Sunday morning at the beach

This morning I wanted to take Noah down to the beach to look for shells... it's one of his favorite things to do and he was jealous the other day when I drove off for Sherwood Island while he had to go to work.

We arrived at the parking kiosk at about 8:30... a long line of cars in front and behind us. When we pulled up to the attendant, she says "Out of state? That'll be $22." ????!!!!

We drove away without going to that beach.

Instead we drove over to Compo Beach... where they were charging a whopping $40 for a day pass! We sweet talked the attendant into letting us park in the overflow for an hour or 2 since we're new to the area and just wanted to look around. How long do you think that will work?

Compo beach was really nice. There were lots of cool shells that we'll have to identify somehow. And... there were horseshoe crabs.



At first the HCs we saw were upside down and appeared dead. Noah tapped one with his toe and we discovered that they were in fact alive and stranded by the low tide. So what do we do? We flip them over and begin the great Horseshoe Crab races!



My crab was the unofficial winner...



After a little while of flipping HCs over with our toes and watching them scoot back down to the water, this lady comes along:







Lesson learned...

Another gray day and a trip to the beach

It's still cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms today, but there was a break in the weather this morning that was long enough for me to pay a first visit to Sherwood Island State Beach today. At $9 for parking, the price seems a little steep, but I needed the outing.

What a lovely, quiet morning on the Long Island Sound it turned out to be. The clouds and cool air kept a large number of people away... seen here by the lonely state of Subaruby in the parking lot.



The waves on the sound may seem small compared to the giant breakers of the Pacific Ocean, but that didn't matter this morning. They are waves, breaking on the shore, and they sounded glorious.



There's a nice little nature walk that takes you past the marsh side of the island, where I saw a cotton-tailed rabbit, some swans and Canada Geese, and was harassed by a couple of red-wing blackbirds who apparently thought I was the nest raiding type. (I'm not.)











There were actually a lot of Canada Geese on the beach. I followed 3 adults and a gaggle of juveniles for a little while. Goose nursemaids are very careful with their offspring. I couldn't get too close.





The water's edge provided some interesting finds as well... a dead horseshoe crab, some sea lettuce, and an abandoned toy truck.









Nearing the end of my wanderings, I was confronted with an abrupt reminder of how close I am to New York City... in the form of a 9-11 memorial. A sobering moment. On a clearer day than today was, from the stone marker you should be able to see the NYC skyline.

It's 9 years since that significant day in U.S. history. As I stood there at the memorial, I pondered how much changed in those moments...

Rainy Wednesday

Napping was the quadruped sport of the day. After a morning's sprint up and down the stairs, Jack and Gill crashed out... and so did Tag.





I unpacked a couple of boxes (yay me) and web surfed mostly. Noah needs more dress shirts for work and man is he picky! But I found some clothiers for him to peruse... and in the meantime shopped Ikea for some much needed bookshelves and kitchen shelves (not quite enough cabinet space in the new abode). I also *nerd alert* downloaded the trial version of World of Warcraft... yeah. I'm curious, what can I say?

It's raining steadily now, and I leave to pick up Noah in 10 minutes. Sigh... Good thing I have my trusty raincoat from REI! And Subaruby will most definitely keep me safe on the road.

In other news, we accepted an offer on the house yesterday! That's a huge relief. They're first-time home buyers and want to close escrow by the end of June to get a credit! We're happy that someone else will be able to enjoy our house as a home. It was a good place to live for the 2 years we were there.

Everything continues to fall into place here.

Oh, and I'm reading Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" for the first time. I have been feeling the "goth" vibe recently and thought I'd give it a go. I mean, it's one of the books I'm reading. I'm also in the middle of "Anna Karenina", if I can ever figure out where it was packed... and I wouldn't put it past me to pick up a Jane Austen novel in the interim. I have no attention span... sigh.

I know I should have read Frankenstein before now.... tsk tsk.

Mary Shelley's life was so fascinating! I'm going to have to read more about her, too. I thoroughly enjoyed the introduction to the book. If anyone knows any good biographies on her, fill me in!

Off to pick up Noah from work!

It's Monday and there are boxes everywhere

Noah starts his new job today. He's upstairs catching a few more winks before waking up and being nervous about his first day. I think he's going to be fabulous at this... nothing to worry about.

We only have one car right now, which means he's going to drive away this morning and leave me with the unpacking. I can't help but envy him a little.

I thought I'd share some pictures of the house with stuff in it... in the hopes that once I've unpacked I'll be able to share pictures of the house with no boxes in it! So here we are... and here's hoping I can get through a lot of this relatively quickly!

A little bit of settling

It's warm and humid here... and we are slated to have thunderstorms this afternoon and evening. I love this kind of weather :)

We are staying at this quaint little place, Westport Inn, right now. It's pet friendly and a LOT nicer than La Quinta in our area... still it has its quirks. The air is either off or on... and you have to man-handle the thermostat to make it turn off. The door to the room also requires a very strong arm to open and close... the digital clock in the room is connected to a plug that is affected by the lightswitch by the door... so you have to reset the time every time you turn on the light... I think we've circumvented that weirdness by turning the light by the bed on and off at the lamp and not messing with the switch.

Even with all this it's nicer than La Quinta in Stamford.

Tag is with us and the kitties are at the house trying to get adjusted. They're hiding anytime anyone is around that makes noise. Once the house is full of familiar smelling furniture I think they'll come out again. Poor kitties.

Tag is a champ. He just wants to be with us and has traveled really well! We're getting him groomed on Sunday for the first time. I'm nervous... I'm sure he'll be fine, though. We found a GREAT off leash park for him to play at. It's as nice as a golf course!

Our stuff arrives tomorrow... and thus begins the mad time of un-packing and making ourselves at home. Today will be full of errands... gotta get the oil changed in the car... get curtains and curtain rods for the house...

Here are some pictures of our new home for you to see. Just renting, but it's super nice!

We made it!

We made it to Connecticut today. It was a long journey and we're happy it's over.

The house looks great. I'll have pictures for you soon.

Tag has been a bit sick today. I think it's just been a long time without his regular schedule. No horrible incidents to report.

In other news, the La Quinta in Stamford is not so classy... tomorrow we'll be depositing the cats in their new home (checking on them daily until we are moved in) and moving to a classier establishment.

It's been stormy all day. I love storms!

I'm looking forward to getting to know the area better. And can't wait to go explore NYC!

For now I'll leave you with a picture of the George Washington Bridge and of Tag enjoying a traveling bully stick... the last leg of our journey is complete!

Last leg tomorrow: Updated

We're outside Cleveland tonight... everyone is snuggled up on the bed together. I think they're pretty tired. I know I am. Tomorrow we drive from Cleveland to Stamford where we'll be staying in a hotel for a few more nights. Our stuff doesn't arrive until likely June 7... which, incidentally is Noah's first day at the new job.

We're ready to be done driving. It's been a long journey and we are glad to be getting to the end of it.

Tonight we're watching Bones re-runs and a thunderstorm that is rolling past the window.

I'll leave you with a few random pictures of the Midwest.

*Updated: I forgot to mention I ate at Cracker Barrel twice in 2 days... sigh. Love CB!