Yes I'm Still Alive....

It's been a very busy, exhausting 7 months since I last posted.  The first part of March we were painting and moving stuff to the house.  After 8 years in Buzzards Bay, we had no choice but to move to my childhood home when our lease was up.  We ended up leaving 2 months early and struck a deal w/ the landlord to use our last month's rent, and our security deposit, for the months of April and May so we were able to splurge a bit on another trip to Ohio. 

We stopped in Somerset PA overnight and went exploring in the area.

Checked off another thing from my bucket list:  The Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA which is a few miles from Somerset.  Couldn't stop crying.  It's a beautiful, quiet location and so sad.

We headed to OH to celebrate Mark's birthday, which party was held on Russell's birthday (they are only a day apart).

I call this pic 'Fathers and Sons'.  I love it.

When we got back, my father in law passed away in early April, and we moved here in May.  This place is A LOT of work but we've done so much over the summer and it already looks 100x better.

Then my mother in law moved into the coop at the end of July.  Russell disassembled the gazebo that he built at his mom's in 2015, brought it over here and put it back together.  She's really happy here.  He also built that trellis and wire fence.  

Sheila and I went around exploring a few times this spring.  We went to a couple art exhibits in Sandwich one gorgeous morning.

Met up in Yarmouth for lunch, shopping, exploring an old cemetery and check out the 'Goreyosity' exhibit, which were art items made by local artists from things found in Edward Gorey's barn.

Late June found us at the Cape Cod Lavender Farm in Harwich.  We wanted to see it before harvest and every year we kept missing it.  This year we made it there while the flowers were still in bloom.

Most of June & July we were super busy pouring resources into fixing up this house and making the coop livable.  I also made plenty of time to do some crafts.  I will hopefully post pics of those projects later.  

In early June we decided to do a big trip to OH in mid July, hitting more stuff on my bucket list.  First I have to acknowledge what a great guy Russell is.  He has no problem taking me around to do and see whatever I want, and waiting for me while I get my travel fix.  His back has been bad and it's hard for him to walk far distances.  So he tells me to take my time, enjoy myself, and he'll be waiting in the coffee shop or visitor center.  Unfortunately our trip was set to begin right as that horrible heatwave was set to hit the midwest.  

The first stop was Watkins Glen State Park in upstate NY.  It's a pretty grueling walk....over 800 stone stairs in all and I probably did 600 to get to this point on the trail, just to take this picture.  It was GORGEOUS.   The morning I did this hike, it was cloudy and in the low 70s, but very humid.  Still, the cold water from all the waterfalls felt great and I was soaked by the time I finished the hike.

The Corning Museum of Glass was 7 miles from the Glen, so we stopped there next.  HUGE place, incredible exhibits I want to live there, surrounded by all that beauty.  

The next day was Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland....another incredible place.  6 floors of the history of rock music.  A. Maze. Ing.

And just a couple miles away was the Christmas Story house, also in Cleveland.  I didn't take the tour cause it was brutally hot and humid.  We pretty much hung out in the gift shop which was large and had a/c.  If you look closely, you can see the 'soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window'.  

Our next stop the following day was Mansfield, OH where 'Shawshank Redemption' was filmed.  As it so happens, this is the 25th anniversary of the movie so the town was spiffing up for the big celebration in August.  First we followed the 'Shawshank Trail' in the town itself, till the old reformatory opened at 11.  This was another hot and humid day.  Russell opted to snooze in the car w/ the a/c running while I did the self guided tour.  Seeing the movie now I'm so excited that I finally got to go there!  It was amazing and sooooo incredibly creepy.  

Then 4 days with our sweethearts.

Got a new-to-me car in early September, a Tucson.  Love it.  It'll be way more comfortable going to OH than the tiny Elantra.  That lease came due so I returned it and got this.  No tape deck though. 

Before we left for OH, I dropped off my beaded ship and waterfall project to the Barnstable County Fair.  When we got home, it was the last day of the fair so we ran over to see if I won anything and I got 3rd!  I'm pretty happy with that because newcomers never place in these old fairs.  

Let's see what else.  Oh we finally got Netflix....not that we watch it much....but I binged on 'Stranger Things' and OMG I LOVE IT.  Casi took this pic of me in the Dayton Baskin Robbins, where we stopped in so I could get the 'Scoops Ahoy USS Butterscotch'.  

My MIL moved in as soon as we got back and August was spent getting her settled and trying to do work in the crushing humidity.  It never let up.  Not one single day.  So miserable.  But we chipped away at it and it's getting done.  

September was our annual trip to King Richard's Faire. 

Two days later, we took my MIL to the Mohegan Sun Casino in CT for her 80th birthday. I'm not much of a gambler and my aim on this trip was to get more pics of the non-casino areas.  There are tons of cool designs hung from the ceilings...these giant colourful panels....made from beads.  I couldn't believe how many there were.  And of course the magnificent Chihuly sculpture.

Finally, yesterday Russell took me down to Orleans for a baby shower but we were early so we went to Rock Harbor and Skaket Beach (pictured here) so I could get a few snappies.  After a couple weeks of nice fall weather, it's hot and humid again!

Sorry I haven't visited everyone's blogs in ages.  I'll try to get back into it now that the cold months are coming up.  We need to do a few more things around here to prepare the property for winter (this is a very old house!) and get dead limbs and trees taken down before Ma Nature does it for us.