In which Capella learns to duck her head under water without getting water up her nose; a trip to Niagara Falls; and a Portugese battle of the bands.

We currently live down the street from a municipal community center. It's got a pool and a gym and a not-too-grimy weight room in the basement. Best of all, for two hours a day there's a free free swim. Capella has become determined to learn to swim, and I've been drafted as her teacher. We've gone three or four times in the past week and a half. The first time we went Capella couldn't put her face in the water without getting water up her nose and getting tense and mad at me. Yesterday was a big breakthrough, as she was able to put her head underwater without holding onto the wall, holding her nose, or panicking. Very, very exciting.

Today we went to Niagara Falls (finally). It's really, really big, and really made me want to try swimming it. I'm amazed more people don't, especially after seeing the main strip of the tourist part of town. The main street goes uphill from the canyon, and when you face uphill it's like a miniture Las Vegas. If someone led you there blindfolded you would have no idea what was lying behind you, and vice versa. You can stand at the bottom of the street and look out at the falls and would never know about the Ripley's Believe It or Not, Guiness Experience (that's World Records, not the beer), Lego Land, World Wrestling Entertainment tower, Dracula's Haunted House, or any of the other myriad ways to seperate fools from their money. (We did indulge ourselves in a round of Dinasaur mini golf. I won, 53 to 57, but it was a disapointing course. Very little originality in the layout.) [another side story: we saw the cutest little girl, about 4 years old, who was leaving a haunted house being carried by her father, bawling her eyes out, with freaked-out, but trying to keep it together, older sister in tow. A priceless moment, and we couldn't help laughing. Would that make us bad parents, or good parents?] So anyway, after walking up one side of the street my brain was so over-stimulated that not only could I not make up my mind about dinner, I couldn't even answer the question. We got subs to go & ate on the bus.

When we got home there was a Portugese festival going on in the park. It was church-related, for sure, because the church around the corner was lit up with all sorts of lights and a huge heart (presumably the sacred heart of Jesus, but that's just my guess here) in the middle. If the picture comes out I'll put it up. We're still in the Film Age, so you'll have to wait till we finish the roll. As we cut through the park to go home we realized the party was still going and headed over. Two community bands made up of old men & high schoolers, with middle-aged men percussion sections, were on two bandstands trading off songs. We wandered around and saw tents selling soccer jerseys and religious statuary, and thought about getting a beer at the beer tent until we saw that there were only older Portugese men inside. After a few songs from the bands we headed home, and now it's time for bed. Tomorrow we're heading out to the islands in Lake Ontario just in front of town.