End of September

It's the last day of the month; I'm not sure how we got here.  And just like last Saturday when we visited my son, it's overcast and/or raining.  Seems like Ophelia won't go away; it's either remnants or something else...I'm not sure.  All I AM sure of is that I'm tired of the wet and damp.  Yes, rain is important and we need it, but not all week!  (Okay, Wednesday was a "good" day, but it was ONE DAY out of the week, and of course a day that I was locked up in an office all day.  The joy of remote working was that when the days were sunny and/or warm, I could sit out on my patio and work.  I CAN still do that, but only 2 days a week and the weather seems to rarely cooperate with me.)  

Complaining about the weather won't change it, but I'm doing it anyway.  This was the week that my cousin came to visit.  She hadn't been to the east coast in 9 years and I had hoped that the one day I took off to spend time with her would be a good one.  It was not.  She is a trooper.  (And she, like me, has been through hell this year; her mom passed away a month ago.)  We made the best of a crappy, but not totally awful day.  We had coffee and went through family history and photos.  (It's looking like we are descendants of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins.  And if you don't know who they are, read Longfellow's poem "The Courtship of Miles Standish," which is most likely a fictional story.)  I went with her to Jones Road for a makeover (at 8:30 according to her confirmation email, but that was 8:30 HER time, which translates into 10:30 NJ time...someone needs to fix that website glitch); I watched as she had a blast getting made over.  She walked out looking fantastic (though I have to say, walking in with no makeup on, she looked pretty darned good) and with a much lighter wallet.  (Having watched the makeover, I AM tempted to do the same, but an appointment is NOT cheap and neither is the high quality makeup.)  Then we, along with my husband, headed south to the shore.  There were some photos that I had at the shore house that I wanted to share with her AND I so wanted her to be able to visit the beach.  (It was probably more important to me than it was to her!)  

It wasn't raining when we left.  It rained on and off during our drive.  We'd hit torrential rain and then nothing.  It wasn't raining when we finally arrived and hit Wawa.  It was another "experience" that I insisted she have.  I treated her and my husband to Gobblers.  Kind of "early Thanksgiving" with family?  (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)  I think she liked it.  (K, if you're reading, did you?)  I KNOW she liked it more than when I dragged her up to the beach in whipping wind and misty spray.  Guess, I was being the bossy big cousin.

We made it back north just in time for her to go pick up our aunt and hubby and I to pick up pizza.  The last time she had been out to visit, we'd done a pizza and wine night.  Doing it again, I think we've started a tradition.  A fun one, in my opinion and I'm so glad that we got to spend time together, even if the weather did its best to ruin it for us.  (Note:  the next day [the day which I needed to be in the office] was beautiful and she and our aunt got to spend some quality time enjoying the colors of autumn in NJ.)

Thursday was overcast, but Friday was torrential.  I spent the day worrying about the house at the shore, especially as I saw extreme flooding several miles North.  Thankfully, it seems as though our area didn't get hit too hard, although high tide in the bay may be questionable.  (The bigger question is who filled my trashcan to the brim with garbage?  It's so full and heavy that I'm not sure how I'll drag it to the curb.  It MAY have something to do with the new neighbors who seem to think that they own, not just their home, but the whole end of the block...or that's how it currently seems...maybe I'm wrong...I HOPE I'm wrong.)

And here we are, the weekend again and it's a repeat of last Saturday.  Rain that stops and starts; perpetually overcast.  Like last Saturday, I refused to let the weather stop my plans.  I was determined to get to the Brick Farmer's Market (since I had failed to do so all summer long).  Nothing like slogging around a muddy park.  At least I got to sample some of the wares of  Cream Ridge Winery (Do I even have to say that I purchased several bottles?  I think a visit to the actual winery is in my future.)  Since I was already out (and wet), I headed over to my new favorite vegan bakery, Papa Ganache, where I managed to restrain myself and only (?!) bought three small(ish) treats.

With the rain still coming down, I headed back to the house to find the water in the lagoon rising awfully high.  Full moons and heavy rains are not my friend.  But as I finish writing this, the rains seem to have stopped and I hear that the first day of October is going to bring some sunshine back into our lives.  (We surely need it.)  If so, October may replace September as one of my top months of the year.   Come on October!