Don’t forget to look up when you’re out in the woods!
When a camper is the right fit…when the weather is picture perfect…when the park isn’t crowded…when you’re with your best mate…when the stars align and the owls hoot on cue and the whippoorwill calls…when the chairs are comfy and the tea is hot in the mug…when the stitches are on your needles and the sweater is coming together…when the leaves are beginning to turn and there’s just the faintest whiff of campfire smoke in the air…when it is cool enough for a sweatshirt and leggings and an extra blanket on the bed…when you hate to pack up and want to stay another day and another. Well, when you have all that and more, you can honestly say you’re onto something here. This is the camper we’ve been looking for…hoping for…wishing for!
We had our breakfast out by the edge of the woods. Your first few nights in any camper are an adjustment. A new bed. A new floor plan. It’s like going to a hotel and waking up wondering where in the heck you are. Mr. FixIt slept pretty well judging by the acoustics. Me? Not so much. I was listening to said acoustics. However, I had a conversation with God and asked Him to help me turn the aggravation aspect into gratitude for the warm presence by my side.
Well, one of my happy places! This time we’re camping. I can’t tell you how excited this makes me. Even Mr. FixIt was excited. We are both so disappointed that we haven’t been able to camp very much this summer so getting this little camper has lifted our spirits greatly. My first night sleeping out in the field was delightful. I laid there listening to a beautiful Barred Owl in the sycamores along the hedgerow and my heart nearly burst with joy!
Did you miss me??? I could hardly wait to get home yesterday! I always say “I need a break!” Then, when I get one, I miss my sweetheart like crazy. I did enjoy myself. I met up at an AirB&B with a couple of old friends from way back. We talked and laughed and ate great food and worked on our projects. I’m knitting a turtleneck sweater and made great progress on it.
My mother was eight months old when Queen Elizabeth was born. When Mom died, I kinda watched the Queen to see how my mother would have aged had she lived longer than her seventy-eight all too short years. They both were world treasures…my mom in MY world, and the Queen to all the rest of us.
I lived in England from 1973 to a couple of weeks shy of 1975. It was an amazing experience that I will cherish till my dying breath. Daughter #1 was born there. I still have dreams about the cobblestone streets and the little shops in Thatcham where we lived. I keep remembering a little yarn shop where I went in to buy some yarn and knitting needles. I was expecting my first child and I wanted to knit her a little something. I never got the hang of it and once the baby came, there was no time anyway.
Remember yesterday when I told you I never know what I’m going to end up doing any given day? Well, that’s how the day turned out. I started out in the kitchen…with two pressure canners running. My little one holds seven quarts or nine pints. The big one will hold twenty pints on two levels, but still only seven quarts. I finished canning the green chili and got six more pints for a total of eleven. Then I did a run of seven quarts of pinto beans. I canned an eight pound bag of Walmart’s Great Value Dried Pinto Beans and got twenty pints and seven quarts for a total cost of $5.98 plus a little bit of my time. And they’ll taste so much better than processed beans in a can.
Green Chili. Forgive the mess in my kitchen. Things get out of hand quickly when I can.
I rarely work with an itinerary. I usually have a vague idea of what I’d like to accomplish the following day, but I’m always really flexible in case something comes up that needs my attention more than what I intended. That’s what happened yesterday.
I was listening to Tipper Pressley on one of her Celebrating Appalachia videos on YouTube yesterday while I worked on this quilt. She was talking about her front porch and how important porches are to people…not only to those in Appalachia, but to people all over the world who have them. They expand our living space and bring us into the outdoors during the warmer months of the year. They offer safe places to relax and read or visit with friends, family, and neighbors.
In my defense, I was not standing in her driveway. Her driveway is in Colorado.
My oldest daughter is a rock star. I mean to tell you…she is as solid as they come. How she came to be this way with an anxious wreck for a mother is beyond me. At least, I was when I was raising her. The only thing I can think of was her dad’s influence. Or maybe she’s channeling my grandma. Either way, the woman is S T R O N G. When I sent her “off to college”, she didn’t go too far. She elected to go to the nearby community college so her baby sister wouldn’t forget her.
We didn’t do a heck of a lot yesterday. I worked on the quilt some. I now have three rows of eight blocks pieced. Once I get all sixty-four completed, I can lay them out and make sure I arrange them in a pleasing way. Then I can piece them all together, make the borders, then it can go to the machine quilter to be completed at her leisure. And I can get back to knitting!
