Poor neglected Blogger. :(
I have been really sick lately though. *cough*hack*cough*
Though I feel MORE bad for the husband than for me. Poor guy. Ended up spending our 22nd anniversary in the hospital - for me. (Where no food was served. Worst anniversary dinner ever. lol)
It wasn't all bad that day though because, in addition to some other things, he gave me a trio of worry warts as a gifts:
Photo credit to Blobhouse because, really, I can't promote her stuff any better than this. It's PERFECT.
How prophetic! Ha! We had laughed and laughed over Blobhouse's whole Etsy shop a while back but especially the worry warts. Those faces SLAY me. (I love EVERYTHING in that shop though. Seriously.) But I hadn't forgotten about them since then so I really did love being surprised with my own warts.
And then the day after the hospital (which came with some new meds and more doctor appointments to line up) I started to come down with a vicious head cold that, two weeks later, I'm still dealing with. Duh, right? OF COURSE ALL THE SICK PEOPLE ARE AT THE HOSPITAL. IT'S PAR FOR THE COURSE YOU WILL CATCH THE PLAGUE THERE. Cue even MORE ferrying about to doctor appointments and more testing and it's all so MUCH FUN, I can't even. (Nothing definitive yet but beta blockers seem to be helping even without knowing the cause of my heart issues and I have some nifty tranquilizers that scare the crap out me that could be helpful but, honestly, I'm too scared of them to take them.)
Oh hey, did I mention he was on vacation this whole time too??? I brought down our anniversary AND his vacation. Go me? Heh.
In between me snotting and coughing (and being passed out from sipping from a Nyquil bottle 24/7 because it's the only thing that WORKS now that the meth-heads have stolen the good cold medicine from us) we did manage to get out a couple times though. Once to New London to see an art installation at an American art museum on Louis Tiffany. No pics (see: sick) but it was definitely worth the trip. (This state has more bloody "New" cities than it can shake a stick at though. I think it was New London? Hell, it could have been New Britain. I WAS SICK. AND NOT PAYING ATTENTION. Also, there are a million city and towns here that start with 'New'. lol)
But the real prize was a trip to.....
The Bronx Zoo.
YOU CAN JUST DRIVE THERE? It never occurred to me before but.......YOU TOTALLY CAN.
The impetus for this was an ad I saw in the paper here for a bus trip back in July. That date didn't work for me but it got me thinking....YOU CAN DRIVE THERE FROM HERE. So we did.
2 1/2 hours down and pretty much traffic free - no complaints at all!
(We will not talk about the drive back because the 95 once you get BACK into Connecticut is the most miserable stretch of epically awful traffic every_single_time_we_do_it_no_matter_the_time_of_day and GAH! Why is it so bad? It's like a 25 mile stretch of HELL. It's literally like falling into a wormhole and coming out into HELL. EVERY SINGLE TIME. Man, I am *so* glad I don't live anywhere near that end of the state.)
Anyhoo - BRONX ZOO. YAY. Totally a bucket list thing for me. It's one of the world's biggest zoos, in operation since 1899 with some of the original buildings from wayyyy back still in use. (The architecture alone is beautiful.) If you love zoos, how could you not want to go?
Verdict? It was awesome. And big. So so so so so big. We used up every last minute of the 7 hours the zoo is open to see everything. And we had to HUSTLE at the end, I tell you. For real. You can not overstate how big this zoo this. (My Fitbit recorded us walking SEVEN MILES while we were there. No joke!)
The favorite was the lowland gorillas. They have a really BIG enclosure that wraps around and around (and even over you) but a lot of them like to spend their time up right against the glass. I've seen gorillas before but never so close and at eye level. You could literally sit right NEXT to them, with just a slip of glass between you. Even hold your hand up against their hand, if you want. (And they do interact with you at times.) They stare at you AND through at the same time. It's uncomfortable, to be honest, and makes you think about a lot of.......stuff. (Also? Very humbling.) I would go back just for this.
Worth the trip if you can make it. :)
I felt pretty good while we were there, magically (?), and then my face blew up on the drive home for some reason and I was a drippy, swollen, cherry red eyed sad sack of a mess by the time we got home. I have no idea why it waited until we were finished with the zoo part of the day but I was so thankful it held off like that. WHEW.
Wish we could have gotten out more but........you know. Stuff happens.
Also good that week:
HONEY HONEY HONEY HONEY.
HONEY WAS HARVESTED.
This year's stuff is the darker colored honey. What a difference from last year, huh??
Funny how that works out.
Now have almost 65 bottles of new honey so this year was a success. THANK YOU.
Kind of nice after both hives collapsing last year.
Fingers crossed they live through the winter now! :)
More stitchy stuff to update now that *light cough* I'm starting to feel better but I'll save it for a post of it's own. :)