, as Mumpus discovered that one of her new work perks is $7 (normally $22) science museum tickets.
Once again, among the multitudes of small children, we conclude that Mumpus should have been some sort of naturalist, and Grumpus shouldn't have given up on science in college. Science exhibits meant for children are awesome, and yet in the midst of all that fun comes a deeply insightful thought from the Watching Wildlife brochure, and I quote, "It's possible to spend your entire life in this tunnel of silence-- as other life quite literally passes you by."
Maybe it's just me, but I found this cautionary statement to be very relevant to us and our lives, as we so easily get caught up in our immediately surrounding goals, worries and distractions, and as a result, miss out on all the great stuff happening around us- in our communities, with our loved ones, and in nature. (One of the reasons we love birding so is that when we slow down we find so many beautiful interesting things to observe and enjoy, corny as it may sound).
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| Veggies for sale at Corn Fest! |
Anyways, our official Fun-Day involved a nice long bike ride to Lexington, MA on the Minuteman bike path.
We had two goals:
1) Attend CORN FEST
2) Find the Lexington Artist Guild's summer exhibition/sale
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| Grumpus meets BuckTooth |
After whoopin' lots of people (e.g. passing them on the bike path), Grumpus successfully led us to CORN FEST- which wasn't so much a Fest, as a melange of corn-inspired food tastings in honor of Wilson Farm's new corn crop, which was just in. It turns out that, in Massachusetts, most of the farms we go to are just Whole Foods-like grocery stores with a small farm-like thing in the back. Nonetheless, we got to see some chickens and a lama with big buck teeth that escaped from its cage and was standing in the middle of the barn. Grumpus tried to make nice, but it sneezed on him, which scared him. Eventually, Grumpus decided that he needed to coax the lama back into its stall, but the lama was too strong, and he gave up. At least got to taste some delicious corn.
We continued on to Lexington Town Square to eat our picnic lunch. After wandering around the historic old town, sharing a soft-serve ice cream cone, and paying homage to the bell tower that rang the warning brought by Paul Revere, we found the Artist's Guild. It was pretty small but still sweet, and Mumpus bought herself some nice earrings.
It was a good adventure, but both of us are ready for the humidity to end!
This was originally supposed to be about how social we're becoming. Then, after news of Irene struck fear in the hearts of everyone on the East Coast and our plans were canceled, it was going to be about how we survived the hurricane. While we're thrilled that Irene didn't cause much pain in Medford, our anger at the storm for ruining our fun weekend made us take the fight to the storm.
Just after it started to pour on Saturday afternoon, Grumpus decided that it was time for a run. We struck out through the puddles and were reminded of the unadulterated fun we used to feel as little kids splashing in puddles (Mumpus) or playing football (Grumpus). Soaked, we headed home to wait out the storm. 
