The summer of 2016 has been busy here at Cole Hollow.  We've been settling in and acclimating ourselves to our new retired lifestyle.  We added a second garage, or 'toy barn' to the property which has some of our family calling our place the "Compound at Cole Hollow."

The bottom line is we are really enjoying our retirement and are just starting to hit our stride and finding in a balance in our lives.

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Labor Day weekend, 2016, we went back to Illinois for Streator's annual Tenderloin n' Pun Crawl, and a sort of mini family reunion.  If you've never had a breaded pork tenderloin (BPT) sandwich, then you haven't lived - it's a midwestern thing.  That picture is of our family at the tenderloin lunch at the Bowl-Mor lanes - where Granma Emma used to bowl.  The other is a tenderloin sandwich and fries to give you an idea of why we would drive 10 hours to get one.

Sundday, October 16, 2016, we were able to get in one last boat ride for the season.  My nephew and i were able to get the motor fixed and running well again, so we took out the pontoon for a sea trial.  Our nephew-dog, cooper totally enjoyed having the wind in his face and wore himself out until he fell asleep in mama's lap. The mountain scenery from the lake was beautiful, a slight breeze and calm waters made for a pleasant end to one of the best Autumn Glory Festival weekends in recent memory.

Saturday, October 15, 2016, Autumn Glory Festival in Garrett County and my personal favorite is the parade in Oakland.  It reminds me of the many 4th of July parades we went to when I was growing up in Illinois - just a simple, small-town, home-grown, wholesome family affair.  You almost always knew someone in the parade and ran into many friends and acquaintances along the way.  This year we were honored to have the Honorable Larry Hogan, Governor of Maryland as the Grand Marshall.  The weather was picture perfect as if it had been ordered up by the Chamber of Commerce, and the crowds were huge.  After all, our Autumn Glory Festival was selected as the best fall festival in the nation on MSN.com.