropical genes have yet to get used to. Even after a decade of life in our adopted homelands it still is a challenging shift we feel in every cell of our body.

this side of the pond - Edgewater NJ

Inside and out we feel invaded by body snatchers, violated and abused. Subjected to wild roller coaster rides and loopy loops - physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Shifting seasons turn us into a rebelling revolt of massive magnitude.

Mahala & Issa - Chiang Mai, 2007

summer clouds: look up!

It's finally proper summer in London, but instead of last year's baking blue skies, we have soothing breezes and enough cloud cover to provide relief from the sun.

summer (is) social!

While the US is celebrating Independence Day, summer finally comes to London after a long season of rain, cold wind and grey days - and with summer come other visitors!

ice vice

wonder | wander | women love our ice cream. Nothing gives us more license to indulge than summer in New York City with temperatures soaring in the 90s. 

We kid you not when we claim summer in this concrete jungle is like being stuck in the armpit of hell. Hence the native New Yorker's addiction to ice cream. We feature the history of ice cream in our museums, for heaven's sake. 

Italian duchess Catherine de' Medici, credited with introducing ice cream into Europe in the 16th century

Another driving factor - NYC is a hub and mecca of diverse cultures and traditions. Self professed foodies who avidly hunt out our gastronomic delicacies and delights. 

window shopping - more museum shops!

Ever since our field trip last year we've gotten into the habit of checking out other museum shops whenever we stumble on them. We've never been able to resist a cute bookshop...and now we have a great excuse to linger.

London museum shops - summer trippin'!

With the BBC making dire predictions that this could be the last week of truly hot summer in London, we couldn't help but grab every last second of sun available. Monday to Wednesday was a three-day season of what the British newspapers call a 'scorchio': the classic heatwave that brings the sun-starved public out in waves to every park, bank or canal side, or anywhere that catches just a bit of blue sky.

summer storms

These past years, summer in New York City is usually a time of spectacular lightning storms. 

Storm clouds over Columbus Circle, NYC

With the city's many skyscrapers equipped with lightning rods, the adage that lighting never strikes twice in the same spot has proved vastly untrue. 

Darkening skies over the Empire State Building, NYC

Yesterday's storm was epic, bringing an aggregate of hot pink lightning, hail, and rainbows! 

summer at last!

While New Jersey & New York have been basking in the summer sunshine, London was dull and rainy.

The caryatids of St Pancras Church

Summer flowers like the delphinium bloomed bravely in the face of constant damp, wet winds and thunderstorms.

But this week temperatures soared and the city changed. A sunny weekend led to blazing sunshine over the next few days and Londoners were ready to make the most of it.

Happy Independence Day!

Fourth of July celebrations this year were spent at our home away from home - The Colony, at Edgewater, New Jersey.

More so than at any other time in our lives, celebrating Independence Day, especially with our loved ones, grows more valuable for us here at wonder | wonder | women.

blooms & colors

It is good to be back in time to catch some cool summer breeze.

Especially after two scorching months in the tropics.

Manhattan NY from Weehawken NJ

It feels good to get back to regular walks around the neighborhood.

for book & boat lovers: Word on the Water

London is a city of waterways as well as roads. We've posted about our canal walks before, but today we want to highlight a special resident of the Kings Cross floating community: the Word on the Water book barge. (Check out their Twitter and Facebook!)

summer sendoff

After a hard night’s rain wonder | wander | women woke up to a summer washed away.  The light has changed - with the sun rising later and setting sooner.

"Hard Rain's Gonna Fall"

The air is crisp and clear and the nights have a nip now - leaving our skin prickly and cool to the touch. 

With no buildings to block our view and the breeze cooled by the expanse of water it blows across it sure feels like fall is here. 

And so we bid summer goodbye with one final hurrah!