June 2008
1 post
Ten days in Quartzsite, Arizona-last 2 weeks in...
Gosh, that was 6 mos. ago. It was cold, in the 50s and down to freezing at night.
Flying Bicycle: people bring their toys
Tire tracks in the desert are forever
morning coffee and announcements
January 2008
3 posts
Tucson-Phoenix-Oakland-Phoenix
Tuscon is very spread out. It takes an hour or more to get from one side to another, so if you plan to do anything in Tucson, plan to stay on one side or another where your activities are, otherwise you’ll spend lots of time driving from one side to another, not to mention gas money. I had an exceptionally lovely day hiking in Catalina State Park with Steve who I met at Demming LoW-Hi RV...
Return to Albuquerque, NM
NOV 23, 2007 RETURN TO ALBUQUERQUE Flying back from Thanksgiving in Oakland, there was snow on the rig at my KOA campground in Bernalillo, NM, a small town just north of Albuquerque. Heading south in a vain search for warmer weather I checke out the Loners on Wheels RV group. They have an RV park in Demming, NM, and I had a lot of fun exploring the area and seeing a bunch of folks who were...
October and November 2007
During October while in the Bernalillo KOA Campground north of Albuquerque, I had a relapse after all that traveling to Canada and back, it was hard, and there is more energy, more consistently, now in January. I did get in some sightseeing before flying to Bay area for Thanksgiving and Paloma’s very first birthday. Oldtown Albuquerque with it’s wonderful adobe buildings, and shops...
November 2007
1 post
“Every action should be taken with the thoughts of it effects on children severn generations from now”
Cherokee saying
October 2007
7 posts
Today I am 65 in Albuquerque, NM!
Weather yesterday 83
Weather today 48
Balloon Fiesta 10/6/07-10/14/07
Here I am in the balloon basket of the monkey balloon ecstatic to be in my very first balloon basket! The monkey balloon is manned by men in banana suits since the monkey needs his banana. No— I didn’t get to go up. That only happens at dawn when I am sleeping. They are carrying this balloon basket on a rack behind their van. Forget a big trailer, just put it on a rack! Festive...
9/25-6-7 Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
Tonight there is a Harvest Moon (a full moon that is closest the earth). After the tour, I got out my tripot, and took some good shots of it. Mesa Verde is very interesting to me because there is evidence of civilization occupying the sites since year one (literally). The stages of civilization are all here. Hunters and gatherers, then what they called the basket maker period, when these people...
The Down Times or-- --Altered States are not...
Well, people, I have been unbearably cheerful for nearly three months now, so I guess I ought to mention, there are times… Invariably, it is during my CFS relapses that the stories come. The good news is that although the relapses can last quite a while, the down times usually don’t. It depends on how succesful I am at picking up on it. One afternoon, I was exhausted and achy all over...
September 2007
8 posts
Lifestyle 101 expanded
Makes you stop and think The Kootenay Rockies are drier and warmer than Lake Louise and the National Parks across the middle of British Columbia. I was able to enjoy lovely weather, not real hot, but just georgous sunny days with a hint of fall in them. Hot in the afternoon, and cool in the morning and evenings. Having a high school friend living in Johnsons Landing, a tiny community at the end of...
8/27/07 Magical Monday -- Lake Louise and Morraine...
Canada’s amazing treasure , Lake Louise, is thronged with tourists at this end of the lake where I am taking the picture The lakes were beautiful and it was cold. with a low of -2c(28F) and a high of 7C (44F), I stayed for two days. One to see the lakes, and one to see Takakaw Falls. Victoria Glacier at the far end of Lake Louise, feeds it and is melting from Global Warming Here is an...
8/24/07 What a Day - - Helicoptor Ride!
I went up in a Helicoptor! Lake Louise is at the eastern edge of British Columbia. Driving east over the beautiful Canadian Rockies that I had come to see. The mountains were magnificant, and snow topped still in August. There were huge vistas of avalanche swaths cut out of the trees. Suddenly, the mountains opened out, and I came to a place called three valley gap, a valley where three mountain...
Harrison Hot springs where the Canadians go
By the time Laurie went back to San Mateo, California, I was ready to get out of big city’s congestion. Just two hours from Vancouver lies a special little town. Arriving in Harrison Hot Springs on a sunny afternoon, there were then 5 days of rain before I saw the sun again. However, the temperature was always balmy, so I enjoyed exploring with my raincoat and umbrella. This area is close...
A week in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
I was a little apprehensive about going into a new country, with a different monetary system, different unit of measure, meters, kilometers, celcuis, and who knows what else. Managing the details of finding one’s way, keeping the campervan full with litres of gas, propane, water and the potty emptied (it is called a sani station), buying groceries, making phone calls without my cell phone...
Lifestyle 101
Everywhere I go I meet women who are taking their lives into their own hands. Thinking for themselves, making decisions that would curl the ears of the current administration in the USA. The are people who may have never been involved in counter culture, or they are people who were hippies in the 60’s and now are coming to as close to a sustainable lifestyle as they can. Working locally,...
August 2007
1 post
Barbeques, Sightseeing with the Locals in Seattle...
It has been nearly a month since my last post. So there is a lot to tell. Firstly, Washington State is beautiful and green. And, yes, I had rain! Five days straight, at one point. But it did not dampen my trip, as there were many wonderful things to do and people to see.
The Glass museum in Tacoma, Washington is a weird cone shaped building that houses a ‘hot shop’ where you can...
July 2007
8 posts
I am in Washington State!
First time having the tablecloth out and actually took the time to cook a meal and take it all out to eat outside! First Campfire! Hanging out in Rainbow Falls State Park in Washington State resting, trying to get some rest. Lots of sleeping and sitting about. Working on the blog and waiting for a part for the fridge to come in on Tuesday. By the time I get to send this email, I’ll be back...
Small Pleasures and A Large Volcano
6/13/07 The new heartshaped ice cube trays from Ikea are working out well. It is such a delight to have ice in one’s bubbly water on a 103 degree day. Now, with these new trays, there is no need to worry about running out of ice!! Today I toured Mt. St. Helens. State Route 504 is a 50 mile new road leading up to an observatory that looks out at Mt. St. Helens from five miles away. Yours...
Portland #2- Touring With Family
Touring with family; Mt. Hood, Hood River, The Dalles, After the Bar Mitzva weekend,There was touring with Uncle Zel, my only remaining uncle, and Dad’s brother. We spent 12 days ‘doing’ the Columbia River Gorge, Hood River, The Dalles, Astoria and back to Portland for the last four days. Somewhere in the middle, we took on Seb and Adrian, Jonathan’s boys, 13 and 10 for...
Portland #1 Bar Mitzva and Family Reunion
Bar Mitzva- family reunion and all around great parties A good time was had by all in a gathering filled weekend. Starting Friday night at Paul and Janet’s house in Vancouver, WA, most of the family was there, although Laurie, whose birthday it was, took sick and couldn’t come. Janet, Julie and Ronnie are so busy cooking, they have not had time to get dressed for the party. Jonathan...
The Unseen Life That Dreams Us
I must read John Donahue again. An interview with this lovely ex Catholic Priest in the Sun Magazine talks about how we all need times alone, times to reclaim that’ wildness of ours’. ‘How wonderful’, he says, ‘it is to come together with a woman who has retained that wildness’. (the term is not defined. One simply has to imply that this means not having been...
Grant's Pass, Oregon- or Hello Oregon, goodbye...
Although I didn’t stay long, I did stop for dinner, and noticed the downtown sidewalks were adorned with statues of bears, all different, all by local artists.
correction
Correction: As one of our readers has pointed out, Ferndale is in California, not Oregon as previously stated. The editor must have been out to lunch at publishing time. Many appologies from the editor.
June 2007
5 posts
Ferndale, Oregon
Step back in time to the fifties and then the 70’s when Victorian restoration was big. This town is a mix of restored 1890’s and the 50s buildings. A wide empty Main Street and the older part of town have Victorian homes, then, as the town expanded, small one story houses from the 1950s. The Cream City Cafe has hot fudge sunday with candy sprinkles, slivered almonds, whipped cream,...
Redwoods 2
I tried not to worry about it. But campgrounds fill on summer weekends. Standish-Hickey State Recreation Area, the southern-most of the Redwood State Parks that make up this World Heritage Site and part of the California Coast Range Biosphere Reserve was not full! They call it the Lost Coast. Arriving at 7 pm on a Friday well into the summer season to one of the Redwoods State Park, is...
Redwoods
The redwoods are magnifigant! Dark windy and cold in the State Parks, a welcome relief after the heat of St. Helena. Pictures coming soon
More St. Helena
Imagine standing outside in 100 degree sun. You are hot, hot, hot when you enter this huge stone building. No air conditioning was necessary. It was just naturally lovely and cool. I was grateful, to say the least. St. Helena was having a heat wave, and the Culinary Institute of America was the place to be. There are young people wearing chefs ‘whites’ all around. They are talking on...
First stop: St. Helena, CA
This trip has many names: 1. A summer road trip up the NorthWest coast: 2. 2-3 mos. on the road; 3. 2-3 mos. on the road, extended to a year-long exploration of the US; 4. Poking around small towns, concentrating on history of place, architecture, old stuff, photography, getting some exercise, and living in a 17ft. Ford campervan with the minimum of stuff. The first days are filled...
May 2007
2 posts
“Question: How many Bush-administration officials does it take to screw in a...”
– Source unknown
New book on eating locally
Cloves to Home Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon chew the fat on their 100-mile diet By Kate Sheppard 24 Apr 2007 Two years ago, Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon set out to see if it was still possible, in these hyper-globalized times, to live off food grown in your own ‘hood. The pair made a pact to dine on dishes culled from within a 100-mile radius of their Vancouver, B.C., home for an...
April 2007
3 posts
“Sometimes the people who represent a religious tradition at a particular moment...”
– John O’Donohue A PhD in philosophical theology, John O’Donohue is, in my opinion, one of those rare souls who speaks to the core of our being, that core that seeks human truths comfort, and meaning that reaches across tradition and theology.
Photographic Composition 101
Today I relearned a little tidbit about taking pictures that I’ve learned before. However, not well enough to do it right all the time. The tip here, is that the thing you are focusing on, the main focus of any photo should be vertically, centered. You will want it just slightly off center horizontally, but vertically, one is most focused on the subjects in the center of the picture. Try it...
Portuguese homestyle cooking adventure in an...
Norm and I took the campervan into Allied Trailer for a new converter/charger, a Parallax 7300 Series Solid State Converter/Charger Section to be exact. Greg said, “why don’t you folks take a walk and get some lunch. We’ll be done in about an hour.” So, off we went, and wandered into an unlikely looking housewares store, Lusa Mercado Imports just next door since they had a...