Mr. Virgo was Catholic and always gave up chocolate for Lent. He loved his chocolate so this was a great sacrifice for him. I'm not Catholic and not as willing to make such a huge sacrifice as that. So, I've decided I'm giving up snow for Lent. That works for me!

After Monday's blue-blaster skies, yesterday dawned with cold, gray, blustery snow. Ick. My highlight of the day was when a friend showed up for a visit. Company! I picked up and everything. Took me two minutes. One can live large in a small space. The thing I miss the most living in my camper is no bathtub. I miss my bubble baths. I'm trying to figure out how I could put a bathtub in here. I'd have to take out the vanity in the bathroom but hey…sink? Or soak? I'd take the soak any day of the week. It's probably just a pipe dream but it gives me something warm to think about! Especially after my foray into bathing without benefit of running water. I have a gym membership so I can shower there. But the snow has me housebound the last couple of days. I couldn't stand my hair one more day so yesterday morning I took out my soup pot and heated up about a gallon and a half of water. I poured it in a dishpan that I perched on top of the toilet. After adding enough cold water to cool it down, I washed my hair, then sponge bathed. Afterwards, I cleaned the bathroom and washed the floors with the same water. I'm resourceful, to say the least. And, I felt 100% better afterward. I celebrated with pancakes! It's the little things. lol

Last fall, shortly after arriving in West Virginia, I was rummaging around in the top of the cellar house when my aunt called up to me to bring an old leather satchel down that was under the bed. When I got it to the house, she told me I was in for a treat. The satchel was filled with old letters written through a courtship. There were old keys, a little porcelain cup, a tiny plastic doll in a box, postcards, a pocket knife, a change purse. These were obviously someone's treasures. I sat late into the night, reading old letters, tracing my fingers over the rim of the cup, wondering about those two people from so long ago. I wondered who they were, what were their dreams, did they live happily ever after?

Joyce Meyer wrote "Patience is not simply the ability to wait - it's how we behave while we're waiting." Oh, dear! If that is true, I am behaving badly. I have very little patience. It must be a Gemini thing because a friend of mine is the same way. I am an instant gratification girl. I want winter to be over…now, thank you very kindly. My polite artist friend Linda said this yesterday. "Your house is on wheels. If you don't like the snow and cold, go somewhere else!" She's right, of course. But…I've been waiting for weeks for my topper to come in for my truck. (It came once and they made it wrong so they had to order another one.) The topper is in and I'm scheduled to have it installed today at 2:00. However, we are under a winter storm warning. And I'm not taking this big gal out on the road if there is ANY chance of snow. So I'm kinda stuck. Really, it's not so bad. I have lots of friends to hang out with. I have reading material out the wazoo. I have plenty of propane, electric, food, and water. I even have a yoga DVD. Maybe that'll calm me down. Ommmmmmm…

I have no interest in the movie with Mr. Grey. I also have no interest in what's been going on outside my camper. Is it too much to ask for a little green? Maybe some crickets? While moving back into my camper has helped me feel less cooped up, I'm longing for a little color in my world! Soon, soon. At least it's warm in here!

My great grandfather used to say, "It'll stop hurting when the pain goes away." I never quite got the deeper meaning of those words till yesterday. I woke up feeling more peaceful than I have since Mr. Virgo died. It was remarkable. I couldn't put my finger on anything specific…I just felt lighthearted, like I could take on the world. The sun broke the horizon and made the frost on the windows glow a lovely golden yellow. It was 4 degrees outside but inside, my world was warm and beautiful and calm. I just laid there and enjoyed that feeling and was ever so grateful.

Would someone please tell me why I'm not in Florida right now??? This temperature was recorded at 8:30 last night. It's supposed to be 5℉ at 6:00 this morning. But here I am, toasty warm. I have an awesome furnace in this camper. Also, I have a fleecy, long sleeved jammie shirt on and my trusty electric blanket so I'm good. It's not nearly as cold as it was out at the farm. I was parked in a shady glen so there was no solar gain.

I got a text last night from Daughter #2 asking for Mr. Virgo's famous Rosemary Chicken recipe. She is feeling nostalgic for those cold winter nights sitting around the table dining together…the wonderful aromas of rosemary and garlic…the warmth of family love. Mr. Virgo was a stickler about eating together. And he made a killer Rosemary Chicken. When it was for a special occasion, he used a fat roasting hen. But for a quick evening meal, he used chicken thighs. He always wanted bone-in and skin on for the flavor. Preheat an oven to 350. Wash and pat dry your chicken thighs. Sprinkle with garlic salt, fresh ground pepper, and crushed rosemary. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes more or less. You want the skins crispy and no pink juices when you stick them with a fork. Yummmm…now she has ME craving some!

I mailed fifteen packages of photographs yesterday! I can't tell you what an awesome feeling that is. I decided to celebrate by starting my little renovation project in my camper. I bought a twin sized mattress and box springs. I put them in the space where the dinette sits. I did the same thing in my first camper and loved it. I don't know what I was thinking though. The box springs makes the bed way too high so out they come today. I unhooked the propane tanks today, took them to be filled, and hooked them back up again. I bought sheets for the new bed. I was fortunate to find a twin sized electric blanket and got that as well. I picked up some groceries and headed back to TOW-Wanda. As a reward for getting the scanning done, I slept in my tiny home last night! Today I'm just being still. Life is so sweet.

I've been thinking of Maslow's hierarchy of needs lately. It's a theory in psychology that demonstrates human motivations. The largest need is biological and physiological…your basic life needs like air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sleep. The next largest need is safety as in security, order, stability. Then comes love, esteem, cognitive, aesthetic, self-actualization, and transcendence. My bohemian lifestyle has thrown some of these things up in the air and I am still waiting to see how they land…much in the way we used to play "pick up sticks" when we were kids.

You have NO idea how hard it is for me to stick to a tedious job and see it through to the bitter end. I swear, I'd rather have a root canal than scan nearly 2000 pictures, letters, and other assorted documents onto an external hard drive. Seriously. I can think of a million other things I would rather be doing than slogging through this. So, how am I managing to get it done? I'm playing mind games with myself. I tell myself "Hey, you can sit down here for an hour and get some of this out of the way. You can do anything for an hour." Then once I negotiate that hour commitment with myself, it's easier to keep going. I'm watching the entire series of West Wing. I just started the 4th Season today! I have had to isolate myself, pretty much. I have been staying in during the day, staying off Facebook and the phone, for the most part. My friends must think I've fallen off the face of the earth. There's a reason this job has been on the back burner for 11 years. Once I get this part done, I can move on to the boxes out at the farm. That should go faster.