A PA Summer

 Four weeks have gone by in a blur.  The weeks were full of morning walks with my mom and Scooby, getting some of the college shopping done for Arlington, eating tons and tons of our favorite food, and more college prep for Arlington.

We are in deep shock with how the United States is fairing in this pandemic.  I cannot lie about that.  It is overwhelming and frustrating for us since Basel was pretty much back to "business as usual" before we left.  I can barely watch the news.  I am grateful to be surrounded by family and friends while we are here otherwise I would be floundering.  It is a lot.

We did have a small get together for Arlington for her graduation.  A small group of family on my side and then a small party for Mat's side.  We took all the necessary precautions and were still able to allow people to share their congratulations with her about her accomplishment getting into college.

Soon we will be packing up and heading back to Massachusetts.  I would like to say that we are going back into our house in Littleton, but sadly -not yet.  Our renters are still looking for a place to live.  So instead, we are going into a rental property of our own.  We consider ourselves extremely lucky because we are getting to stay in a nice size house while we wait for our house to be free.  Friends of ours actually moved to Basel, and while we are CRUSHED that they are leaving us to move to Switzerland, we are grateful for their generous offer to let us rent their house while we wait for ours.  IT was an incredible gift (that saved us from months in a tiny corporate apartment).

My parents are following us in a few days to Massachusetts.  Mat is still in San Francisco, so they are going to help us settle into our rental and also help me move Arlington to the University of Massachusetts.  I am grateful beyond words for their help.

Small gathering at my parents house.  We stayed outdoors and socially distanced and I even made everyone their own packet of plate, cup, silverware, napkin.  We did a good job.

My sister in law Tricia made these amazing cookies

We had a second party at Mat's family's house.  It was just Mat's brother and sisters and all of our nieces and nephews.  

Scooby spent an enormous amount of time on my parent's porch watching the world go by

A friend of mine made me this great mask

Scooby watched me eat tons of meals

And he used the stairs as a headrest

Cainan learned to mow the grass

Scooby and I and my mom walked 3 miles every day

I enjoyed seeing the painting projects around Connellsville

We ate Amish donuts the size of our head

My mom tried to go with Arlington to college

Sally made Arlington a beautiful quilt for her graduation

We visted the (almost) finished project on the Yough River Trail