My Autumn Officially Begins ... Now!

Yesterday was the final day of this year's Renaissance Festival, and we didn't miss a single week. The last day, though, was wet, cold rainy and oh so muddy! Our dear friends Matt, Liz and one of their younger kids, Jimmy, came out to join us. We were worried they might skip it since Matt is a paraplegic and uses a motorized wheelchair, but they braved the rain and the mud and came out to spend several hours with us. We watched a stage show with them, then headed to the "pub" to watch the football game with them.

Here is a look across one of the major walkways toward the Petting Zoo. They
had wonderful animals for petting and feeding this year, including baby
kangaroos, lemurs (an extra $7 to enter the cage and feed them, but
they were pretty awesome), a llama, goats and baby goats, sheep, African
and American porcupines (mostly sleeping and not for petting), and
some baby antelope that had everyone falling in love. Check out
sea of mud and the tracks that the wagon with the two kids is leaving! 

Matt, DH and I watched the game. I took a couple of short forays into the rain to go to the bathroom or look over the food choices (none of which I decided to eat), Liz and Jimmy wandered the Festival grounds and Jimmy did some of the activities like the zip line and the bungee bounce acrobatics trampoline. DH and I mainly stayed with Matt and finally had a chance to catch up on our lives over the previous few months.

We had all tried to get together during the State Fair a month earlier, but kept missing each other. It was absolutely wonderful to see them again, even if it had to be in the mud.

A glimpse of Matt's motorized wheelchair at right, along with one
of my very muddy shoes. The flatter muddy areas like this one were
generally OK. It was the deeper, more wave-like mud that created
havoc with his wheels. Rather like the mud in the next photo. 

Speaking of mud, take a look at how bad it truly was! Getting Matt out of the Festival grounds was extremely difficult. His wheelchair is heavy, and even with six wheels, it can (and did) get bogged down if the mud is too deep. We had a few dicey moments with DH leading us through some poor choices of pathways, but then I took over the lead and got him moved over to the more packed earth in front of the various shop entrances. I wasn't averse to requesting people to 'please move over' so that Matt could get his chair through, and the people were very sweet and accommodating once they heard 'wheelchair' or saw him behind me.

Large muddy ruts like these were a real problem to get over, and
if the wheelchair actually got into the ruts, we might never get him
out of them. The only solution was a "quick" crossover to the other side.
BTW  Sharon - none of the cabriolet chariots were working at all. Mud is
more than they can handle, and the mud was very slippery. I could
envision some serious injuries if the carriages had been operating. 

Finally arriving at the entryway, DH and I got stamped for re-admission and walked with him down to the roadway, keeping him company while Liz walked down to collect the van and drive it up to collect the rest of her family. After she drove up and Matt got up the ramp and secured in the van, we waved good-bye, hugged everyone promising to get together sooner rather than later (and under better environmental conditions), and re-entered the muddy grounds to allow DH to buy one last-minute munchie. Then we left too, walking to the FAR end of the quarry parking pit - more mud! 

The inside of my shoes look horrid because my orthotic inserts have been
pulled out and put into my daily wear shoes, but it's the mud I wanted to
point out anyway! All of this has to dry and be pushed off into the
lawn or garden before I'm allowing them to be moved indoors
and washed. Ick! 

Enjoy your Monday. We had thunderstorms and serious downpouring rain for most of the last few hours, so I guess DH will have a chance to see how his drainage worked on the new patio now. He had wanted a good rain to assess it - LOL. Since it's now October, I'd better step up working on my holiday cards. I've been working on them in the early mornings, but now that what I want to do has coalesced in my mind, I have to make it happen. Cool weather is ahead, September is in the books and October beckons.