Monday, March 5, 2012

Harbinger of Spring

Today was a better day. I was up at the crack of dawn to make a camping reservation for our summer vacation and we got it this time, hurrah! We've also got reservations for a few more parks throughout the summer and we'll do some mid-week spur of the moment trips. Summer is surely just around the corner. That is enough to brighten anybody's mood from even the bleakest state.

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Now we have to decide what to do for my birthday. September is a lovely time to camp - things are usually a bit quieter and the weather can still be very summer like. So, do I spend my 50th (yes 50th!) birthday at our favourite campground, or maybe just a local one and visit Upper Canada Village as in years past. Or do we burn the budget and go to Disneyland so that I can pretend that I'm 5 not 50. Or maybe we go visit Calgary - the city I was born in – the last time I was there was 2002. We have to decide in the next couple of weeks in case we have to make campground reservations. WHAT TO DO????

We've had our camper for 5 years, but the longest trip we've taken is 4 hours. We tend to camp locally and just venture farther afield once  or twice a year. I thought that with  retirement we'd take a few months and drive to Alberta - that hasn't happened yet. Last summer we had our niece's wedding mid July, this year my sister is coming to help celebrate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. Perhaps next year? Or maybe we are just homebodies (the most likely scenario).

In the years leading up to retirement I had a strong desire to escape and spent many an hour thinking of selling everything and becoming "fulltime" rvers. That's why so many of the blogs I follow are about  the fulltiming lifestyle. Doesn't it sound romantic to have no ties to anything, with the ability to drift according to weather and other whims.  Being a fulltimer as a Canadian is perhaps more difficult than for an American. We have to spend a certain length of time in province to maintain our health care - but our climate isn't always hospitable for 6 months of the year!

Since we have retired though I find myself quite content to stick close to home - the desire to escape is gone and I appreciate my home more than ever. Having 28.6 acres attached to said home helps matters greatly! I love being able to step out the front door and go for a walk on our property. No leashes required for the dogs. And solitude - just the birds and the bees for company (I can close my eyes right now and smell the sweet honey scent of the clover, and hear the bees buzzing and the birds singing - oh heaven).

OH! I heard a Red-Wing Blackbird today - a sure sign that spring is just around the corner :-)

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