Camping on the Pacific Coast Highway

 

 What a cool place to camp! On our right side is the ocean and on the left is the Pacific Coast Highway - just inches away. So close that passing trucks cause this rig to sway like crazy. Actually even a small car going by gives us some pretty good sway. Basically we are parked on the shoulder of the road - albeit a nice super wide shoulder with painted lines to mark the parking/camping spots. Our rig fits site #56 perfectly without having to unhitch - with barely inches to spare. The front bumper of the truck is about two inches from the line and the spare tire on the back of the trailer might be hanging over the line by an inch. Just a few feet beyond and above the road are the railroad tracks - where Amtrak trains come by every so often. Above the railroad a few hundred feet is the busy traffic of the 101 - the major thoroughfare between west Los Angeles and San Francisco. How cool to have most of the traffic sounds drowned out by the sound of the surf.

 

 

For the five months we have lived here in southern California, we have been fascinated by this phenomenon of campers lined up for miles along the PCH and have wished we could join them. Well, now here we are! Yet another unexpected gift!

Life on the road: Five months, two years

Milestones:
Two years since we moved out of the big house
Five months since we hit the road

Location: Kenney Grove Park, Fillmore, CA. Our last morning here. Heading out this afternoon. Gonna' hit the road again with a long journey ahead of us.

Outside: mid-50s, foggy, almost drizzling earlier; sunny now

Hubby is: finishing one last job in the park and then we hitch up

Recent happenings: I've been celebrating the month of May with lots of fun stuff. On purpose. Because I knew I might struggle with being away from Michigan in May. It has been good. Fun times.

Surprises: This place has held some surprises for me - mostly fun ones. Interesting ones.

Made me happy: Facetime with grands last night. Hearing little guy say "I wuv oo, Gumba."

Makes me sad: Not being around to help while he has surgery and after

Noticed: It is lots easier to pack for a big trip when you don't have to move from one "home" to another. When most of your stuff is already stowed away where it belongs.

Blessings: This rig and this place

Accomplishments: Cleaned out the shed, sorted through our books and packed them away for travel, all kinds of other sorting and stowing

Working on: securing things for travel

Considering: which new notebook to christen as my official writing notebook for this journey

Lessons: Life is simpler with fewer things. Less stuff. Yep, yep.

Looking forward to: watching the sun set over the ocean tonight and falling asleep to the sound of the waves

 

The best vacation

Ooh, this is good. I recently posted some thoughts about what makes a vacation good. This morning I bumped into this great perspective.

"What we want out of a vacation changes as we age. It changes from vacation to vacation. There was a time when it was all about culture for me. My idea of a real break was to stay in museums until my legs ached and then go stand in line to get tickets for an opera or a play. Later I became a disciple of relaxation and looked for words like beach and massage when making my plans. I found those little paper umbrellas that balanced on the side of rum drinks to be deeply charming then. Now I strive for transcendent invisibility and the chance to accomplish the things I can’t get done at home. But as I pack up my room at the Hotel Bel-Air, I think the best vacation is the one that relieves me of my own life for a while and then makes me long for it again."
- Ann Patchett, "Do Not Disturb," in This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage

 

Feeling ready?

We leave THIS WEEK!  In four days!

Do we feel ready? What a loaded question - simply because there are so many facets to being ready in this case - so I guess there are several answers.

YES, we are ready to hit the road. Bob is ready to be done working. We are ready to see new country and to feel the open road.

I keep asking myself if I'm ready to be done living in this valley - and I do feel nostalgic about it. There are things that I had wanted to do - even things that I thought I would do every week - that just haven't happened. There are museums I haven't visited. There are restaurants we haven't tried yet - and a bunch that I wanted to go to again! There are neighbors I have not returned to visit to practice my Spanish. AND I did not ride the train! The historic Fillmore Western train ride will have to wait for my next visit.

We really do love living in southern California and yes, we most definitely want to do it again. BUT we want to live closer to the coast the next time. We want to be close enough to the beach for daily walks and we would like to be closer to the kids. So we are doing some research of possible places to set up camp the next time.

And are we ready for the big trip? Are we prepared? In the past, getting ready for a big trip usually meant this huge checklist of preparation - packing decisions and actual physical packing. Well, this time it is different because there are few decisions and seemingly very little packing. The decisions have already been made about what to take because they are already with us. Things are already packed away where they belong - except for the things that we have allowed to pile up on the shelves in the little shed we have here. Yesterday we tackled that shed and got our stuff sorted and packed and stowed in the cargo hold.

Actually, since this is our first time to do this, we don't know exactly what preparations we need to be doing, but we will learn. Besides packing the cargo - which we did yesterday - there will be a certain amount of rearranging and securing things in cupboards and cabinets so they are safe to travel. There will be odds and ends the day before like folding up the lawn chairs and tables and packing them away. Then the last-minute things before unhooking the utilities and hitching up the truck - like making sure TV and computers are safely and securely stowed away and loose items are cleared off the countertops. And there's that one bin that tends to fly out of my closet on the road - that must have some new moorings - or maybe a new home.

Oh, yah, there is one other part of being ready and that is planning our route and our schedule - or deciding to let it be flexible and unplanned. In this case, we are doing a combination between planned and unplanned. For the first several days, we have a bit of a schedule to connect with people along the way up the coast - friends and family in northern California, Oregon, and Washington - so we will need to get to those places at certain times. But then once we cross into Canada, we don't have a schedule except for hoping to arrive in Alaska before summer solstice - which should  allow a fairly leisurely pace.

So are we feeling ready? Yep, I think so. Are we excited? Most definitely.

Fillmore surprises

Spent the afternoon in downtown Fillmore.

It was a chance to really introduce my SIL to our little town while also a chance for me to say "good-bye" to Fillmore for now. I took her to La Fondita, the little restaurant that we had visited our first week here. Good choice. Yummy drinks served in quart jars - hibiscus Jamaica and my favorite - horchata.

We roamed the downtown area. We planned to browse the railroad museum and the historical museum, but they were both closed - so instead we browsed numerous fun little shops. Much to my surprise, we discovered an antique shop located in two train cars. Talk about cramped quarters! We walked through the length of the two cars in astonishment at all the stuff displayed there.

I thought she would enjoy the Little Shoppe of Hoarders - which is full of vintage and novelty items. We discovered Fox and Hound Treasures and Antiques. Then the hunting and fishing store - where 6 large antique dolls greet customers from inside their glass display case - somehow looking out of place in their environment. There is the tack store - that sure enough has saddles and harnesses and saddle bags and blankets and all kinds of riding equipment along one side, but is also a furniture showroom. Elvis costume components show up among the cowboy boots leading to a Graceland corner in the back of the store. We stepped inside the tiny apothecary and breathed in the amazing smells while craning our necks to appreciate the amazingly ornate ceiling.

It seemed that every store held new surprises and tidbits of information about the history of the area. We learned that every building in town had been damaged in the '94 Northridge earthquake and have basically all been rebuilt. We really wished we could get into the vintage theater, but a placard on the front wall explains the mystery of why it is no longer being used for anything; it was constructed of unreinforced block and therefore unsafe in this earthquake prone area.

There's the teeny tiny boutique that opens into the itty bitty salon where I got my hair cut a couple months ago. There is the old hardware store that was established in 1919 and reminds me of Barden's Hardware back home in Kingston also owned by the third generation now. I wish we had checked there last week for our faucet replacement instead of driving to Lowe's in Ventura. Sure enough they had the same faucet - and for $11 less! How can they do that?!?

There's Eli's Discount with the odd assortment of novelty items at the front of the store and lots and lots of empty shelves at the back. There's Estrella Market and Central Market - where the shelves are filled with all kinds of Mexican food ingredients and household supplies and where one can refill your water bottles with pure water.

What a fascinating place - where surprises await behind every storefront.

Water - or lack thereof

Friends have been asking about the fires, the drought and the extreme heat - and about how we are doing.

Drought
I have been sad about the drought since we arrived. In so many places everything is so terribly brown and dry and picky and poky. The live oak leaves have sharp tips all around the leaves which are like needles when dry. I hate how the stick themselves to the bottom of our shoes to ride inside and then dislodge in the carpeting. Ouch!

I have longed to see and hear water rushing through the wash just below our campsite, but I guess I never will. There was rain one weekend in February with lots of mud and rushing water, but we missed it because we had flown back to Michigan for a few days. When we returned we were delighted to see the mountains greening up. That lovely green springtime lasted several weeks, but it seems that the mountains are looking brown again - back to normal, I guess.

Water usage
I love the fact that we live in a green valley, but I often puzzle about how they do it. I thought that there was a water ban across the state, so then how are people watering? I guess it makes sense for agriculture, but what about lawn sprinklers? Well, it turns out that there is a very extensive water recycling program which is the source of most of the water used for sprinkling lawns - and I suppose fields as well. There is still much more that I could learn about.

Fire danger

There have been at least two major fire areas during our time here - one near Rancho Cucamonga east of L.A. maybe a month ago and most recently around San Diego. Neither of those are near us, but the fire danger warnings are on high danger most of the time. A couple nights ago there were fires along the highway between here and Santa Paula - a pretty long stretch had been burned along the side of the road. Bob thinks that a car burned on the shoulder of the road and the fire spread in both directions.

Extreme heat

Last week brought 105-degree temperatures for four days in a row. That turns our little patio into 112 degrees and means that we do have to use the AC on those afternoons. However, we are surviving quite well. Historically I have not done well when temps hit the 90's back in Michigan, but because it is drier here, I am not minding it so terribly. True I do not sit out in the sun when it is this hot, but I am able to stay somewhat comfortable. We are fortunate to have a pavilion over our unit which protects us from the overhead sun. It is only when the sun hits the side of our rig and reflects the heat into our little yard that it goes so high out there. But yes, it is manageable.

Local reaction

The locals were shaking their heads about how hot it was last week and are expressing gratitude for it being cooler this week. Those along the coast where the temps are moderated by the ocean feel sorry for us who live inland - saying things like "You couldn't pay me enough to live where it gets that hot." As for the dangers, I guess most are them are interconnected: the drought, the fire danger, and the high temps brought in by the Santa Ana winds from the high desert that can quickly whip any little flame into a vicious wildfire.

These conditions still feel really sad to me, but for the locals they just seem to be facts of life - like March mud in Michigan or February snow and gray skies.

Vacation?

"So where do you go for vacation?"

The implication was "we come here for vacation, but you live here at the park - so where do you go to get away?" It wasn't the first time we have heard that sentiment. Through the years of living at Hidden Hollows Tree Farm and Retreat Center, we talked about that more than once. When you live at such a beautiful get-away location, why would you want to get away?

The question stayed with me and kept poking into my thoughts. Some would say it is a moot point - that we don't need vacation because we are always on vacation - and I suppose it can look that way. But I think it might be a good question in that it provokes other questions.

Questions like "What is the purpose of a vacation?" or "Why do we need vacation?"

People seem to go on vacation for different reasons - which then logically explains why there are so many different types of vacation. Some people would describe their ideal vacation as reading books in a hammock while others would be bored silly with that because they long for activity and excitement and adventure.

So why do some people go camping in remote places while others vacation at Disney World?

Why do you go on vacation? What do you need from a vacation?

In one way, it would seem that rest is the purpose of vacation, although people tend to joke about needing to rest up from vacation. Maybe vacation is about refreshment, rejuvenation, restoration. You know what they say: A change is as good as a rest...

Perhaps it is a change of pace. If your work is sedentary, you might need your vacations to be active and physical. If you do manual labor in your job, a quiet, relaxing vacation might be more appealing.

Perhaps a change of scenery is what matters most. Moving your person from the city to a quiet country setting can be a balm for a tired soul while someone who has begun to feel isolated or bored with rural life may look for excitement in places with lots of things to do.

The need for a change of scenery probably explains why so many associate travel with vacation. For some, it wouldn't feel like vacation if they couldn't travel somewhere.

Then there is the change of climate that draws many people. Young families fly from Indiana to the Gulf Coast to celebrate spring break at the beach. People go on cruises.

For some people vacation may be about a change of the level of social interaction. Those who daily interact with people may seek privacy and peace and quiet, while a computer programmer who works from their home office may seek out people and the fun of social activities.

Different needs. Different hopes and expectations. It makes sense that different personalities who live and work in very different environments would need different settings to refresh and restore them. What one person would describe as "the best vacation ever" would be stressful and tiring for another. Conversely, what is relaxing and laidback and restful to one would be boring and dull to others.

So how does one go about planning the best vacations? Possibly by evaluating what it is that you need.

In our case, yes, we live in a park. A place where other people come to camp for the weekend. And yes, we even live in a camper and are surrounded by mountains. But we also have responsibilities, work schedules, time cards. We do work hard - well, at least my man does. So a change of pace for him/us would be to be free of those schedules. A change of scenery can include the very same camper walls but in a very different setting - like parked along the beach where we can fall asleep to the sound of the surf.

...

So how do you describe "the best vacation ever"? What do you need from a vacation?

Have you ever returned from vacation more exhausted than before? Maybe you look forward to getting back in a routine where you can settle back in the familiar. Maybe you come back physically worn out, but mentally refreshed.

How does one plan the perfect vacation? It seems that it must start with thinking about what is needed. What part of you needs rest and what part needs stimulation?

Of course, that is complicated when vacation includes more than one person. Then you have to find ways to balance the needs of diverse personalities. And that is a whole other topic!

Blog tour: My Writing Process

This week I get to do a new thing. New to me anyway. I have been invited to participate in the #mywritingprocess blog tour - which has forced me to articulate a bit about where I am in my writing process.

My friend, Patricia Storbeck, got me into this. I have been following her blog Mojito and Me for probably a year or more. For five years, Patricia and her husband have sailed the world on their boat, Mojito. Being more of a land-lubber myself I have enjoyed her travels from my computer on solid ground, but still Patricia has had a hand in strengthening my sense of adventure. Be sure to visit Mojito and me.

I first met Patricia through Tribe Writers and then last November we were writing buddies for National Novel Writing Month. Being several time zones behind her meant that I could never quite seem to catch up to her in my word count, but her seemingly boundless energy stretched me and encouraged me.  And hey, we did it! We both made the goal of writing 50,000 words during the month of November. I am honored that Patricia asked me to be part of the #mywritingprocess blog tour. And now it's my turn to talk about my writing process...

What am I working on?
My main writing focus for publication is my blog - right here - where I write about my wonderings and my wanderings. I have always wondered about lots of topics - from faith and religion to science and human nature. Attending church for 60 years or so and serving in ministry positions for most of those years, I guess I became a religious insider. But after being "dismissed" from the institutional church a few years ago, I am now learning what it is like to be an outsider. And now I am wondering about a lot more things - mostly along the lines of sorting out what I really believe and what is worth the investment of my time and energy. Interestingly, this exodus from organized religion coincides with a another rather dramatic move - stepping away from long-term deep roots in real estate and stepping toward life on the road. I write about both of those here - some of my wonderings and a few of our wanderings. 

Read more about my writing process here including the answers to these questions:
- How does my work differ from others of its genre?  
- Why do I write what I do?
- How does my writing process work?

And now meet Kendra, Nancy, and Lisa...
...my recruits for the #mywritingprocess blog tour. Please visit their websites and learn about their writing process - and a whole lot more.
 
Kendra Burrows
I met Kendra in a Facebook writer's group when she made comment about wanting to be more consistent with her blogging habit. That sounded familiar - so we connected to encourage each other. I like how honest and vulnerable she is and I admire how many books she reads and reviews.

Kendra Burrows is newly married to Bill (the most wonderful man in the world), mom to the most amazing kid, and blessed to be part of the lives of Bill’s children, who are also quite something! She has no idea why God has blessed her with so many riches but is ever appreciative and humbled by His grace and guidance in her life.

An Oregon transplant, during the rainy season Kendra teaches psychology at the local community college. When the sun is shining (and even when it's not!), she enjoy gardening, house remodel projects, cycling, reading, all things in the kitchen, and most especially, hanging out with loved ones!
She writes about life, family, and other bizarre things here. 

Nancy Bouwens 
When I enrolled in the Tribe Writers on-line course, I noticed that Nancy was also from Michigan - and that she was going through a downsizing life transition somewhat similar to mine.
She is a life coach, writer and empty nester mom to three adult children. She writes and coaches about living a life on purpose through intentional choices and by embracing a simpler, slower and more abundant life. 
Nancy has seen the faithfulness of God in the midst of unspeakable pain as her three adult children, within a short seven month time span, each journeyed through life changing medical conditions; a car accident resulting from a drunk driver, an auto immune disorder, and a devastating stroke.
After recently downsizing their life, selling their home of 20 years and condensing into a much smaller living space, Nancy currently makes her nest in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her current "bucket list" includes a hot air balloon ride, dance lessons, experiencing Europe and visiting every national park in the states. Her favorite travel destination is currently Arizona where her five grandchildren live and breathe! You can find Nancy blogging about simply abundant life.

Lisa Wagner
Lisa and I have been NaNoWriMo writing buddies for a couple years. I kinda' love NaNo so I was pretty impressed to discover that Lisa's kids were also participating. What a neat feat to accomplish - not just for herself, but to also guide her kids to do so as well. I commend her for that.  
Lisa is an unpublished writer who began writing during National Novel Writing Month 2007. She has participated in NaNoWriMo (and won!) each year since then. Lisa's four kids, now ages 12-19, are educated at home and have all written NaNoNovels as well. Before homeschooling, Lisa taught in an unusual multi-grade classroom for several years and she has worked as a tutor, a lay reader, and a GED instructor. Currently, she teaches composition classes to homeschoolers and works online for a linguistics technology company. Lisa has written five unpublished (so far!) novels and one novella and is looking for a publisher. Her current works-in-progress are a book club guide to the works of Jane Austen and a fantasy novel. She blogs occasionally at Mirkwood Reflections and Cornerstone Home Learning.

I hope that reading about our writing processes inspires you to consider your process - whether for writing or following your own particular passion.  

Less than happy, mother's day

My heart is almost painfully full this fine morning. Full of joy at my own good fortune, but at the same time crowded with pain for so many friends who are not feeling "happy" on this day. The ache of empty arms, the memories of an "iffy" mother or of things that ended badly and things that will never be, the hurt, the betrayal, the abandonment, the grief, the fear, the confusion.

Trying to be sensitive to that pain makes me wonder if I should keep quiet about my own joy. I certainly do not want to flaunt it in the faces of those who don't have it. But minimizing my own blessings is probably not the answer. So what is the answer?

Maybe it is simply to remember. To remind myself and any who will listen that this is not a happy day for some women and that some little greeting will not make it so. Cannot make it so.

So today I remember. I remember those who feel pain today. Those who bear shame. Those whose arms ache. Those whose calendars bring sadness and fear and memories of loss.

I will remember that not all of us had wonderful mothers and that there has been deep harm done by those who should have protected from harm.

I will remember those who did have good moms who were taken too soon and are so terribly missed.

I will remember the mothers who can barely breathe on this day because of pain and loss.

I remember. And I learn of more of you.

I wish to stand with you somehow. Or to sit with you. In the pain. To sit quietly beside you so that you know someone cares. To listen if you want to rant. Or weep.

To send quiet hugs your way.

To tell you I am so sorry for your loss.

To let you know that you are not alone.

A tribute to my girls

To my three incredible amazing women...

You all make me so achingly proud. 

You have taught me so very much - and you have all helped me to become better. 

You all inspire me in so many ways - stretching me and encouraging me and partnering with me. 

You are each like me in enough ways to make my heart swell with pride but you have all surpassed me in so many ways that should remind me that I can take very little of the credit.

So instead I simply bask in the joy of you.

And I will thank your amazing dad for being such a wild partner in this parenting gig - a dad who more than filled in the gaps and made me look good. Yah, he deserves lots of credit!

My heart is tender again this year for the many women I know for whom this season is so painful and I do NOT want to insensitively flaunt what I have. 

But my heart also overflows and I just have to express my gratitude. I can hardly believe that one woman could be so honored to be able to claim these three amazing, incredible women as mine. So happy it makes me.

I love you all so very much.

Margaret Brownley: best-selling author

The opportunity to meet interesting people is often cited as one of the benefits of traveling. We are discovering this to be true.

Coming back from my morning walk this weekend, I noticed some posters on the side of a motor home camped in the park - posters that seemed to indicate that an author might live in this rig. Sure enough; there she was - sitting under her awning. When I said hello, she graciously invited me to sit and visit. We talked a little - sharing tidbits of information to introduce ourselves - before I resumed my walk.

Her name is Margaret Brownley and she writes westerns that are set in the 1800's. She has written over 30 books - including some New York Times best-sellers. We had a nice chat and I learned some things about writing. As I continued on my walk, I started thinking about the writing project that I'm working on. I thought it would be fun to ask her some of the questions from the project so I impulsively grabbed a notepad and headed back to her campsite to see if she might have time for me to pick her brain and learn a bit more from her. She graciously agreed and granted me a little impromptu interview right there on the spot.

It turns out that Margaret got her start while writing for church newsletters and eventually branched out to romance novels. While writing for Harlequin, her agent was impressed by the humor in Margaret's notes and suggested that she write a humorous historical piece. That suggestion led her to writing historical westerns with themes of love and laughter - which has become her niche.

Margaret is fascinated with the old west and particularly with the stories of women who came into their own during that era. She believes that many movies do women a disservice in their limited protrayals of our gender. Despite that stereotype, she has been amazed to discover how many of the homesteaders were women - as well as newspaper editors and other careers - therefore she wants to celebrate them in her stories. Recently she has been writing stories that feature women detectives - or rather "operatives" who worked for the Pinkerton Agency.

Every author's writing process is different and Margaret labels hers as "organic" - in that she doesn't know where she is going with her story and admits that method can be nerve-wracking at times. She does often send a paragraph to her publisher summarizing the basics of the story, but doesn't have the details worked out yet when she begins writing.

When asked about her schedule and writing routines, she responded that she is an early riser - which seems to be a common writerly trait. She is often at her computer by 4 a.m. - dedicating mornings to composing her WIP and afternoons to the work of the writing business or perhaps other projects - like the novella she is currently working on.

I asked about her research methods at which point she mentioned the need to check out any dates she might use in a story - because "some reader will be sure to check"- as well as other details of the period. I didn't ask about her weaknesses, but she volunteered a couple - admitting that she is terrible at time lines and once had a character who got to be 150 years old because she had failed to kill him off earlier in the series - so that is an area that she knows to seek critique from others. And because she lives in southern California, it is not natural for her to think of including weather in her story settings - so she has to work at being intentional about that as well.

On Sunday afternoon I read GUNPOWDER TEA - which is her latest book and the last in the "Brides of Last Chance Ranch" series. Set in the Arizona territory sometime before statehood, it is the story of one of the Pinkerton girls who has worked extremely hard to prove herself in a man's world. On the way to her assignment at Last Chance Ranch, her train is robbed - most likely by the gang whose leader she has been sent to apprehend. Her undercover task is to answer an ad to become the heiress of the Ranch while at the same time finding the criminal, but first she has to earn the trust of the suddenly indisposed "boss lady" by serving as her emergency care-giver.

Although I don't often read fiction, I relished the historical setting and the twists and turns of the mystery. And even though I am not fond of the desert I did enjoy the geographical setting as well - possibly because I can appreciate the rigors of life in such a place and time. We recently traveled across desert areas of Arizona and California so I have a newfound admiration for the grit and spunk required to live there.
This prolific author is currently working on the Undercover Ladies series. The first book, Petticoat Detective comes out in December. She will also have a story in the June anthology Four Brides and a Kiss and her Nutcracker Bride story will be out in October.

Margaret has generously offered to give a copy of GUNPOWDER TEA to one of my readers. To qualify for the drawing, leave a comment below telling me something that you think you would have enjoyed about living in the Old West.

 ...
Late update:
Oops; maybe I should remind you to leave that comment below before midnight tomorrow, Thursday, May 15.

De-cluttering - still!

If you've been here long, you know that I/we have recently tackled this downsizing and de-cluttering thing. I read about it often, I think about it AND I try to do it. I have much to learn about doing it better. So I keep trying.

Reading through yet another piece on the topic this evening, I realized that I was feeling a little... I don't know... Maybe a little smug. I guess I was nodding my head and thinking "yep, yep; it sure is nice to live with less" - and I was probably thinking that this might not apply to me right now.

A year ago I was in the middle of a HUGE de-cluttering project. Way too big and taking way too long because I was dealing with a lifetime of piles and bins and boxes. But right now, I'm out here on the road on the other side of the country in our little casita with only the stuff that fits in this 29-foot fifth-wheel trailer! Yay! I don't have to declutter this year because this place is so small that I have to keep things in order all the time, every day, just to stay sane.

In the midst of reading and nodding my head and feeling grateful that I don't have to deal with clutter this month, I slowly remembered that little vertical shelf unit tucked in next to the refrigerator. It's a great little space to keep my tote bags handy and my caps for sitting out in the sun... and a few other things that I want to have ready for heading out the door... and this and that. Yah, that cabinet. The one where the pile is getting precariously high waiting to topple over when I open the door. That cabinet.

And then there is the little cabinet above the bed that I've been noticing needs some sorting and straightening. Oh, and the under-bed storage. I was going to sort through that stuff and re-pack - putting things that I don't need so often into the new bin I just bought that goes in the underneath cargo compartment. Yep, I need to do that before we hit the road again in a couple weeks.

Oh, dear; I guess I do have some de-cluttering to do. Too much to think about tackling after a busy day. Too overwhelming. Yah, that's what clutter does to you.

But hey, I could do just that one little cabinet...

And so I did! Yippee!!!

Is habit a good thing?

“Habit simplifies our movements, makes them accurate, and diminishes fatigue."

- William James

Thoughts on aging

Looking through some of my old posts I am.
Since this is the month of my birth, I notice the ones about getting old so here they are again.

----

Never resent growing old.
Some are denied the privilege.

-----

Optimists age like wine....
Pessimists age like milk.

-----

George Burns:
You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you're down there

----

And the camp-meeting preacher used to speak of furniture disease:
when your chest drops into your drawers.

What a good thing wonder is

Wisdom begins in wonder.

~Socrates

Thankful Thursday: mixed feelings

It feels like too long.
Most of the time it's okay, but today it feels too long.

When we agreed to take this five-month commitment which would become part of a seven-month journey, I was afraid it would be too long. Too long to be away - particularly from the grandkids. They change so fast and I miss them so much. Last night before going to sleep, I grabbed my phone to listen to some of the precious sweet voice memos that I had recorded of my little grand-daughter. We listened and chuckled despite the lump in my throat.

Back in December, when we were deciding about that commitment and making those plans, we thought we would break up the seven months with a trip home to Michigan in April or May - so I thought I could make it. But then we made an unexpected trip home in February so there probably won't be one in May.

Besides missing family, I also just plain miss the month of May in Michigan. It has always been my very favorite time of year. I love the colors of spring - the yellow-green light that came in through the north window from under the canopy of trees as they were budding out for another season of growth, the frothy-pink blossom of the redbud trees and the bright yellow daffodils.

So now it is May and I think I have accepted the fact that I probably won't get back there - the first time in my life to not be in Michigan in May. And now I have a choice about what to do with that fact. I could moan and groan - and I probably will - more than once. In fact, I guess maybe that's what I'm doing at this very moment. But I can also find lots of things to celebrate. After all, I have been able to get the jump on spring this year. I've already been enjoying warm temps. I already have a good suntan. I already have to wash smelly sweaty clothes. I already have to turn on the AC more often than I would like. I get to live in sunny California for yet another month even while preparing to pack up and hit the road for the next adventure. I have no cause to complain.

And I get to be with my youngest daughter for my special days this year - something very much worth celebrating.

I also celebrate modern technology. I love cell phones and Facebook and e-mail and Facetime! Lots of us grandmas originally joined Facebook primarily to be able to keep up with photos of our kids and grand-kids whether near or far away. I especially love FaceTime and being able to tell the little guys good-night and be silly and blow kisses with them. What a wonderful world we live in where we can do such things!

And I have lots of exciting things on my May calendar and on my to-do list - way more things than I will ever be able to get done. Some things will be hard and some will be fun. And some will be both. There will be tears and sadness and there will be celebration. Life is worth celebrating.

So on this first day of May, this first May away from my home state, I choose to have a good month. On this Thursday, there is much for which to be thankful - so that is what I choose.