Category: Lewes

Posted on

Day 21: My 100 People Project #30-33!

After sleeping in a little on Sunday morning, we got up and had breakfast with the picture taking people who were staying at our hotel.  I was sad to have to say good-bye to them already, but they were already talking about someplace where they will meet again to take more pictures.  That made for happier good-byes.


After we finished eating. but before everyone left the hotel, I remembered that I hadn’t taken any photos for my 100 People Project during the weekend.  When I among all the fun people, I forget that I should be taking pictures of them.  Maybe I picked the wrong kind of project for myself.  Anyway, I did take a couple this morning.

Ms. Peggy was one of the first of The Lady’s picture taking friends that I ever met.  She lives in Delaware.  When The Captain was sick, Ms. Peggy and another picture taking friend, Ms. Michele, came to visit The Lady so she had some friends to do fun things with while she was taking care of The Captain.  Ms. Peggy brought two of her friends, Ms. Karen and Ms. Wendy, with her to Leesburg for the weekend.  Ms. Karen and Ms. Wendy live in Lewes, DE, the same town where The Captain lived and where Mr. Guy and The Lady adopted me!  It is a small world!

We haven’t been back to Delaware now that The Captain is gone and The Lady sold his house, but since we now have lots of new friends in Lewes, maybe we will go back and visit sometime soon.  I think that I would like that.  I could go back to Kids’ Ketch, the store on Second Street in Lewes where Mr. Guy and The Lady found me, and tell them how happy I am to have been adopted by Mr. Guy and The Lady even though I had to move from Delaware to Texas.

Even though I met Ms. Peggy a few years ago, I did not have a good picture with her because I had not started my 100 People Project back then.  She and her friends agreed to help me!  I like taking pictures with people who are friends.  And, I got three new numbers in one picture!


I am thankful that these pretty ladies were willing to have their picture taken with a little shaggy blue and orange monster!  

After we said good-bye to the Delaware Ladies, we had to go pack our suitcase and get ready to head to the airport.  On our way back in to the hotel, The Lady stopped at the front desk to make a reservation for the hotel shuttle to take us.  The man behind the desk was very cheerful and helpful.  He made our reservation and he told Mr. Guy where he could get more coffee.  Since this man was so nice, and I was on a roll with my project, I asked him if he would have his picture taken with me.  He said, Yes!  Thank you, Mr. Eric!


We were staying at the Courtyard by Marriott at Dulles Town Center.  If you ever go to Leesburg, or Dull as Dulles, or Sterling Virginia, you should go see Mr. Eric at his hotel.

I did have one concern about Mr. Eric’s hotel though…they had some crazy art in the hallway!

I like the colors in this painting, but it made me feel like I was in the middle of a Texas tornado.  Well…I’ve never really been in the middle of a Texas tornado, but if I ever am, I think it would feel the way this painting looks – twirly and dizzy-making!  I wonder if the inside of a tornado would be blue and orange?

After we packed our bags, we loaded into the shuttle and were on our way back to the airport.  We had a couple hours to wait for our plane so Mr. Guy went to get us something to drink.  For a minute I was confused about this place, Five Mr. Guys…there aren’t five Mr. Guy’s; there is on one real Mr. Guy!  Then I read more closely. It is just Five Guys, not Five Mr. Guys.  I felt much better!


We had an uneventful airplane ride home.  I slept the whole way.  I didn’t even wake up to eat any nuts.  When we got home the canines and the felines were glad to see us.  I wanted to catch up on my blog as soon as we got home, but I was still a tired little monster.  Having fun is hard work!

Thank you again to all of the picture taking people who made me feel a part of the group and to Ms. Peggy, Ms. Karen, Ms. Wendy, and Mr. Eric for agreeing to be part of my project.

I am a happy and grateful little blue and orange furry monster!

Monster hugs to everyone!

Posted on

A Big Surprise!

Yesterday I shared about how I helped to make Mr. Guy’s birthday cake.  Today when I woke up The Lady and Mr. Guy told me that today was a special day; it is my birthday!  Well, sort of…

The Lady said that birthdays are the day that you come into the world.  I don’t know the exact day that I came into the world; neither do The Lady and Mr. Guy.  So we are celebrating the day that I came into their world.  It was one year ago today that Mr. Guy and The Lady walked into Kid’s Ketch toy store in Lewes, Delaware and decided that they wanted me to become part of their family.  That made me one very happy blue and orange furry monster!  I have been a lot of places and learned many things over the last year.

The Lady likes to take pictures so that she can remember her adventures.  I like to collect T-shirts from all the places that I visit.  They are kind of like pictures to me, but I can wear them.  Every time I put one on it reminds me of special place, or person, or both.


For my birthday, Mr. Guy gave me these funny white things that look like triangles with a crooked horn.  I said, “Thank you.” but I had no idea what I was supposed to do with them.  He told me that they are called “hangers.”  They are used to hold clothes so that they stay neat and you can easily find the ones that you want.  Before I got the hangers, all my shirts were in a basket that I had to dig through to find the one I wanted; then they all got unfolded.  That was not good because my monster paws don’t fold clothes very well.  Now that I know what they are for, I am very happy with my new hangers!  And, I have some unused ones so I guess Mr. Guy thinks I will get some new shirts this year!  I am doing a happy monster dance!

Speaking of new shirts, I also got one of those for my birthday.


 It says “THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”  That is exciting!

Even though I was adopted in Delaware, I actually live in Texas.  During the past year I have made several trips back and forth between Texas and Delaware because we were visiting The Captain, The Lady’s father.  He was sick during that time and died back in October.  Though I am usually a happy monster, that was a sad time.  I am glad that I got to go see The Captain several times.  We liked to watch baseball games together.  The Captain always cheered for the Philadelphia Phillies.  I have a Phillies T-shirt that reminds me of The Captain.


On our trips to Delaware, I also got to meet some of The Lady’s picture taking friends, Ms. Michele and Ms. Peggy.  I got to go some neat places with them while they took pictures.  Ms. Michele sent me my very first package in the mail, a University of Delaware T-shirt!  Every time I wear it I think about Ms. Michele, Delaware, mail, and, most importantly, friends.  Ms. Michele also gave me another shirt on one of our visits.  It is my “dirt shirt.”  It makes me think about Ms. Michele, playing outside, and chocolate.  Dirt and chocolate are the same color.


In between our trips to Delaware, I also visited San Diego, California; Phoenix and Tuscon, Arizona; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  That is a lot of traveling for such a young monster!  I have been on lots and lots of airplanes.  Sometimes the other people on the airplanes look at me funny.  Well actually, I think they are looking at Mister Guy and the Lady funny because they are flying with a furry blue and orange monster.  It doesn’t seem to bother them, though.  Mr. Guy always carries me and holds me and keeps me safe.  I am called a “lap monster” on the airplanes so I don’t get my own seat; I have to sit in Mr. Guy’s lap when we fly.

My people said that we will adventures on airplanes this year too, but that we won’t go back to Delaware any time soon.  That makes me kind of sad because I have friends there, but I am excited to visit some new places too.

After I opened my birthday presents this morning (the shirt and hangers), we went out for lunch at Taco Cabana.


I had chips and queso something new, street tacos.


I liked them because they were little and easy for me to hold.  The people there were really nice!  They wished me a happy birthday.  One of them was so nice that he got me thinking…I thought about this the whole time I was eating my tacos and decided “yep,” this is a good idea.  I told The Lady about me idea and she thought it might be fun, too.  So here it is.  I am going to try to have my picture taken with 100 new friends this year.  We’ll see how it goes.

Travis at Taco Cabana was #1.  When Mr. Guy ordered, Travis wanted to hear my story.  I told him that I was adopted one year ago today in Delaware and we were out celebrating my special day.  He smiled and said that his grandmother had lived in Delaware.  Like The Captain, his grandmother has passed away too.  After I ate my lunch and had thought about my idea, I went and asked Travis if would mind having his picture taken with me.  He smiled again and said, “Sure.  I would love to.”


He joked around with me for a few minutes.  That was a nice birthday present.  The Lady was not comfortable taking a picture of a stranger so this is not her best.  Hopefully with 99 more to go, she will get better!

When we got home, I got to have a special treat too, something that the Lady called a “cupcake.”  That sounded a little strange to me.  I thought I was going to have to drink my cake.  The lady said that that was not what “cupcake” meant.  She showed me that a cupcake was a cake that was the size of a cup, not a great big cake like the one I made for Mr. Guy.  Actually, my cupcake came from the grocery store.  I don’t think The Lady has recovered from our adventure making Mr. Guy’s cake yet.  That is OK.  It was a yummy cupcake.


Other than cake we didn’t do anything else special for Mr. Guy’s birthday.  For me, my people got things that they called decorations.  I had a funny hat that was shaped just like my horns so it fit on my head.


 They put this fire thing in my cupcake that kind of scared me.  I thought it might melt my fur so The Lady made the fire go away.  And, there were these big things that looked liked colored eggs that floated in the sky.  They were kind of fun.


The Mr. Guy doesn’t like them.  He told me that they are fragile like the eggs but if they break, they make a loud scary noise.  The only loud scary noise when real eggs break is from The Lady.

After all this excitement, I thought that my birthday celebration was over, but The Lady said that there was one more surprise.  She told me that there is someone who wants to be my pen-pal.  I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant.  I know that a pal is another name for friends and I like friends.  I know that a pen is something that you draw with, but only on paper.  (I learned that the hard way.)  But, I wasn’t sure how those two things go together.

The Lady told me that she has a new picture taking friend who lives way far away in Scotland.  Way far away was explained as ten hours on an airplane.  I understand airplane time!  Anyway, this picture taking friend also adopted someone like me and they too share adventures together.  My pen-pal’s name is “Stobbsie.”  Like me, he has a blog where he writes about his adventures.  Now we can write to each other and talk about all the things we do, places we go, and people we meet!  I am super excited!  Friends, old and new, are my favorite thing…except for maybe T-shirts.  No, friends.  Well, maybe T-shirts…Friends…Oh, I am having a monster conundrum I am going to have to think about this!  Anyway, The Lady is going to show me all of the blog posts that my new friend, Stobbsie, has written and then I am going to write to him!  I am such a happy and lucky little blue and orange monster!

Cupcakes!
T-shirts!
The Lady and Mr. Guy!
Friends all over the world!

What more could a monster want?

Thank you all who have made my first year so special.  I am looking forward to “THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”

Posted on

Peering From the Pier

Today the Lady and Mister Guy told me that we would go see that big ship again. It was going to be sailing out in the Delaware Bay! It would be cool to see it with all of its sails upl. So all day I  waited to go. While I was at home waiting, the Lady and Mister Guy went out  to eat lunch. They found a new place called Blue Sea Cafe. They did not know it was all decorated in orange and blue, like me! My kind of place! But I didn’t get to go. The Lady took some pictures to show me.

At dinner time we all left to go see the big ship. When we got to the dock, it was already out sailing.  Mister Guy and I waited and watched for it to come back. The Lady wanted to take pictures. While we all were waiting, she took some pictures of us. 


Mister Guy always tries to make sure I can see the interesting things. He also makes sure  that all of my fur is orderly for the pictures. 



The Lady tries to make sure  we both look good. 



The big ship finally came. It had been out sailing for almost two hours. 



We were all disappointed because it did not have its big sails out as it approached the dock.   It was being powered by a motor.  That just didnt seem right.  I guess they have be careful just how fast they are going when they come into the dock. It was still cool to see it gliding across the water. 



The place where the big ship lives also has a ferry. I learned that ferrys are another kind of big boat.  This one that takes people across to a place called New Jersey.   I think that I have heard on a TV commercial that New Jersey is where they make salsa.  The ferry will even let people take their cars aboard! 

Before we left the ferry terminal, we stopped to take a picture at the ferry boat sign. 



The ferry has been going back and forth from Lewes to Cape May for 50 years! Gosh, I haven’t even been around a whole year yet.  I think the Lady and Mister Guy are older than the ferry route.

On our way out, the Lady got all excited because she saw something and said we had to stop. She called  it Ms Pac-Man. I watched it for a while. 



The Lady said she used to play Ms Pac-Man A LOT once upon a time. So I learned this was a game I was seeing. She said it was more than a game; it was therapy when she was in college…whatever that means.

I was more interested in the reflection of myself than in those little ghostie things floating around.  



Don’t tell the Lady though;  she was so excited to show this game to me.   We went to the Blue Ocean Cafe, the blue and orange restaurant from earlier, they were closed. The Lady took my picture next to their sign. We matched perfectly!  I would like this place.  The Mister Guy promised to take me next time we come to Lewes.

Tomorrow we go home. I really have not been there much. Maybe this time I will get to learn more about where I will live most of the time.  But first, a new airport.  And, maybe a new T-shirt!

Posted on

And Now Ships…

Yesterday the weather was cloudy, but there wasn’t any rain. So the Lady and Mister Guy took me out with them. We went to the Cape Henlopen State Park.  The first thing I saw was this sign.


Were they talking about me?  Am I a pet?  I wasn’t so sure I liked this place.  The Mister Guy assured me that I was not a pet; he said that I was family.  That made me feel good. 


The Lady wanted to get pictures of something called a lighthouse. At first I wondered if this was the opposite of a heavy house. When we got there and I saw it. I must be right! The house was in the middle of the water so must be light to float, right? 



It sure looked tall…and it was round! Did someone live there?
The Lady and Mister Guy explained that it was really a big tower with a light on top to help big ships find their way through the breakwaters without hitting the land. Someone might live on the bottom of the lighthouse to make sure the light went on at the right time. And, it is so tall so the light shines a long way!  I think that’s cool.
We got to see the beach too. I had already been to a beach. But there were not any belly dancers at this one! I took a second to sit on this bench. It is nice that someone put the bench here to help remember another person.  It is so peaceful here.  I bet the people who donated this bench come here where it is quiet and beautiful and think about the person they love and miss.
Then we went to the park shop and I got another shirt! Yay!  I love new shirts from the places I’ve been! This one is blue. Not MY blue, but blue. We went out to the woods and took some pictures.



 I got to play in a tree. 



Mister Guy showed me a pine cone and explained how the tree I was playing in came from a pine cone just like the one I was holding. 



It made me wonder if blue furry monsters come from blue fur tree cones.  The Mister Guy explained that I had my “I’s” and “you’s” mixed up…something about fir and fur confused.  He talked about phoning home or home phones…I didn’t quite catch it all.  That was too much for a furry blue and orange monster to think about on a Sunday afternoon in the park.
After that we saw another tower. This one was not a lighthouse. It was big and heavy and we could walk right up to it. 



We could even climb up inside it, up to the tippy top. Mr Guy read that there were a bunch of these towers in Delaware. They were built to let people watch out for the enemy in a war. He said it was called World War II. I asked what war was and he said it was when people got so mad that they started killing each other. He said that there have been two times that so many people were mad at each other that almost the whole world was fighting. These times are called World Wars.  There had been many smaller wars. In fact people are fighting each other right now in places far away.
That sounds bad to me, even if it is far away. Blue and orange furry monsters like everyone.   I then got scared and asked if people here could start killing each other. The Lady said sometimes they do. I did not like hearing that.
To take my mind of or fighting, we decided to climb up the tower.  I could see a long way. 



I understood how this tower was used. I was glad to hear it help keep fighting from happening here, but the idea of people killing each other still made me sad. Then I looked down I saw this message and it made me happy.  



There must be some people who are not angry.

We climbed back down…well, actually the Mister guy carried me all the way up and all the way down. 



Then we went to a place on the water that was not a beach. There was a place for ships to stop. It’s called a dock. And wow!  What a ship was docked there!  It was a cool looking ship with an anchor and port holes, and ladders…a ran right to it!


The Mister Guy smiled at me and then told me to turn around and look the other direction.

OH WOW!  This ship was much cooler.  It had a bigger anchor, more port holes, longer ladders, and great big sails!




I was told that this ship is a copy of a ship that existed a long time ago, one that brought people from far away to Delaware. But, they did not call it Delaware back then. Those people wanted to get somewhere they could live happily ever after…just like me.  I liked hearing that last part of the story. 

So, I had a very good day! It was fun, a little sad, but good over all.

And I got a new shirt!


Posted on

Back In Lewes

We are back in Delaware, where I met my people. I haven’t been out and about much this trip, but that is okay.: it is nice to just stay at the house where it is not too hot and where it is pretty quiet except when there are surprise parties, but that is another story! 
Yesterday Mister Guy and the Lady went to a place called Fort Delaware. The Lady had some picture taking friends that met them there. I was disappointed that I did not get to go because I heard one of them, named Michele, asked about me. I like meeting new people and thought it was not nice of the Mister Guy and Lady to leave me behind. 
But when they came home, they were all wet! While they were on Pea Patch Island, it rained a whole bunch and they were caught out in it without any kind of jackets to keep their fur dry. Mister Guy even showed me a picture from the boat that showed all the rain at the Fort.

Getting all wet would not be good for my fur. So I guess the adult people, Mister Guy and the Lady, were right not to take me.  Sometimes it makes me upset when the adult people are right. But, yesterday would not have been a good day for a blue furry monster like me to have been out and about in the rain.  You wouldn’t believe what my fur looks like when it is soggy…not a pretty sight!