First Trips

We headed off with Mom and Dad to a local RV sale today. There were several dealers gathered together at the racetrack/casino which makes it really convenient to see many different types of campers. First we had breakfast at the casino – $1.99 with the coupon for a full breakfast with coffee – what a deal eh! When we signed up for the coupon we also got $5.00 to use in the slot machines. Carm won $4.50 which paid for over 1/2 our breakfast! What a deal :-)

Then it was off to the sale. Mom is thinking she might want a wee little travel trailer or class C, Dad is not so sure… But this was a great place for them to see a whole pile of options. We had lots of fun looking at the giant class A’s and huge 5th wheels as well. And yes, one of the Bighorn models that we like was there too, I just kept repeating my mantra – I love my camper, I love my camper… Anyway we all made it out of there empty handed!

I wonder if Mom and Dad will be taking a first trip sometime soon?

Merikay (one of the blogs I read) is talking about taking her first trip in their first RV (see her blog http://merika-merika.blogspot.com/2011/10/preparations.html). What an exciting time – I remember our first trip well – I was almost out of my head with excitement. Since we purchased the camper in the fall we had to wait till the following spring for our first trip. It was agonizing… So I spent the winter sewing stuff, making checklists and preparation lists. Since I’m a big time computer junkie, I created the one below in Excel. I’ve tailored over the last few years and now I’m pretty happy with it. I do a page for each trip, keeping it up-to-date online and then printing that page out for the last day or so. I make notes on it including anything else to pack, and also notes about the trip. Then I save it in my book. I do look back at them and use it to build the next months list.

Anyway, I promised that I would give a peak at my organizing spreadsheet (sick eh!):

Our first trip was in April of 2007. I was crazy with excitement. We went to a little park not too far from home in case we needed anything, plus it was the only one open that early. And as an added bonus it has an indoor pool (only slightly scuzzy). It was a perfect shake down trip. Close enough to town to run in for some shopping on Saturday (we needed a vacuum), but still somewhere not in our laneway (we had camped in the laneway a few times already). It was fun playing house in our new little camper. Here are a few of the photos – I had somehow lost the photos from our first and second trips. But at least for the first one I had added them onto my website so have a copy, but the second trip – gone.

Our First RV Trip (away from the laneway!)

Here we are hitched and ready to go.	Almost at the campground. You can see that the trees are still bare.
Bella and Kabira weren’t too sure what was going on. They adapted quickly and now love going camping.	Warm enough for shirtsleeves! We didn’t have our Pseudo Lafuma’s yet (knockoff recliners – I think we had them for the next trip out though).
Carm relaxing on the sofa. It was a funky material but I made a washable slipcover in denim. What is it about RV designers that make them decorate with unwashable fabrics – we are CAMPING!	I recovered the banquette cushions as well.
Carm making coffee.	Our little living room.

 

What fun we had (and are still having)!

Finally Something Good that Grace will Eat

It is a drizzly day here so it seemed like a good day to put away some food for the winter. I’m not skilled enough to actually “can” things, plus I’m way too scared for that but we did get some things put away into the freezer. Most of the credit goes to Carm as he chopped up the giant butternut squash, cut up and roasted the red peppers, while I just made soup and a version of the butternut squash risotto for Grace.

It turns out Grace just loves the squash dish that I made last week so since it is reasonably healthy I made a batch just for her. I added some extra carrot and 4 red peppers to add another dimension of health, but otherwise the recipe was the same. We all did a taste test – Grace, Carm and I. YUM it was good and had a nice hot overtone from the hot pepper that I got from my friend Christina (thanks!). Grace wanted to be fed spoonful's like a baby, tipping her head back for the spoon. Once was cooled I froze it in batches. Getting her to eat healthy meals can be a challenge – she’s a junk food gal – so this brown rice dish will be good to have on hand (and will be a good snack for us in a pinch!).

Cooking is an amazing thing isn’t it – just this morning there was a pile of raw vegetables and dry rice – a few hours later a tasty meal – it’s like magic!

 

 

 

This afternoon we headed back over to the farmer’s garden to get more butternut squash. It’s so cheap this time of year and I can use it in so many recipes over the winter and as a bonus it’s full of good nutrients. I just wish I had a cold storage room.

Remember yesterday I mentioned buying a learn to sketch kit from Costco… well… I forgot how frustrated I get when things don’t come easily to me. But! I will make myself persevere – it will be good for personal growth! The first lesson was to take a basic shape (circle, oval, etc.) and use it as a basis for a sketch of something around you. As you can see I was at the kitchen island where pineapples, pears, and Grace’s slow cooker rice were around me. Hummmm… More practice required!

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.
Frank Lloyd Wright

Old Office Building

We headed into town this morning for a dentist appointment for me and a visit with his mom for Carm. My dentist is in my old office building so it was a bit like a step back in time – yuck – if I  never had to see the building again I’d be happy!

It is funny to visit it though as they are renovating the 3 commercial levels, which they have been doing for a few years... I don’t know what they are thinking, but it’s weird. The new entrance is just strange – a big glass atriumish area that abuts onto a big wall of nothing. You have to weave through these narrow hallways to get anywhere. I should have taken a few photos but I was dumbstruck!

The good thing though is I met Jo Ellen for lunch. As always it is great to catch up with her, and even hear a bit of gossip from the office. I do miss some of the people. But as we parted company I turned around to leave the building with a big smile on my face…

One lady from work stopped to say hi. We talked a bit about retirement and how great it is. She was saying that she doesn’t understand her mother-in-law still doing her grocery shopping on a Saturday. Jo Ellen mentioned that the parking lots are still full during the week to which I added – and they are all really slow moving retired people – no rush to get anywhere so they dawdle along. (no offence meant to anyone of course). I had to laugh later when we shopped at Costco. Sure enough, a fullish parking lot and lots of slow people in the store. We are still zoomers – especially Carm who gets frustrated and has to pass with his cart. Maybe we will slow down someday, but we aren’t there yet!

Here’s a few pleasures for the last few days:

Basking in the sun in October ; eating breakfast outside in October ; reading on the swing in October ; biting into a perfectly ripe banana, even better when paired with partially defrosted blueberries. It’s hard to beat a breakfast that good (okay, pancakes win for sure, but if you are trying to be good…) ;

watching Kabira go crazy and run and run and run ; watching Spike try his hardest to keep up to Kabira even though he has no chance at all but my oh my he tries his little heart out ;

 

while we are on the dog topic though – not so much pleasure was had bathing Spike who rolled in something smelly (something skunk) ; buying a learn to Sketch book – I can’t wait to start learning, it’s supposed to rain tomorrow so it might be a good time to start ; eating crispy turkey skin ; the smell of turkey cooking in the oven ;

hot bath ; getting caught up on all the blogs that I read – a week away from my computer is a long time! ; coming home after a long camp – I love to be away and can hardly wait for the next camp, but every time I step into our great room after a time away I am reminded how much I love our house ; seeing all the trees changing colour on our drive into town ; here’s one of Carm’s pleasures – cutting the grass for the last time in 2011 (although slightly bittersweet – it does mean winter is coming…) ;

I guess I could go on and on – LIFE IS GOOD! What are your pleasures? Do you enjoy every minute or do you live on autopilot (which I tend to do)?