CINCO DE MAYO!!!

It's been an interesting few weeks at the lake. The picture to the left was taken on Wednesday, April 27th, the night we went to the bathroom at the park to wait out the storms. There were tornado warnings for all the counties around us.












Here's my friends, Cathy and Ted. They look like they are having a great time, but believe me, looks can be deceiving. We were watching the lightening and listening to the thunder and several friends were calling to give us updates. We were really concerned since tornadoes had touched down all around us. I'm happy to report, however, we were safe and sound in the park. Apparently we are in a sort of valley and never had any high winds to worry about.





















This is the area just outside my door to my camper. You can see the water just sitting on top of the ground. Water everywhere, but not enough to cause the lake to overflow.

This picture and the next shows the water everywhere at the camp grounds.

This stream was two pads over from mine and never has any water in it, but there was so much rain over a period of about a week, this little stream was really running. In the 40 years I lived in Memphis, I've never seen so much water sitting along the I-55 expressway going from Memphis to Sardis, about 45 miles. Creeks, like Hickahala Creek, which are normally just that, small creeks, were actually raging rivers when I crossed them. It was actually kind of scary crossing over them.

For people living along the Mississippi, the reports are not good. Lots of flooding taking in and around the Memphis area, and we haven't reached the crest date yet of May 10th. The news reports are saying this is the worst flood since about 1936. And, in case you didn't hear, there were a total of 74 tornadoes reported during the month of April and we haven't even gotten to tornado month which is May.

For my friends in Costa Rica, Mike, Freckles and Coley, here's a picture of Ted taken with the symetricam feature of my camera. Cathy and I had a really good laugh. Doesn't he look like he's got ears about his ears and a cute round little face.

Now that I've embarassed another friend, I'll sign off. I'll be leaving for St. Louis on Monday to visit friends before I leave this area. On May 19th I'll be headed to Macon, Georgia to visit my friend, Bowden and his family. He and his son, Mat, are even at this moment participating in a 10-day Vipassana retreat, which is a retreat done in total silence. So hold them in you hearts and see them both having an easy time of it.

Blessings to all!!!!

SOME PICS!!!

This picture of the gloves is especially for Sherri. Just after I bought my Sunnybrook, Sherri called to give me some real fabulous pointers as a new RV owner. One of the best suggestions she gave me was to buy a pair of rubber gloves to handle the sewage tubing. So I went out and bought this really fancy pair with the cuffs. Sherri, are you jealous, or what????? Here's my dining table with my candles, my box with dominoes in it, and my large cedar box with my cards, my score pad and some pens. It helps to keep everything handy and organized at the same time. You can see I get some really beautiful lighting depending on what time of day it is. I love sitting at the table in the morning, having my first cup of coffee and journaling or reading. This beautiful angel used to be on my porch and now blesses my camper. She was given to me by my friend, Alpha, who lives in Florida now and was very instrumental in helping me decide to buy the camper. I spent several days with Alpha, the end of March, first of April, and was amazed at how beautiful a space she found for herself, a virtual garden of Eden. She lives in a gorgeous gated community close to Flagler Beach, Florida. Every afternoon we were greeted by giant plumes of water which came on to water the golf course. If the sun was just right, we got rainbows every afternoon. Not a bad way to end the day!!! I took this picture especially for Coley. You may or may not know, but the time on the clock is what photographers do to indicate a "smile" or happy picture. Coley do you see the two shawls you left with me. They have a new home now just inside the door. And this is a towel my ex-mother-in-law had a laugh over. I had this towel in my bathroom for several years and when I packed up my things to go into this camper, obviously I thought this would be cute. I'm still not sure what the real truth is, PMS or personality???!!! Finally, this is my bed cover. I've had this piece of material for quite some time and when I was unpacking all my "stuff", I found this and decided to use it on my bed, rather than running out to buy something else. It's very lightweight, and fits in with my "sunnybrook" camper. I figure I can use this all year, except in the coldest months, which will not see me camping anyway.

So these are just a few pictures to show you how easily my things have fit into this new space. It feels so good to nest in this space, making it feel like my home away from home!!!

I've had a couple of visitors and my friends, Cathy and Ted, will be here April 25-28th camping just across from me. My home is open to all, so take a few days and come play with me!!!!

I'm still around!!

Dear Family and Friends: I've now spent the better part of two hours trying to figure out how to download pictures from my phone to this blog. There is really nothing more frustrating that the realization you're not smarter than a computer (or a 5th grader either)!!! How is it that we've gotten to this point. No longer do we simply take some pictures, deliver them to the local Walgreen's, and have prints made to sent to family and friends. Now everything is digital and no one actually sees a printed copy of a picture unless they also have printing capabilities on their computer and can print one for themselves. My peaceful, calm morning has now been turned into one of frustration and feelings of lack!!! Once again I've run into this mountain and I don't know how to get on the other side. AAARRRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! So, just to let everyone know, I am here, Sardis Lake, Mississippi, enjoying the coolness of an April day, the wind is blowing, the temperature is 58 degrees and I'm still in my pajamas having my second cuppa (love the British). My djembe is calling to me, so I will probably finish this post and move into some drumming. That will teach this computer.... When I can get someone to show me how to move pictures from my phone to this blog, I'll put some photos in. Until then, stay well, live well, laugh often!!!!

HERE SHE IS!!!!

Well, it's done, I finally have my new used camper. It was quite a day! My friend, Alpha and I decided to go look at some campers. I had no intention of buying one here in St. Augustine, Florida, but I wanted to see what was out there. She's a real beauty, 27 feet long, 1998 model. As you can see she looks really good from the outside. She has one slide out and the kitchen is to the rear, which I really like. It opens up the entire area as soon as you walk into the room.




The living room is just as you step into the camper and there's a hide-a-bed sofa along with a rocking chair just to the left of the door as you enter. Just to the right of where the TV is you step up into the bedroom, which I did not include a picture of. But it's got a queen ? size bed with storage on both sides of the bed and a closet as you step up into the room.




Here's my dining area. The table lets down into another area for sleeping. I wasn't too sure about bench seating because the table usually is to close for comfort, but this one fit great!!! As you can see from the pictures, there are plenty of windows to let in light.









My kitchen area has some cabinets, obviously there is never going to be enough storage but I will make do with what is available. I can't wait to start unpacking and being in my new home.




Can you see how clean everything looks. The previous owners had new carpet and linoleum put down so it has a real clean feel to it.






Here's my kitchen, the refrigerator is the area with the black border. The previous owners even had a separate counter made, not pictured, with matching counter top. All I have to do is stand it up and put a couple of pegs in and I have extra counter space. It will go just to the left of the dining area.












So here is another picture of my new home. Her name is Sunnybrook and I understand this is a really good line of 5th wheels.

Now here's a couple of stories about me deciding to purchase this particular model. As Alpha and I were being shown different used 5th wheels, Monty, are salesman showed us several and I had decided I didn't really like any of the ones he had taken us to. Just as we were getting ready to go back to the office, Monty says "you know, I've got one more that just came into the lot, we haven't even had it checked over yet, but it's very clean, 1998 model, 27 feet long, let me show it to you." Right away I thought, geez, 1998 is old and it's probably going to look bad and smell bad also, but OK let's see it. I was amazed at the exterior, very clean as you can see, well taken care of. What really sold me on this one, is the previous owners were so meticulous about record keeping (anal would be the correct word), they had an expandable file folder with separate files inside. They had information on every aspect of this trailer, everything they had added, all the electrical equipment, even any work repair orders were included along with the cost bill. Anything I want to know about this camper is spelled out for me. None of the other campers had even a booklet to look at.

Then when we went into the office and Monty is writing up the sales contract, the figure he presented me with totalled the number 10, which for all you numerologists is a number of new beginnings. Then the financial officer came in to give me the final price, which was $800.00 less than what Monty had figured and that number totalled 24, my birth number which is 24/6. And if that's not enough proof for you I'm on the right track, guess what the financial officer's name was, yep, you guessed it, Angel-a, Angela. God sent me an angel to affirm for me this was supposed to be my camper. I am thrilled beyond words. It's perfect in so many ways and the people who owned it before me took really good care of it, they lived in it for 6 years and only sold it so they could upgrade.

So, never under-estimate the power of co-creating, visualization and prayer!!! My truck and my camper of proof of all three. See you on the road, again!!!!!

P.S., the name Sunnybrook adds up to 10 also!!!

FINAL PARTY!!!!

Our final get together took place at a really fabulous restaurant called Citron. Coley and I wanted to do something special for Freckles 56th birthday, so we took both Mike and Freckles to dinner and invited our friends, Rosemary and Dave.

Here they are, the happy couple, Rosemary and Dave. Interestingly enough, Rosemary is also a twin, identical, and was the first to arrive 7 minutes before her twin. Exactly the same time difference as Coley and I, with Coley being first. Rosemary's twin is married to Dave's brother, how's that for a close family connection.

Here's Coley and Freckles and Mike and Freckles. The dessert was a decadent chocolate mousse with vanilla ice cream on the side. Talk about "to die for"!!! In addition to the desserts, Coley and I had a rigatoni with chicken in a wonderful olive pesto type sauce. Mike, Freckles and Rosemary had the pork tenderloin with a glaze on top and beet greens sauteed. Dave had a crusted tuna on top of sauteed broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. The food was to the last drop delicious.

Now, here's a couple of fun shots I took with my Fx camera. Can you tell who this is? Pretty funny!!! We laughed our behinds off last night after I took this picture.

And here's the birthday girl, also a very funny picture!!!!
This particular feature is a symmetry camera.

So, my last post while in Costa Rica. This has been one amazing 5months, with lots of laughter, some tears, and really awesome moments to savor. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had in being able to come here and to stay for five months, but I am now ready to come home and begin the next adventure!!! Hope some of you will come and play with me on my journey!!!!!

PARTY TIME!!!

There was a hot time in the old town last night! Since this was my last weekend, Coley and I held a pot-luck and invited some friends to join us. It was without a doubt one of the most fun times I've had in Costa Rica. To the left is Rosemary and Dave in the foreground, Joe in the dark tee, Marcel in the blue trunks.





To the left is Sandra in the pink and her husband Joe to her left. In the foreground is Freckles with something of interest in her drink. In addition to the people in these pictures, not pictured are Eddie, Peter, Cerj, Mike, Terry, Lily, Danielle, Ricardo, Coley and I. The food was absolutely marvelous as well, with candied plantains, 7-layer dip, potato salad, bread chips with pate' and cheese, and also a vegetable spread on them, plenty of chips, baked beans, and pintos with potatos. Mike did the grilling and we had hamburgers and hotdogs.


The best part of the afternoon, was the water volleyball games we played. As you can see by the pictures, we played girls vs. boys. The guys won both games, but we really gave them a run for their money. On the girls team, that's me getting ready to serve, Coley is on my left and Peter is next to her. Sandra is in front of me, Freckles in front of Coley and Rosemary in front of Peter. On the sidelines is Danielle who was the ball retriever and helped keep the score. Notice our wonderful net!!! We had a definite advantage in that our end is the most shallow.


The guys had to contend with the deep end, which is about 5.5 inches deep. In the front row, far left is Joe, and next to him was Mike, Dave behind Mike, Eddie in the middle and Marcel far left, back row. Marcel is only about 5 ft 4 inches, so he really had to work harder to keep afloat.
One of the greatest moments was a ball that Freckles hit off Sandra's head to Coley who put it over the net and scored one for our team. I'm surprised you didn't hear us screaming and laughing all the way back to the States.


So this was a farewell party for me, but also for Marcel and Danielle who will be heading back to Quebec on Monday. They've been living downstairs from Coley and I since the middle of January. Sandra and Joe have been here for a week from Olympia, Washington and will be headed back on Tuesday, then I leave on Friday. I told all of them if I'd known how much fun it was to play in the pool with them, I would have had a pool party much sooner. You can bet when I come back next winter, we'll have more opportunities to play water games together.

This may be my last entry for several days. Until I get my computer out of storage, I won't have much access to do my blog, but never fear, I shall return. I hope you've enjoyed seeing the pictures and reading about some of the adventures we've had. I send each of you love!!!!!

Going to The Beach

This will probably be my last trip to any of the outlying beaches. My time is coming to a close for this season, so Mike and Freckles wanted to take me to a beach I had not been to, so we drove to Tamarindo to take Negra to the vet. However, even after setting up the appointment, the vet was not in the office, so Negra got to spend the day at the beach without her partner in crime, Paco.

Here's Coley and Freckles on the beach at Flamingo. It's really one of the most beautiful beaches in Costa Rica.





Here's Mike and Negra getting ready for the next wave. Negra has had surgery on her left rear paw, but she did great in the water, which she loves, not to mention how much she loves being with Mike. Negra is a rescue pit bull, but she's a real sweetheart and one of my pet-sitting babies.















No trip is complete without a stop at one of the local sodas (family owned restaurants). This one is quite a lovely one, on the beach, and the tables are solid wood with the thatched roofs. Unfortunately word has it this particular restaurant is going to be closed down since it's not far enough back from the ocean. There's not alot of sodas with this very cool ambience, so it will be a loss for all of us.

The good news is I've found the perfect camping area. I couldn't wait to get a picture of it. As you can see, it's not advertised in a big way, so we almost missed the sign.

Here's the campground. As you can see there's a little shack, I guess if it rains you'll have someplace to go. There's even a toilet available, you can just see the top of it in the background.

Who needs alot of frills? Hell, who needs any frills? I didn't check on the price, but I'll bet it fits into my budget. Anyone want to join me?

By this time next week I will be in Memphis, Tennessee, reconnecting with friends and revisiting old haunts. Even though I'll be happy to be back on American soil, it will be really hard to leave here and leave my twin. I'm going to miss her alot. But, back here again next winter!!!!

See some of you next week and others, I hope real soon!!!!