The weather is a changin'

I'm feeling very end of seasonish. Although the weather is still hot, the leaves are turning, the tourists are starting to dissipate, the 'fall' term is underway and the yachties are beginning to pack up and move on.  The summer season in the world of boats is drawing to a close.

Don't be deceived by the calm atmosphere, on the face of it all is well but all is not completely plain sailing here in Rhode Island. We are all currently keeping a beady eye on hurricane Earl as it blows its way north, straight towards New England! There is every chance that the hurricane could change direction or weaken on its journey but every captain with a boat in the area would be silly not to make plans to secure their vessel - just in case. I will keep you posted on its progress but at the moment we could be in for an extremely windy weekend!

We still have just over a week until this little family of three wraps up its business in Newport for this year and heads back to the UK for a couple of months. With Angus back in town, and a few days of good weather forecast until we start to feel the effects of the hurricane, we decided on a family outing to the zoo. I haven't been to a zoo for years and Coco never has so we were all excited about our little jaunt.

Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford is the perfect starter zoo. It is small but beautifully kept with a couple of wow animals (elephants) to draw in the crowds but mainly you see animals that are indigenous to the USA (black bears, bison and beavers) all are equally as impressive. Coco seemed to love it giving frequent waves and overexcited shouts of, "HI", to every single animal or person that we passed by. There was a little farm when you could pat the horses and have pony rides and plenty of shady grassy areas to picnic and watch the world go by. If you need it, there is a small restaurant to buy food and drinks. Not that we did, we were armed with a box full of sandwiches and fruit so with our entrance being just $6 each and Coco was free, we had a delightful yet cheap day out. You can't ask for more than that really!

Today is our wedding anniversary (three years! Can you believe it?) and the sun is shining. Angus is at work this morning but I anticipate something delicious to eat and drink later - yum! I will leave you with my favourite wedding photo in honour of the occasion...