In October
A few weeks ago I noticed a tiny lizard had slipped inside the house and I wasn't able to catch him to release him outside. Last week I spotted a larger lizard in the office and I wonder if it's the same one; if so I hope the increase in size is from eating bugs. I lost sight of him again until a couple days ago I spotted him peaking his head above my computer monitor. Despite several attempts since then, I've still not managed to catch and release him to freedom.
I was impressed how quickly everyone got their Halloween decorations back up after hurricane Milton. The debris piles are still lying around everywhere. But not until recently did I realize I'd completely forgotten to decorate for Halloween myself. Between the Oktoberfests and work and the trip I didn't really get to do much thematic, although I did at least get candy on the off chance someone shows up (I can easily dispose of it if not!)
I slept until 7:45 am. We left for Butler, heading through the Ohio farmscape. As the cold weather warmed, we enjoyed the hills, fall trees, corn fields, cows, horses, birds, farmhouses with watching dogs, fallow fields, and occasional harvest machine.
Tim and Susan's house was new enough it wasn't on Googlemaps, so once we got there we had to look it up on a realtor site. Living there are the moment were Tim, Susan, Josiah, Whitney, Ainsley (eleven), Ella (five), and their dog Pippen. There was a nice space for their toys in the basement. We had a lunch of breakfast casserole, bagels, and Ainsley's cinnamon mini-muffins and caught up and chatted.
We left at 2:30 and drove along the Mohican River into Amish country, sometimes having to go around one-horse and electric bikes. We visited the cyclorama (our third!) in Berlin an hour before close. We were the only ones there. It was interesting to learn the history of religious persecution of the Amish, Mennonites and Anabaptists.
It was starting to get dark as we drove alongside the river in Cuyahoga National Park. After a day traveling through the state, it wasn't that impressive. We passed some old houses and wondered if people lived in them in the park.
We stopped and picked up dinner at Chipotle. We got to the hotel and went to check in but there was no internet so we could not check in or get into our rooms. We ate in the lobby and finally got into the room by 8:30 pm.
Oktoberfest didn't seem as crowded as the first, but that may be because I only stepped out of the office briefly. It must have been busy because we ran out of food early.
We celebrated Mommy's birthday Sunday at TerraMia, which I've always wanted to go to. Alll of us misremembered the location, but fortunately it wasn't far and we got there soon. It was a really Italian place and I think are waiter was actually from Italy. My stromboli was delicious, even with most of it for leftovers.
I was worried about having time to research and vote, but I was able to research last week and I finally got around to the voting Monday after helping with Mommy in the morning. I stopped in at the newly reopened library and then at the usual place for early voting, which despite being over a week before Election Day still had an hour-long line. I had my book, of course, but my feet still hurt. I think they need another site for the northwest part of the county.
I was impressed how quickly everyone got their Halloween decorations back up after hurricane Milton. The debris piles are still lying around everywhere. But not until recently did I realize I'd completely forgotten to decorate for Halloween myself. Between the Oktoberfests and work and the trip I didn't really get to do much thematic, although I did at least get candy on the off chance someone shows up (I can easily dispose of it if not!)
I slept until 7:45 am. We left for Butler, heading through the Ohio farmscape. As the cold weather warmed, we enjoyed the hills, fall trees, corn fields, cows, horses, birds, farmhouses with watching dogs, fallow fields, and occasional harvest machine.
Tim and Susan's house was new enough it wasn't on Googlemaps, so once we got there we had to look it up on a realtor site. Living there are the moment were Tim, Susan, Josiah, Whitney, Ainsley (eleven), Ella (five), and their dog Pippen. There was a nice space for their toys in the basement. We had a lunch of breakfast casserole, bagels, and Ainsley's cinnamon mini-muffins and caught up and chatted.
We left at 2:30 and drove along the Mohican River into Amish country, sometimes having to go around one-horse and electric bikes. We visited the cyclorama (our third!) in Berlin an hour before close. We were the only ones there. It was interesting to learn the history of religious persecution of the Amish, Mennonites and Anabaptists.
It was starting to get dark as we drove alongside the river in Cuyahoga National Park. After a day traveling through the state, it wasn't that impressive. We passed some old houses and wondered if people lived in them in the park.
We stopped and picked up dinner at Chipotle. We got to the hotel and went to check in but there was no internet so we could not check in or get into our rooms. We ate in the lobby and finally got into the room by 8:30 pm.
Oktoberfest didn't seem as crowded as the first, but that may be because I only stepped out of the office briefly. It must have been busy because we ran out of food early.
We celebrated Mommy's birthday Sunday at TerraMia, which I've always wanted to go to. Alll of us misremembered the location, but fortunately it wasn't far and we got there soon. It was a really Italian place and I think are waiter was actually from Italy. My stromboli was delicious, even with most of it for leftovers.
I was worried about having time to research and vote, but I was able to research last week and I finally got around to the voting Monday after helping with Mommy in the morning. I stopped in at the newly reopened library and then at the usual place for early voting, which despite being over a week before Election Day still had an hour-long line. I had my book, of course, but my feet still hurt. I think they need another site for the northwest part of the county.