Quiet reflection...

Do you ever just sit in quiet reflection (meditation aside)?  No music, TV or people to talk to?   I usually don't.  I like sound.  If I am alone, I either have the radio (preferred) on or the TV, or if not alone, then I am singing (well, I call it that) or talking to someone (in person or on the phone).

Yesterday I found myself in an unusual situation.  Jack and I were sitting outside in the nice shade of the RV.  He was reading and I decided to start on my new cross-stitch.  He promptly feel asleep, leaving me alone.  I didn't want to turn the radio on because it might wake him, and the same if I called someone.  I didn't want to go inside because it was to hot.  There was no one to in sight, it was just me and my cross-stitch.  Now, the thing about cross-stitch is that there are large sections that can be repetitive, so it doesn't take much thought or brain power to do it - leaving your mind free to wander...so it did...

I started thinking about the last time I had done one of these, as it had to be many years ago.  There was a time in my life when I used to do a lot of cross-stitch (along with other sewing projects).  During that time there was a small group of us women (in our early 30's) who would get together once a week and work on our projects.  It was so much more fun that way!  We would talk about our kids & husbands (or guys we were dating), eat, drink, and laugh a lot.  Special friendship bonds were formed during that time.

I think we all have at least one special person we meet in our life who really makes a difference.  Someone who helps you through those "tough years", who seems to understand you better than anyone else.  That person for me is Jeanine.  Jeanine has the insight of a psychic, the wit of a night show host (actually their writers) and the heart of a volunteer.  She's a talented artist and writer and attractive to boot, and she doesn't see any of it!  She wears her very big heart on her sleeve and gives openly, so unfortunately she's been taken advantage of a number of times, and it never seems to stop her from being the sweetie that she is.

As I sat there reflecting on those times together, then, and over the years as we have grown, moved apart but manage to stay in touch, I smiled at how lucky I am to have her and the other friends I've made along this path called "life".

I know that my life was pretty rough going for the first half or so, but I have been so blessed with such special people along the way that I can hardly remember the pain, only the lessons learned - and I guess that's what it's suppose to be all about anyway...hmmm

Well, that was enough of the "quiet", I went inside anyway and called my dear friend for a  long over-due "girl talk"!

 

 ...kicking back in Desert Hot Springs,   Marie

Relaxing...Marie style

All my life I have been on the move.  My Dad was a career Navy man and in those days, the military moved you every two years, minimum.  Sometimes we moved houses in between the big moves.  I lost count of how many houses and schools I had gone to even before getting to high school.  When I was twelve, Dad retired and my parents got a divorce so my "movement" continued on going back & forth between parents and other relatives.  After high school I moved several times, then got married, moved a few more times and then came the children!

Once the twins came I haven't stopped moving!  In those early years I was raising the three children on my own, working three jobs while going to school and even fitting in a few dates now and then!  Later things slowed down to just one job, the kids and dating!

As the children grew older, marriage came and the job got easier, but I was always active...until now.  When I would tell folks about my "pending retirement" I would get mixed responses.  Some would congratulate me and share how they either enjoyed being retired or wished they were (depending on their status).  Some would ask "what will you do?"  I would quickly tell them how I had so many things I have wanted to do but never had the time!  We (my husband and I) have wanted to travel and see the U.S. to begin with, then I have so much writing I want to do, gardening, projects, "all kinds of things!"

I have been looking forward to retirement for years!  Having the "free time" I never have had.  Time to "just relax and be".  Something new to me.  Something I've envied others having.  Something I've fantasized about.

Last year, as you know if you have followed this blog, we filled our year with travel.  Busy, moving, seeing, doing travel.  We really never stayed very long in one place, and when we did, it was still full of going, seeing and doing!  Fun!  We loved every moment of it.  No regrets.  But this year we thought we would do something different.
Something slower. 

This year our plans are to drive less and stay longer at our destinations.  See more National & State Parks, relax more, make new friends, learn new things, experience life differently.

When we were in San Diego we learned that Jack needed to return at the end of March for some follow up dental work.  That meant we couldn't travel to far afield, so we got out our trusty map and computer and settled on the desert for warmth and economy.  We have been camped in Desert Hot Springs for three weeks (with another three to go).  Now, not only has this been the longest we've stayed in one place, but also the bleakest place we've stayed at!  Don't get me wrong, it's not an awful place.  It's just that there isn't that much to do or see out here...and that's not a bad thing, it's just not something we are used to!

Of course, as I've shared, we have jaunted off to "see what we could see" of the area...Joshua Tree National Park, 29 Plams' murals, street fairs, art fairs, Thursday Night gatherings in Palm Springs, etc.  The campground has activities, which we've checked out a couple too, but mostly it's been us just "relaxing"...or trying to.

I've read a few books (loved the bio of Steve Jobs!), cleaned the rig from top to bottom, reorganized all my cupboards and made them much more efficient, and have moved the winter clothes back and the summer clothes forward.

Now I've decided there is nothing left to do but work on my tan!  So, I've been going to the pool (isn't that where one is suppose to do it?) Magazines: check (boy, they have really stacked up and my sister had saved them all for me!),  sun lotion: check, sun hat: check, watch: check (don't want to burn), water: check (need to stay hydrated), and beach towel: check!  The pool here is heated too, so that makes it nice and two nice jacuzzi to finish off with, mm mm.  Now if the weather would just stay the same way every day I could get with the program...maybe.

You see, "relaxing" I've found, is difficult for me.  Something completely new.  It was always something that happened rarely, something "stolen" for a few hours, not for days and days!  I know I will get a rhythm to this, I just haven't found it yet..but I am working on it!  In between time... I'm getting a great tan!

  ...kicking back in Desert Hot Springs,   Marie
  

Kicking back in Desert Hot Springs...

We are currently "hanging out" in Desert Hot Springs CA for a few weeks, soaking up some nice warm sun (when the cold wind isn't blowing about).  This is a different experience for us, to stay in one campground, even one town, for several weeks (6 all together) at a time.  We've already met a couple of folks who will also be here about the same length of time, so maybe we will actually get an opportunity to establish an actual friendship with another couple!  We have "site neighbors" who are from Calgary Canada who, like us a year ago, just purchased their motorhome (which is one year newer than ours and one foot longer) and are brand new to the rv world.  They are heading pretty much along the same route we took last year as well, but can only stay in the U.S. 6 months, so won't get as far.  We spent a day with them, sharing some of our experiences, along with some campground recommendations and clubs to consider joining and not joining.  It was a funny sensation to be the "experienced" ones giving the advise instead of the ones seeking it!  What a difference a year makes, huh?  That's not to say we still don't have a ton to learn, boy, do we ever, but it's nice to know that we have learned quite a bit already and can pass that along to ones just starting out.  Kind of nice.  We shared that we were heading their way too - to Calgary in July for the annual Stampede.  They offered their "driveway" to camp if we so wanted.  rv folks, we have found, are the most generous around.  That's nice too.  I love this world we've joined.

On the couple of non-windy, beautiful sun-filled days, we've taken advantage and have explored a little of our surroundings and some of the events that take place here.  Thursday nights the city of Palm Springs closes off one of it's main streets and local vendors set up their booths, selling everything from art to vegetables.  Local musicians play while local artist quickly spray paint while you watch and everyone has a great time.  We had a nice dinner at one of the downtown restaurants (boy, I've missed fish tacos, and only So Cal can do them right!) then slowly wandered down the streets.  We only finished half before we decided it was getting late and we would just save the second half for next week since we were going to be here awhile.  Nice to be able to do that, I must say.

The weekend brought the College of the Desert's Street Fair.  It's huge!  Rows & rows of vendors selling clothes, accessories, decorations, jewelry, food, music, you name it, they were selling it!  Wow, fun.  That's where I got my first (this trip) date shake.  You just can't come to this desert without treating yourself to a date shake, it's the best!  Yummm

Then the wind came...I hunkered down and read.  A great book, by the way, Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.  I highly recommend it.  I have a much more appreciation and much better knowledge of the Apple/Mac/i world. 

Two days later...the wind died down again, so off we went...to Joshua Tree National Park!  This was a little trip I was looking forward to, as I have been wanting to show it to Jack.  I've been here a number of times myself, but he has never, and it's quite unique.  It's been many years since I have been here, so I had mixed emotions - with apprehension that it may have been "tightened up" (protection from public miss-use) so much that it lost it's "fun", to the joy of seeing it again, remembering all the fun times there. 

As soon as we drove into the park, and began to see the huge boulders and the funny trees that look like Dr Seuss's Truffula trees (from the Lorax) I began to smile.  Visions of my children running and playing among them filled my head.  When my boys were about 7 and Alissa around 12, we camped here in our Class C Motorhome.  We could park it right up next to an outcropping of those great big boulders and those boys would run and climb and jump and squeeze through the small separations, yell and just have a ball.  All the while, my "sophisticated" daughter, in her tidy braids would be sitting at the picnic table all prim and proper with her back to them reading her book.  Every now & then she would look back and give one of those oh my looks, and go back to her reading.  What a hoot.  It was such a great place to bring the kids because I didn't have to worry about them breaking anything or making any messes!  I never really worried that they would get hurt, as they were pretty surefooted and never really seemed to be prone to do that.  I didn't have much money in those days and camping was the one thing I could do with the kids that we could all do together and have fun.  I so wanted to create "good family memories" and share my love of the outdoors with them in the only way I really knew how.  Later that evening I called the boys and told them where we had been for the day, and when I asked them if they remembered going there, they each said "absolutely, fun times!"
Best feeling of the day.

As we left Joshua Tree, we exited through 29 Palms,  Cute little town that decided back in the late '90's to revitalize the town by having artists paint murals and create some sculptures throughout the town.  I love public art and especially murals, so this was a must stop for me.  We had a nice lunch while I reviewed the brochure, marking off the murals I wanted to photograph.  Jack, my wonderful driver, routed out each one and off we went!  Pretty cool murals I must admit!  Great little stop.

Well, that wraps up our first week here...for someone who "wasn't going to be doing anything", I'd say we've done quite a bit, wouldn't you?

 ...kicking back in Desert Hot Springs,   Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Reflections...

Those that have known me for a long time, have heard me share that "when I don't listen to the Universe (spirit, God) whispers in my ear, the message gets louder and louder until it shakes the tree (I'm lounging in) and I fall from the branches".  I fell from the branches this week.  Hard.

For a whole year, Jack and I have been super healthy, not a cold or even a sniffle to drag us down.  We get to San Diego to visit and get appointments handled, all ok.  We move north to Escondido to "get all our visits in" and wham!  Colds.  We were going morning, noon and night visiting one set of friends then another, making sure we had time with everyone we could.  It seemed that our list was a mile long, but I was determined to fit everyone in, no matter what!  The whisper came "your trying to do to much in to little time Marie".  I ignored it.  I was able to cram in a hair appointment with my favorite gal, and locked my keys in the truck, second message to slow down, ignored.  As we continued to drive from one visit to another, one meal to another we would joke that we would have to go on a strict diet afterward and if I saw one more glass of wine for a month, that would be to soon...then, wham, the Universe said "guess your not going to listen, I'll have to just shake your tree Marie".  And it did.

I haven't been this sick in years.  So sick that all I wanted to do was sleep, so sleep is what I did, all day, every day, for days.  No visiting, no calls, no talking, no writing...nothing.  Rest, just rest.  That was it.  We had been blessed with the generosity of dear friends of the use of their guest house, so we rested in luxury.  A few days later we found out that our hostess had also come down with the same nasty bug, and she too was resting.  Luckily we had enough provisions in the rv to last for a few days (especially when all one wants is chicken soup).  Jack fared a little better than I, so he got the job of the grocery run when it was finally needed.  We survived.

But this wasn't about survival.  It wasn't really about "getting sick" either.  Not for me, anyway.  It was about slowing down (again) and enjoying this life we've chosen.  It didn't take but a few minutes of being back here to get caught right back into the fever of the hustle & bustle of the work-a-day world this was for me.  This was a reminder to myself that this is why I left this world - and traded it in for one that is slow, taking the time to really see my surroundings and enjoy them, not rush through them. 

As I sit here, feeling much better, I have a beautiful view of grounds that this guest house sits on.  The rain came last night and has left droplets on everything, making all the edges sparkle.  There is such a peaceful calmness out here; you can't see any other houses or roads, only the occasional jack rabbit or bird, yet we are only yards away from the main road.  Beauty is everywhere, when you take the time to notice it.

Being a guest here, has brought us a closeness to our friends that we will always cherish.  We haven't been able to visit with them like we would like to, with all of us being sick - but the visit isn't over yet, so we still have opportunity.  We've been blessed with such wonderful friends; and how great the Universe set it up to have me land here when It shook me from my tree!

...slowing down and relaxing in Escondido California, Marie

Hello 2013!

Starting the new year off with long time friends, is the best way!  We left Northern California filled with family love that we hope will keep us warm throughout the next few months and traveled south to Los Angeles where we met up with our long time friends who now live in Beverly Hills.  What a sight we must have been...driving this 35' motorhome with our little Toyota truck toad through the posh streets of Beverly Hills!  We passed Mercedes, Jaguars, Bentley's, et al as we traversed the streets getting to the spot where we were going to be parking our rig while we stayed at what we lovingly call the "Venet Inn".  We love it there, as with all of our friends, it's like coming home again.  We don't do much of anything, and that's just the way we like it.  Soaking in the So Cal sun, relaxing, laughing and sharing stories.

We did take a couple of side trips, one to the Ronald Reagan Library.  Very nicely done.  Lots to see with stories to read and hear.  They even had a nice peace of the Berlin wall.  Ronald Reagan was good friends with Walt Disney, so they had a special exhibit that covered Disney's life as well.  They had the Presidential plane that we got to board as well, that was kind of fun, probably the only time we will ever be aboard one, so had our picture taken!

I always love to go shopping with Sheila when I'm there because she takes me to some fun, "Beverly Hills" stores that I can ooh and aah over.  Jack loves it, because he knows it's stuff I'll never buy, but get such a kick out of just looking!  We went to the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery to see where some of the famous stars are buried.  Marilyn Monroe had lots of flowers and kisses at her site, as did many others.  I'd been before, but it was new to Jack, so he had fun discovering some of his favorites like Natalie Woods & Bob Crane.  I personally loved one that wasn't famous, but had a great sense of humor of a psychic that did readings for $5!

Not to over-stay our welcome, we headed on down to San Diego.  I've always thought it would be so cool to stay at one of the campgrounds on Mission Bay, so we booked ourselves in for the week.  It was "cool" in more ways than one, but it was a great location for us to get to various Dr & Dentist apts. and see our SD friends.  No matter that you are on "an adventure" you still have to have the basic "stuff" attended to.  Oh well, it was all good, so that's now done for awhile at least!

 After a week in Mission Bay, we moved north to Escondido to catch up with all our friends at that end.  One of our dear friends opened up their guest house for us while we stayed here...so beautiful, I'm not sure I want to leave again!  Such generosity while our rv & truck get their tune ups! 

I've felt like a broken record as I've answered the same questions over and over again as we have had the joy of visiting our various friends and relatives.  I'm also going to have to go on a strong diet when we leave because of all the lunches, dinners and glasses of wine I've engaged in!  It's been a friend frenzy, but so great to see so many of our friends and family, to catch up, get hugs and carry the love of their friendship with us as we travel on.
There's just nothing like it and we are blessed to have it.

 

...kicking back in California,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Full Circle...

It's really hard for me to believe that it's been a full year since Jack and I started out on this adventure of ours, but it has!  Wow.  One year ago we bought our rv, sold our home, put our things in storage, and set out on the adventure of a life long dream.

We drove 17,551 miles through 38 states adding New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Canada to the list.  We spent $9,990 on gas and stayed in 78 campgrounds, for a total of $6,171.24.  That included full hook-ups (water, elec. sewer & cable).  We only boondocked a couple of times, once at a friend's farm for a few days (until the mosquitoes were to much for me!) and once in the parking lot of CampingWorld that was due to do maintenance on the rv the next morning.  Just never did the "Walmart thing". 

We met all kinds of fun people, from archaeologists to  musicians from infants to folks in their 90s; students to retirees; hitch-hikers to million dollar rv drivers.  Friendly folk who cheerfully invited us over to enjoy their fire to fancy folk who keep to the more elite class of motorhome people.  We made some nice friendships that we hope will last a long time, and missed the ones we left back home.  We visited friends and family that we hadn't seen in years with promises to do so more often.

We learned more about this great nation of ours than we ever did in school.  We saw and enjoyed more beauty than we ever did from movies or books.  We smelled more flowers and felt more sunshine and rain than we had in a long time.  I saw robins & bluebirds and fireflies for the first time.  We saw (rare) black squirrels and alligators too!  The sunrises and sunsets never stopped being a joy to watch, beginning or ending our day with such beauty.

Beautiful nature was everywhere.  Waterfalls, rock formations that boggled the imagination, rolling hills, huge mountains, plants and tall trees in every color, deep blue lakes and ocean with white soft sandy beaches filled with shells.  Even the sky was different depending on where you were.  Some nights there were so many stars that you could hardly see the black sky.  And the lightening storms!  Loud thunder, crackling bolts of white light flashing across the sky, one after another with sheets of such heavy rain you couldn't see across the street.  What an experience it was to be in a summer storm in the south!  Then there was the wind...driving across a clear open road with no buildings or mountains, nothing to slow the wind down, and it's blowing 50+ mph!  After we pulled into a campground and hunkered down, we learned that it toppled over several semi trucks further down road.

Such great experiences, everyone of them.  Listening to musicians playing everything from "old timey music" to jazz to gospel.  Watching each one play with their heart as well as with their instruments.  Watching folks dance, full of energy, "flat-footing" and the Lindy, square dancing as well as other local style of "barn dancing".  We ate some wonderful regional foods too.  We learned the differences of Bar-B-Que (all of them good!), tasted hush puppies, and even learned to like crawdads!  Jack had some of the best Mexican food ever in San Antonio (which he doesn't normally like), and we laughed a lot about the southerners adding "gravy" to theirs in Tennessee!  It was great to be able to eat straight from the farm fruits & vegetables as we drove along some of the back roads.  It was even fun to guess "what they were growing" as we passed field after field of "something green".  (Soy beans almost had me stumped) We discovered frozen custard and next to the wonderful french Beignets of New Orleans, decided there is no other dessert that can match them!

We had a ball seeing how things were made.  We all get disgusted at seeing the "made in China" label on the bottom of so many products, well I'm here to tell you that America still makes a lot of wonderful things!  Baseball Bats, Braille Machines, Harley Davidson, Toyota Cars, Crayola Crayons, Coca Cola, lots & lots of candy, beautiful glassware from Traffic Lights to Chandeliers, Fire Engines, Zippo Lighters, Hallmark Cards, and Motorhomes.  Were the home of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Tabasco Sauce, Buffalo Wings, the Charleston Tea Plantation, Ringling, Barnum & Bailey Circus, and QVC.  We enjoyed seeing shop after shop filled with hand made local items from wooden clocks to glass beads, from cloth dresses to beautiful art.  There seemed to be no limit to the creativity and abundant talent all around us.  Jack was just happy that our "little home" couldn't fit much of it in! 

What we learned from all of this was that we are not ready to stop just yet.  We still have 10 states we haven't even stepped foot in, so to speak, and several more that we just wheezed by that we want to spend some quality time in.  This past year we wanted to see as much as we could, so traveled pretty fast.  This year we want to slow it down a bit and spend more time enjoying our surroundings, nature, and the people around us.  More State and National Parks, more time to ride our bikes and kicking back reading the box of books we still have with us.

I would like to continue to write, but am thinking of making some changes.  What do you think, dear readers?  What would you like?  I could use some feedback...more detail, less?  I was thinking maybe more detail on the campgrounds in case anyone wanted to go there?  Or more about my personal journey?  Or? I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

 

 ...kicking back in California,  Marie

Home for the Holidays...

Spending Christmas in northern CA with my daughter, son-in-law and grandson has become a tradition we enjoy.  This year was especially exciting because it brought us "full circle" from our adventure that we embarked upon at this time last year.


California welcomed us with sunshine and views of green rolling hills and beautiful Mt Shasta covered with snow.  The drive was easy considering others were also en route for the holidays, but seemed to drag on forever as we were anxious to be with our family.

Two glorious weeks went by way to fast.  The first week my grandson (who is almost 4) was still in preschool, so I got to spend a day "observing".  That actually was a lot of fun!  He is in a Montessori school this year, so it was very interesting and amusing to watch the children take out various projects to work on with numerous components, and once completed, putting them all back without the teacher "reminding" them to (like at home).  I was even served a nice tea by two of the students!  Lovely.  Later that week, Our little man completed enough tasks at home to earn the "Bat Cave" he had been desperately wanting for weeks.  He was so excited he could hardly stand it.  The fact that he had earned it was even better, making it his Bat Cave!  That was the beginning of the marathon of hours and hours of Super Hero play between he and anyone who would play with him, which most of the time, was me.  ;-)  I kept running out of the proper expressions like "holy strawberries Batman! We're in a jam!"

The special Elf on the Shelf (aka Holly & joined by his friend Jolly) joined in on the Christmas fun this year.  Evidently, "Elf on the Shelf" has been quite the thing this year with children.  Playing around while they are sleeping, but "watching" while they are awake, to report back to Santa before Christmas Eve.  Lucian is just at the right age to believe in all the wonderment of the season, so our "house elves" were quite fun.  They even had a bit of "advise" to share with him when his actions of the day needed to be addressed a bit.  Each morning our little guy would dash out of bed and run to see where his two elves were and what they had been up to the night before.  It started each day off with a chuckle. 

Christmas soon arrived and was filled with all the laughter and glee that one hopes for.  I got such a kick out of watching Lucian open each present, very slowly then attempting to play with it, not even thinking about all the rest of the packages still waiting to be unwrapped!  He soon got into the rhythm and made a great "mailman" as he called it as he passed out every one's packages.  Afterwards, like all children, he took great pleasure in kicking and tossing all the ripped paper and boxes!  Tradition continued with my daughter and I in making the simple crepes my mother (and her mother before her) made for breakfast.  My son Aaron even sent me a picture & text showing me that he had fixed some too, even tho he was in Texas!  It made my heart smile.

Fun activities were tucked in here and there as well.  We did an all-family outing to see the new Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away 3-D movie that was a great success with all of us enjoying it thoroughly.  We also had the opportunity to visit the NASA AMES Exploration Center, where Lucian showed me all around and how he is going to go to Mars someday and grow carrots.  We got to see a film about the recent Mars landing along with various exhibits that we could touch and look into.  Very fun.  My daughter and I got to have a special night out together.  First we went to "officially" purchase her new washer & dryer.  They had already picked them out, now came the time to do the actual buying!  That completed, we went to the theater and bought tickets to see Les Miserables.  It wasn't due to come on for another 90 min. so we went to a tequila bar nearby and shared a Margarita, chips & salsa by a nice heater and listened to live music.  Lovely.  We had seen the play together, so had wanted to see the movie together too.  Special night.  Lots of laughter and love = good memories to cherish.  I even got some lovely time with my daughter's friends.  First, tea with her neighbor and then a lovely Christmas Eve gathering.

It seems like every holiday family gathering has to have a hiccup or two as well, so did ours.  Both grandson and daughter have been enjoying running and have entered a few 5k/1k runs.  They had signed up for one to do while we were in town so we could watch and cheer them on.  The run location was a bit of a drive away and very early, so we left at o'dark early.  Once checked in, it was a matter of waiting for the start time, and so a hope for a short nap.  It was raining, cold & windy.  Not what you would call a lovely day.  Top that with an antsy little boy, who just couldn't settle down, mix it with a mom who was tired and what you get is a recipe for failure.  The decision to "go home and forget the race" was made after a lot of tough thought.  Later in the week, the very old plumbing started to show their age.  It seems they do this more in the winter, and more so this winter than ever.  They continued to back up and cause poor Seth (and Alissa) awful, messy work again and again.  It was time to call the plumber and talk about new pipes.  Oh the joys of "home ownership".  Ugh. 

Alas, the time to leave finally had to come...it always does.  One thing I learned tho, was that I can't go a whole year again without visits, so this coming year there will be some short trips (some probably flights) back for the much needed and loved hugs and giggles.  There's nothing quite like it...  

...on the road in California,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/