I have really missed getting out and camping this summer. We did get some good camping in during the cool nights of spring, but once the summer heat index started creeping up, and night time temps didn’t go down enough for sleeping in the camper without air conditioning, we were kind of stuck sleeping inside. We could take the camper to a campground nearby, but there are a few reasons why that’s not optimal. Mr. FixIt is still having physical therapy and medical appointments. We have the cat…and the garden needs watering daily. And, why should we pay to camp in a noisy campground with potential Covid exposure when we have five free acres and our own electric? 

It rained off and on all day yesterday. It did get up to the low eighties, but the low was predicted to be 61℉! That’s all I needed to hear. Once I was finished with the bread dough and had it in the fridge to rise overnight, I gathered my writing gear and headed out to the camper. I haven’t been in it for a few weeks so I needed to open it up, air it out, and cool it off. But within a very short time, it was quite comfortable in there and I quickly set up my little writing nook…happy as a clam!

I had a long video chat with Daughter #1 for her birthday on Saturday. It’s not the same as being there with her and it has been many years since I’ve missed a birthday in person. It breaks my heart that I can’t be there this summer. I have never gone this long without seeing my kids and I don’t like it one bit. I think, if I had a smaller camper and if Mr. FixIt hadn’t had the two strokes this spring and if we didn’t have the cat or the garden…I’d pack us up and head west. The good thing about traveling with the camper is being self enclosed with your own kitchen, bathroom, and bed. You can pretty much self-isolate as you travel as long as you are extra careful at the gas pump.

I’m watching the zucchini getting bigger and bigger. I’m really looking forward to making pickles this week and showing you how it’s done. It is a great way to use up those huge zucchini that get away from you in the garden and they are SO delicious! I could eat a whole jar with a fork. The tomatoes are looking great and the peppers are getting bigger. I am not sure if the banana peppers are ready yet. I don’t know what they are supposed to look like. I thought they were supposed to turn yellow, but they are still green. I’ll take pictures tomorrow so maybe some of you with experience can tell me.

I’ll bake bread early this morning to keep the house from getting too hot. As soon as the loaves are cool, I’ll wrap them and ship them to my girls as a treat from mom. If I can’t be there to hug them, at least I can send them bread baked with Mom-love. I remember one time going over two years without seeing my mom. I remember being so incredibly shocked by how she had aged in such a relatively short time and vowed I would never do that again. And I didn’t. I took my kids to West Virginia every summer of their lives while my mom was still living. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about my mom and my grandparents this weekend. I’ve been thinking how terribly worried I would have been about them…living so far away in Colorado. And now, it’s me that’s here and my own kids and brother are the ones out west. I would have never predicted this scenario in my wildest dreams. But you know what they say…if wishes were horses, and all that. This is the hand we have been dealt. This is the hand we will play.

I caught a picture of Pumpkin sleeping beside me on the deck yesterday afternoon. I seldom see her sleeping as there is SO much to do and see on HER five acres! 

❤️

“The Lord answered, “Could a mother forget a child who nurses at her breast? Could she fail to love an infant who came from her own body? Even if a mother could forget, I will never forget you. A picture of your city is drawn on my hand. You are always in my thoughts!”

Isaiah 49:15-16 CEV