Yes, I am still alive. I know. I’ve been off galavanting around the country this summer, made possible by grants from people who love me despite my many faults and my empty pockets. My best cousin Heather got married in Ohio last week, and thanks to some generously proffered airline miles, I was able to hop a flight at visit as close to the Eastern seaboard as I’ve ever stepped.

Ohio is a lovely, lovely place. My family lives in the tiny but historically packed town of Oberlin, and I thoroughly loved the little place. It’s beyond charming, and Oberlin college, the heart of the town, is beautiful. My aunt Crazy Chicken Annie (anyone who’s been reading Dandelion for any amount of time known CCA) relocated from California to Oberlin earlier this summer, and I was able to stay with her in her fabulous farmhouse with all her creatures. There was even a bat, but I’ll have to tell that story another time…

The first morning I woke up, this was the view out the window. Ohio is lovely…

We spent the next days getting ready for the wedding, making airport runs and reuniting with people I love but had not seen in eons. I also spent a great deal of time trying to get my hair to not take up all the vacant space in the known universe- the humidity was UNREAL. I finally resorted to just putting it up and trying to forget that I looked like a sharpei whose tail had wound up in a 220v socket.

Auntie Heather was radiant and very calm for a woman about to get married. We spent the day before the wedding hanging out in the little resort town of Huron with friends and family on Lake Erie.

As a western girl, familiar only with the Northern Pacific for my body of water, this lake was curious, in both its fresh-water-ness and in it’s odd warmth. I’m not used to a body of water large enough for tides and waves to not be cold enough to freeze my patootie off despite the late summer sun. I walked along the shores and talked with friends while I collected shells and stones for my kids. I really wished they could have been there this day- they would have loved the warm, calm, incredibly blue-green water.

Heather was stunning and the wedding was a blast- held at an artist’s retreat, complete with a giant tent, costumed photo booth, smores down by the river, torches and fireflies lighting the paths, woodfired pizza, and dancing late into the balmy night, it was one of the most beautiful wedding and parties I’ve ever been to. It was a joy to be there for her amazing day, and the family she has married into might be some of the coolest most wonderful people ever- she did well- and they are so blessed to have her.

That’s what I’ve been up to…