Michigan!

The last weeks have been far less itchy than the time spent working on my boat, but definitely memorable. Flying back to Cape Cod I saw the tip of the airplane wing orange with alpenglow.

The next day the weather made sure to point out that THIS IS NOT THE TROPICS! 

Cynthia had been working like mad to put in an entire month of full time work by mid month. We then loaded a UHaul trailer and headed to Michigan! We HAD to visit my cousin Jeannie since we never see her elsewhere, stopped to see the icy Niagara Falls

and this spire in the mists,

took a shortcut through Canada to Michigan, spent the next night with Cynthia's sister's family (and took the dogs for a very nice walk over the open fields),

and then, finally, got to "our house" in Grand Haven.

After two days on the road to arrive here, the pups took a few minutes to run through the house, then hopped eagerly back into the car, clearly saying "ok, this has been fun, now let's get back to our beloved home! We've been away too long!" We felt rather sad telling them that this is now their new home, at least for the next couple months. The next day I set them up with their dog beds on an impromptu window-seat and they seemed satisfied to sleep and wait for Cynthia to return from her first day of work.

And they certainly seem to enjoy the abundant sunshine coming in the windows here.

Lucy and I often compete for the beanbag chair.

So.

Here we are in Michigan! How can I tell we are in the midwest? We have Meijer, Walmart, Staples, West Marine, and Home Depot within five minutes drive. We have our own coal power plant for the town. Also, a really nice thunderstorm came through at about 1am on our first morning, dropping hailstones (well, pebbles, really) that drifted up as deep as nearly an inch in spots. Tio hated the noise and sought refuge in the bathtub, so I put his bed in there with him and turned on some music. Lucy, of course, snored right through it, cuddled up to Cynthia.

So far I've fixed one toilet (while keeping Tio company during the thunderstorm) and need to replace the valves on the other. And the shower drips. Wind blows through many cracks in the basement. And, when we got to the "furnished house", we found no sign of silverware, cups/plates/bowls, utensils, garbage cans, shower curtain, etc. So glad we spent the prior night at Cynthia's sister's place rather than arriving here after dark, exhausted, with hours of work before we could rest!

So, I'm busy fixing things and taking care of Cynthia and the beasts. Cynthia has been learning and generally enjoying the new job (and she loves being able to walk there in two minutes and seems to enjoy the people). Life goes on. Life is good. Life is interesting.