2018 Reflections, Part 2

Summertimes are always full of family and good times. Bob and I took the train into Philadelphia and enjoyed wandering around the old city.

We had a very successful GrandCamp in Cape May Courthouse.

This year Bob and I decided to tour New England, while we waited for the arrival of grandchild #8. We started out in Rhode Island where we gathered with family.

Bob and I moved on to Monson, MA, where I saw my friend Jeen and spent some time visiting Vävstuga and then hung out together.

We toured Sturbridge Village.

Bob and I continued west to Rhinebeck, NY and visited the FDR Library.

We also had a chance to visit Bob’s cousin, Beth, and her guy, Gary.

From Rhinebeck we moved on to a West Chazy, NY, saw the site of the Battle of Plattsburgh, and hopped over the border to Montreal for the day.

We spent a couple of days in Williamstown, VT and then went to Montpelier, VT, the only capital city without a McDonalds.

Bob and I went up to the top of Mount Washington.

Then we drove to Orono, ME, where we had a pretty memorable two weeks, but not in a good way. At least the scenery was pretty, and we did take day trips to Castine, ME, to Moosehead Lake, and to Acadia National Park.

We also took a trip to Macomber Looms. 

From Maine, we returned to NJ to await our grandson, Silas’s birth. He arrived with a rush of joy, as babies usually do.

We hung around for a week before heading west towards Arizona, stopping for the night in Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and then Oklahoma City. We spent a day in the National Cowboy &Western Heritage Museum.

From OKC we drove to Vega, TX, then to Vaughn, NM before spending two nights in Las Cruces, NM and seeing our friend, Joan. We continued on to Tucson for the night (and a visit with Chuck and Linda,) before finally arriving in Mesa, AZ for the winter. We made the trip from NJ to Mesa in 12 days, with a two day layover in a OKC and an extra day in Las Cruces. 

Howie is settling in very well and he and Auggie are becoming good friends.

Yesterday we got a new refrigerator, which completes our kitchen except for the cabinet over the fridge. This is the old fridge, with cabinet doors removed just before demo.

And this is the new one.

Bob is going to have to rebuild that since he had to tear out a wall and a cabinet to get this big fridge in. But what pleasure to have a new refrigerator with lots of room in it.

Bob and I want to wish you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2018 Reflections, Part 1

I enjoy looking back on our year at the end of each December, so please join me in my annual retrospective.

In January of 2018 we were still dealing wth the kitchen/living room renovation; finishing and putting in countertops and replacing the stove and microwave. I was in Mesa with “the boys” for the month. It was fun to see the kitchen shape up.

In February I returned to NJ to help out my daughter with recuperation following surgery. As an end-of-year update, she is cancer-free and feels great!

In March we had the pleasure of a visitor, Bob’s niece Emily, who traveled with us to Texas before flying home. We left Mesa, AZ for Tucson, visited with friends Chuck and Linda, saw the Mini Time Machine Museum and visited Saguaro National Park.

From there we traveled to Las Cruces, NM, ran down to Puerto Palomas, Mexico for a few hours, and went to White Sands National Monument.

We spent the night in Fort Fort Stockton, TX before moving on to San Antonio. It was so much fun seeing these places through Emily’s eyes! We met up with my sister and her husband as well as some of our nieces and nephews and their children for a fun day at the Botanical Gardens.

We also were able to visit with friends Ron and Kathy, who live nearby.
Then we headed east to Beaumont, TX and then went on to New Orleans, LA.

We visited Biloxi, MS and stopped in to see our son-in-law, Jason who was taking a course at the Air Force base nearby.

We visited Pensacola and toured the historic district. From there we moved on to Saint Augustine to see the sights there.

Then, it was on to Walt Disney World for a magical week. That was such fun!

After we left The Magic Kingdom we visited my friend, Ellen, in Sun City.

It was then time for a sisters’ weekend in Porta Gunta, FL, where my sister Wendy has a condo.

From there we stopped in Carrollton, GA to see Retha and Mike.

Bob and I headed steadily north, stopping after about 250 miles each day but not sightseeing, until we reached our daughter’s house in NJ.

Tomorrow I will finish the year’s retrospective.

Howie

It’s the day of Christmas Eve! Bob and I have had a very full week. A week ago we brought this little guy home and we have been working on getting to know one another and on improving his housebreaking skills.

Meet Howie, a sweet little terrier mix who is about 9 months old. He is from a local animal rescue and came with the name of “Prince.”  The first few times we brought him to the dog park he was recognized by the dog park regulars. Apparently one of the volunteers at the shelter lives nearby and had brought him here to the dog park to socialize him. So here Howie is “the dog formerly known as Prince.”

He was pretty much housebroken when we got him, thank goodness, and after 3 or 4 nights of crying he settled in and is now a perfect lamb in his crate. He sleeps from 9:00 to 6, too. Oh my, getting an older pup is so much easier than a tiny baby one!

He and Auggie are getting along better, too. Each has his spot on my recliner; Auggie is tucked under my left arm and Howie snoozes by my knees. There have been a few squabbles but nothing too violent, and Howie has accepted the fact that Auggie is “first dog.” Bob and I are surrogate parents because Howie will be traveling to our daughter Catherine’s house in NJ in the spring to live with her and her family. Until then, we will be working on making him a well behaved dog and giving him lots of love.

The deck is so close to being finished. We had to place one more order from Lowe’s and sometime in January it should be done.

This photo doesn’t show the gate, but there is one now and it’s so nice to sit out with the dogs. Temperatures have been in the low 70s but a cold snap is coming and in a few days the highs will only be in the mid 50s to mid 60s. Our cold season here is from end of December through January. I’m sure our family in New Jersey and New England won’t feel sorry for us one bit!
Tonight Bob and I will go to see a modern Nativity play in the park. Two of our friends who are sisters, Kathy and Rhea, play a Jamaican girl and a Wise Woman, so it should be very interesting and a lot of fun.

Bob and I want to wish all of you a very merry Christmas!

A Belated Update

It has been weeks since I last wrote to you, dear blog reader. So here is what has been happening in our lives since the middle of November.

The deck is almost finished (yes I heard you exclaim, “It’s not done done yet???”)  Our local Lowe’s did not carry the railing parts in stock so we are still waiting for some of them to be delivered, as a matter of fact. But we can use it and we love it. Bob has been crafting storage compartments, often referred to as “coffins” by the over-55-crowd (oh, those wacky seniors!). Aren’t they great?

Our neighbors are very impressed with Bob’s handiwork and stop in regularly to tell him so.

My birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year and with a little digging I discovered that, due to leap years, I will not have another Thanksgiving birthday again until 2029. Ordinarily the two coincide about every 5 or 6 years.

Finishing the deck has been pretty much the focus of our lives lately but we have had some fun, too. Our friends Linda and Chuck, with their dog Tucker, drove their motorhome to the park to visit for a few days and we enjoyed their company very much. I’ve been weaving and have finished my grandson Silas’s baby blanket, except for the binding which I may redo because I’m not entirely happy with it. I’ll show a photo when I finish it to my satisfaction.

I’ll try and be a little better about keeping up with my blog in the future.

The Deck Progresses

Work on the deck has been slower than anticipated but Bob is pushing onward and it is looking good. The manufactured decking material is a bit fiddly. Plus, every few minutes a passer-by stops to comment, ask questions, or simply strike up a conversation. While it is nice to have such a friendly park, this is not exactly conducive to productivity. It’s a good thing we are retired!

As you can see, Auggie and I are already sitting on it!

The other project that is continuing is my work on my grandson’s baby blanket. I finished warping this week and have started weaving. I think it’s looking quite nice! The warp and weft is 8/4 cotton and the draft is from Tom Knisely’s book, Handwoven Blankets.

I have to say that I love this loom. I’m weaving on my Big Macomber loom as I go along I’m learning just how well it works. This is truly a workhorse of a loom and it is a joy to use. 

The park has had electrical power outages this week as workmen upgrade the electrical service. Because of the outages, Bob and I went antique shopping today to see if we could find a kitchen table  that we like better than the one we have been using. We haven’t found one yet but it was sure fun to look!

I’ll report back with more deck photos as the project progresses.

The Loom Room is Finished

Bob and I have been settling into our little park model home. There has been so much to do! We joined Costco for the first time and have been exploring what this store can do for us.  I got my flu shot there, and today got passport photos from Costco’s photo department. Apparently, this is the place with the best prices for things like that.

I checked with the Activities Department here about when the Fiber Arts group was starting up, and was told that there was no coordinator so the group was cancelled. “I’ll do it!” I immediately responded, so now I am the group coordinator. I really don’t think there’s much to do as coordinator of this group other than be the official contact person. I can handle that.

My big project so far has been the organization of my loom room. Bob and I went to Lowe’s yesterday and purchased 4 eight foot long wire shelves, plus the upright holder thingies and metal arms that hold the shelves. Bob had them up in no time, and then it was my turn. We had gone to the Container Store for bins, so all I had to do was place like things together. Here are photos of how it came out.

Bob’s plans for a deck were signed off on by the manager so that is our next big project. Hopefully it will all come together quickly so we can sit around on our deck all day. Ha! Ha! That’s not going to happen because after the deck will be the painting of the bedroom and remodeling the bathroom.

We Made it to Mesa

After 12 days of being on the road, 3 time changes, and countless storms we finally have made it to our little park model in Mesa, AZ. We left Tucson at about 10:00 after visiting on Chuck and Linda’s deck with a morning cuppa. Even though it only takes about 90 minutes by car, the trip is a little longer by motorhome because we avoid side roads and because we don’t drive as fast. But soon we were pulling in and parked in the open site right next to our house. We were welcomed by our neighbors and friends with hugs; a few have been here all summer and are starved for new faces. The campground is so much quieter than it will be in just a few weeks when the snowbirds all return.

Then the work began! I was surprised at how little dust there was since it accumulates so quickly when we live there, but everything still needed dusting. And then everything had to come out of the coach: all food in the refrigerator and cabinets, drawers needed to be emptied, cleaning supplies, my fiber closet full of yarn, looms and loom parts, everything in the bathroom, the list goes on and on. One good thing is that I now have duplicates of kitchen drawer stuff, baking pans, cookware, and the like, so we won’t have to move those things back and forth.

We worked for hours yesterday, and when we couldn’t work anymore we just crashed. Today we hope to get the rest of it and it will be a long day. And THEN, we will be able to relax and plan our renovation projects for the winter. But the skies are blue, the weather is warm, and it’s great to be here.

On to Tucson

Bob and I had a lovely visit with our friend Joan and her friend Geri who was visiting from California. We ate at Hacienda de la Mesilla for lunch and had a yummy meal. My portobello fajita was so good! Joan has been very busy sorting through all of her belongings in preparation for an estate sale and putting her house on the market. Such a daunting job! Her friend Ellen, who left right before we arrived, and now Geri are helping her with this task.

I ended up buying her 20” old style Schacht rigid heddle loom with Trestle II stand. I owned one of these looms years ago and have missed it. I look forward to fixing up the brake (it needs new springs,) adding new reeds, and playing with it.

All too soon Bob and I packed up again and drove out of Las Cruces. This area has gotten a lot of rain in the last week or more and the scenery looked much greener than it usually does in the fall.

Even the ocotillos are green

Before long we were in Tucson, AZ where we parked in an RV resort for the night near our friends, Chuck and Linda. We had a great visit with them all afternoon and evening, and went out to dinner with them at Sweet Tomatoes in Tucson. All too soon, however, our “jet lag,” or “road lag” caught up with us. I’m not sure what you call it, but we have changed time zones 3 times now in a little over a week and it’s really hard on our bodies. I feel hungry all the time and tired most of the time. We’ll adjust but we’ve never done a road trip like this so quickly. In some ways I think it’s harder than flying and adjusting 3 hours all at once.

So today is the day we arrive in Mesa! We are very excited to finally make it there. There’s so much to do today and tomorrow: first the drive, then cleaning the house from top to bottom, moving all our things from the motorhome to the house, unpacking and putting things away, then cleaning the rig and taking it to the storage place for the winter. All this has to be done by Monday morning because we have reserved the site next to us for two nights.

We’ll get it done.

Land of Enchantment

Bob and I have come to a realization that we have seen rain every day in the last 10 out of 11 days. A few snow flakes, too, truth be told. In Vega, TX we saw a brief flurry and we did at our next stop as well, neither accumulating at all. On Tuesday we passed from Texas into one of our favorite states, New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment.

We easily found the town of Vaughn, NM, our planned stop for the night, but were a little confused as to where the RV park was. There are two campgrounds in town but both looked like they had been closed for years with no other RVs present. We chose the one with a slightly better layout and settled in for the night, leaving the campground fee in an envelope in a drop box by the office door. It was a pleasant surprise to find a pretty strong free Wi-Fi signal in the campground, and it was a pretty quiet night.

On Wednesday we saw a bit of sun for part of the trip and enjoyed the NM scenery as we rolled along.

The pretty little town of Carrizozo

We passed White Sands National Monument as the clouds moved back in.

Having spent a winter here a couple of years back, we felt like we were coming home.
We are now tucked up into our campground in Las Cruces and are excited to be visiting with our friend Joan today. Joan has bought a home in Florida and is in the process of readying her Las Cruces home for sale.

Vega, TX

We left OKC on Monday morning with the wind blowing the storms away and soon were treated to blue skies. We’ve been through Oklahoma twice before, both times in the Spring, and had to dodge tornadoes each time. This time we got to appreciate Oklahoma’s beauty.

Before long we had passed into a Texas and the landscape changed from farmland to wilder cattle country.

We arrived in Vega mid afternoon and settled in. It is still cold, and the campground owner told be that winters here are “awful.” He was an interesting man with lots of stories about his cats and about the woman who lost her arm trying to keep her female dog from being assaulted by a pack of male dogs. Suddenly he interrupted himself. “Do you like peppers?” he asked me. I said I did and he pointed to some jalapeños on the counter and told me to take some. I replied I could use one or two and he said, “How about five? I picked them this morning, the last of the season, right before that sleet hit.”

I guess I’ll be making salsa!

Oklahoma City

Bob and I took a much needed break from daily driving to linger in Oklahoma City for an extra day. What a nice feeling to be able to lounge in the morning rather than to pack up and go. There is a reason for our hurry, however. Having waited around to be a part of our grandson’s birth (and with no regrets at having done so!) we now are facing the possibility of winter weather as we cross the lower plains states and travel across the mountains of New Mexico. We want to be back in Mesa before it becomes much more difficult to travel. When we awoke this morning the temperature was a cool 36 degrees and the wind made it feel even colder.

Yesterday was fun-day, though, and we visited the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum here in OKC.

This is the largest cowboy museum in the world and features iconic Western artists such as Remington and Russell, a Native American Gallery, a replica frontier town, a rodeo gallery, and a gallery dedicated to cowboys in film. Here are some of my favorite images.

The original and largest copy of the sculpture, The End of the Trail, by James Earle Fraser

Grand Canyon, Kaibab Trail by Clark Hulings, 1873

Abraham Lincoln was considered a “western” president, signing the Homestead Act in May of 1862, the College Land Grant Act of July, 1862, and the Railroad Land Grant Acts of 1862 and 1864.

Prosperity Junction depicts a late 18th century western town at dusk.

ThIs triptych is one of six painted by Wilson Hurley which are the largest in the world.

This sculpture is called Canyon Princess, by Gerald Balciar

Today we are back on the road and headed for Vega, Texas for the night. The tape that Bob put on the side view mirror is not working very well but since it is a mirror with two sections he is able to use the bottom mirror and get by until a better fix can be found.