Kayaking on the Estero River

Bernice and I rode over with some friends to a yoga center wilderness center located on the Estero river this morning. The day was damp, warm and cloudy. We found the Happahatchee Preseve down a narrow dirt lane with overhanging palmetto palms. When we arrived there was a scattering of cars and a bunch of boy scouts painting an out building as a project. We met the elder owner who has lived there all her life but has opened her home and land to yoga participants, gardeners, native ceremonial quests and kayakers. We each picked out a kayak, paddle and life jacket. Our guides were a young couple of naturalists. We launched in ankle deep mud into the brown salty river about 5 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. The river is covered by overhanging Live Oaks, Spanish Moss and huge tropical plants and trees. The sun began to shine through the canopy. The temp was about 70. There were about a dozen paddlers and canoers. We paddled up creek as far as possible then reverse direction and paddled toward the Gulf to within about 2 miles of the mouth. We saw a Green Heron with a frog in it's mouth, a large green turtle sitting on a log and a little Blue Heron hunting along the shore. The flora and fauna was very beautiful.

After returning to the camp, we shared a potluck picnic lunch with our new found friends. My friend Maureen made black bean brownies that were great. Her husband, Art, made super deviled eggs. Bernice and I made fruit salad. There were Italian meat sandwiches and a green salad.

I came back to the coach and continued waxing and buffing after a much needed nap. Tonight there is a lovely breeze blowing and the temp is still 72. We may get some showers in the night.

It feels good to make the Native American connection here. The day before I found a natural food store that has beautiful organic veggies nearby... I also discovered a farmers mkt at Dolly's restaurant where they sell local organic fruits and veggies. I bought a couple of Temple oranges and the lady put a red (blood) orange in my bag. What an incredible tasting fruit it is. Very juicy and sweet right off the tree.

We made some new friends who like to do many of the things we do. We went to the beach with them, played cards and biked.

No luck selling the bus as of yet. Still have to have the windshield fixed again. Don't know where this all ends financially. I just keep dumping money into this big hole.

Naples Revisited '10

After two and a half years, Sebastian and I, along with our friend,Bernice, loaded up the Bearfoot Bus and headed southward. I hooked up the car in a cold rain, we loaded the bikes inside the Bus also in that cold rain. We strung our foul weather gear down the center of the bus to dry as we motored out Shine Hill Road headed for the Northway (I 87). First realization was my wipers were not working properly. They could be enticed to wipe twice with a manual application of the mister on the dash. I began to pray for a cessation of the rain along with the other multitude of prayers going through my mind. Stopped at exit 16 to top off the diesel tank, expensive but necessary. I carry 90 gals of fuel and can go over 900 miles on one tank if I let it go that low. I actually fill it after a half a tank so the tally is not as painful. Intermitent rain much of the way along with strong cold winds. I had purchased an EZPass and put the little whatcha-dingies on the bus windshield as well as the car window. This is my first experience with EZPass and I was a bit dazzled and unbelieving by the process. We motored through the first toll booth without a problem and continued on down the NY Thruway to Suffern where we merged onto I 287. I went through the toll booth in Suffern and was quite intent on the little green lights on the left side of the coach to see if this thing really worked when thud, I tapped my right hand mirror on the toll booth pillar. Didn't do anything serious to it but loosen the screws and bark up the chrome. But needless to say it was useless until I could somehow tighten it up. Driving a rig this size and not being able to see the right side is very stressful. We stopped at a rest area and I brought out my trusty duck tape. A fellow camper saw me and came over bearing an allen wrench which he used to tighten the screws. Ahhh! Dodged that bullet.

As the light began to seriously fade on I 78 crossing PA, we began to question where to pull over since I don't drive at night. We found a Love's Truck Stop and pulled in amongst the big rigs. We have come to the conclusion after a sleepless night that there are 3 million trucks in PA and they were all running engines and gensets at Love's all night. Pulled out on a frosty early morning, seeking warmer, quieter places. Stopped that night in Ashland, VA. I de-winterized the coach so we could take showers and flush the toilet. We met daughter Lisa and my grands, Travis and Anna at a sweet cafe in Short Pump, VA for lunch before a roaring wood fire. Hmmmm good! The forcast was for extreme cold in VA.....we left for the southern I 95. Drove to Selma, NC for a quick overnight. Very cold and high winds on the beam! My wrists and hands ache from wrestling with the "tiller" and keeping the bus on track. Very challenging with constant tractor trailers rushing by and the wind hitting on the other side. Made it to Point South, SC and stayed in an Alligator Preserve. Bernie doesn't like alligators...... We ordered a pizza and had it DELIVERED. Wow! Slept very well for the first time in days. Many snowbirds coming in for a rest stop covered with salt wash from Ohio, Canada, PA and NYS. We wandered around and compared war stories.

Off the next morning to cross GA where it was slow going with construction. Confronted with miles of the dreaded concrete barriers and VERY narrow lanes shared with tractor trailers. Ughhhhhhh! Kept plugging onto FL border and A1A, 301 on to Gainesville where we joined the throngs on I 75. After 535 miles (I can't believe I did it today), we gratefully pulled into a campground near my dear friends Brent and Sharon in Riverview, FL. New Year's Eve.... we collapse in our bunks and listen to the barrage of fireworks well into the wee hours. Brent and Sharon and dogs, Chance and Sugar, came over to visit the next morning in windy rainy weather and a bit of thunder. Maneuvering in amongst the live oaks with their massive over-hanging branches was most challenging. But we were able to get out of there without a mishap and hit the road for Naples. Heavy winds and rain and a most annoying wind sound in the cab that couldn't be disquised with the radio blasting and of course, the manualling operated windshield wipers was most challenging once again. We pulled into Lake San Marino immediately after they had experienced a huge deluge and the streets were flooded. Thanks to my bro-in-law, Emory who guided me into my tight place without a hitch. Thanks to God and to our Highest Guidance and Angels who were obviously very busy on this journey keeping us safe and warm.

It is unseasonably cold here but sunny. More later and pics later when I am able to go online with my own laptop.

Happy New Year!!!

Let it snow, let it snow!

Home today with time to bake, wrap gifts, shovel snow and best of all, nap. I stayed up last night for the finale of Biggest Loser. Then couldn't get to sleep so I think I got about 5 hours in. It started snowing at 3 a.m. and just kept on coming to accumulate about 8 inches or so here in Hartford. There was a period of sleet before it finally stopped shortly after noon. I tried to go to work but couldn't get out of my driveway. My snow plow man didn't come until about 11 am. but even if I could have gotten out to the road, the town truck had plowed a very large snow bank across the end of my drive. My car is low in the front and there is no way it would have bucked through that stuff. I hate to lose a day of work though.

Tomorrow we have a Christmas meeting up at the Great Escape Lodge in Lake George. It is going to be lots of fun. We are going to eat lots of good food, make blankets for the homeless and we have a gift basket raffle. We are finished at 2:00 and I will come home, pick up the Bus to drive it back to Hudson Falls to a truck repair place where they will change the oil, check all the fluid levels, tires and grease the chassis. I had made an appt. at the Cumins diesel engine shop in Richmond, VA for the OLF but they want $400 for the service. I am very happy I found this local guy who is much more reasonable. I fret about all the "stuff" I need to get done before Bernie and I leave but it just always falls in place and somehow it gets done.

I haven't had time to work on publishing my book in the last couple of weeks. I have been busy with holiday things in the church, basketball games and Jones' family stuff. Pete and I enjoy watching Tad play JV basketball with Hartford CS. My granddaughter, Emily is playing Varsity BB with Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester, VT but I haven't seen any of her games yet. They don't play within easy driving distance for me in the daylight. We are dark here now at 4:20 pm. I have a grandson Colin who plays hockey for Lasalle Academy in Troy, NY - Haven't seen him play this season either. Frustrating!

You should see my house.....I have been packing stuff to bring to FL in bags and then grouping them for loading. So much for traveling light! For me, traveling light is impossible. I wish we were leaving right off though. The waiting is nerve-wracking as it gives me more time to worry about the weather etc.

I will try to keep you posted. I have designated a "blog reader" list on my facebook page for those of you who are on FB. You can read it right there. If you are one of my regular readers and on FB and don't get it, let me know. I will add you to the list.

Happy Holidays...... from me and Sebastian

November Sunday

It has been a month since I have visited my blogsite. I did receive one phone call from a loyal reader asking, "Why?" The call prompted this writing for sure. Some of you know that I wrote a book a few years ago about my journey through a total life-change as I became functionally blind, my 27-year marriage fell apart and I was forced to move from my beautiful home in coastal NC. The title of my book is Born Of Fire: A Yearlong Diary of Personal Transformation. My dear friend and author, Janet Lembke, edited and guided me through the process but like I said that was about 7 year ago before Sebastian and I went on the road in the Bearfoot Coach. Now it is time to revisit the manuscript and web-publish. I had looked into publishing the book through a commercial publisher a few years ago. The cost was prohibitive for me. I became discouraged and put the book away. But with the advent of web self publishing, it is doable. This is a lengthy excuse regarding my absence from my blog writing. I have been diligently working on BOF whenever I have spare time. I am getting very close to publishing and will certainly announce it to ya'll.

This post will appear on Facebook too. I guess since it is all Google web...... I want to bring my blog only readers up-to-date on what has changed in my life in the last month. My last writing here, I said I was leaving Hicks' and going on to subbing again. That did happen. But one day three weeks ago as I left my job at Fort Ann CSD, my phone told me I had several messages. I was wanted at the BOCES Gick Road Special Education Offices. I not only had phone calls but emails requesting me to fill a secretarial post to the director. The hours worked for me and for Sebastian for now. The job will end by mid-Dec. so hopefully the heavy snows will hold off. I like the job and it is good to be back, spending time with the friends I met when I subbed for them last spring for 3 mos. It just so happened that I had treatment for my eye spasms a week before the BOCES job began. I received the largest dose of Botoxin that I have ever had in the 12 years I have had to have the injections. I personally think it was too much for me to handle. My immune system which is already challenged from Sjogrens, went into a talespin. My eyes just couldn't stay focused or clear. The dryness was just awful as was the fatigue. But I am pulling out of that now. It seems to improve each day. I have about 5 weeks or so before I pull the old Bearfoot Bus out of Hartford and point it southward once more. ((:

What a great day that will be!!! I have a friend who is willing to learn to drive the bus and share the winter with Sebastian and me. Her name is Bernice Burnham. We share many of the same interests and she has a great sense of humor which is essential when riding/living with me.

I have been a busy person though (another excuse for not posting). I began a new series of paintings a couple of months ago. I have called it Through Will's Eyes. Will is my grandson who it turns out is a fine photographer. With his permission, I am using some of his shots as models. This is an exciting project for me. My daughter Theresa took me to the Georgia O'Keefe tourning exhibit at the Clark Museum in Williamstown, MA for my birthday a few months back. I have been to a couple of O'Keefe exhibits since her work has always inspired me. Seeing her work upclose and personal combined with Will's photos just got all my creative juices flowing again. The only problem with this is, I have interrupted the process with life, at least for now. I cannot tell you how many times this has happened to me during my 50 years of painting. I keep the painting out in my living area where I look at it each and every day. That way the juices are still trickling away just waiting to continue. See the photos attached. Progression from abstract underpainting to realism.

So between work, BOF (the book), preparing for winter, readying the bus, closing the garden and all the other stuff we do on a daily basis, finding time to write a journal has not been high on the list.

I must tell you I had a visitor in my maple tree right by my bedroom window last week. I put up one of Pete's birdhouses in that tree last summer. The tree is only about 10 ft. away from the house. I saw a flash of blue and there was a bluebird looking into the birdhouse. I crept away to get the camera but alas, s/he was gone when I returned. I am looking foward to a nesting pair in that place in the spring. I had a pair all summer but they were down on the lower locust grove area.

I finally was able to find a seasonal flu shot clinic in Saratoga. My boss gave me as much time as I needed to go up to Walgreen's. I stood in line for about a half hour which wasn't bad. The H1N1 virus is all around me but now that I am no longer in the classroom, I feel better about avoiding the virus. I have always opposed anti-bacterial soaps except for medical people since the natural bacteria on our skin is protective in its own right. I use, along with many others, the hand sanitizer now, and I wonder if we are not inviting more virus' than we are preventing. Certainly my skin has suffered from the frequent application of alcohol as well as soap and water. Time will tell.

Enough rambling for now. Enjoy the photo of Sebastian taken yesterday after we had to walk in the rain.
donna

After the first frost 09

My garden is just about finished growing. Just about because I have 4 wonderful stems of brussels sprouts which will be fine throughout the winter. I think they are so amazing. They taste nothing like the store-bought ones.

Today is going to be my last day at Hick's Orchard. I just haven't had the hours that I need and I have been working weekends. Now I look forward to leading a normal working life. I will be able to join friends and family on weekends and go to church. All the things I have missed since July. Bash and I are going to be out in the UPick orchard today. It is cold and raw. We will have our car there to warm up in between customers.

I need to write about being a Fan. I realized last week that I have never experienced being a fan before in my life. Oh sure, I have said I was a fan of so and so but I have never been face to face with them. I was working in the winery at Slyboro Ciderhouse on the weekend. It was extremely busy in the wine room. I was giving tastings to approx. 9 people lined up at my station like recipients of Christian Communion. I was moving back and forth along the line of people which actually was about 4 deep as well. I had been having a really good time with some jolly people on the end of the counter when they parted and there stood a woman whose face was so familiar to me, it was like looking into the face of a dear friend or family member. I felt like I wanted to reach out and hug her close. Instead, I said, "Hi, I am one of your greatest fans." She asked me my name and we shook hands. I was speechless. It was Rachel Raye. She is just as pretty in person as she appears on TV. So that is what it is like to be a fan I thought.

Pete and I watched the Amazing Race the other night and we were both shocked that most of the participants could not correctly identify a photo of Jackie Kennedy. Why are people now-a-days so unaware of people who have made history? In an effort to be understanding, we searched our memories for images of former first ladies. We could both go back to FDR - we were young kids then and yet I would recognize Eleanor Roosevelt's photo. Those Americans on Amazing Race made me ashamed of them. They were in Cambodia and the Cambodians of every age knew who Jackie Kennedy was. Sad...

I haven't taken many photos this fall. It hasn't been as pretty as it usually is. So much rain and many cloudy days. I mowed my entire lawn last week just before the frost. It may be the last time. I discovered I have large areas of mole infestation. I will have to find a natural way of discouraging them from living in the main part of the lawn since I don't allow any poisons in my yard. They do make it tricky to walk though. Suddenly my foot sinks and twists. Easy to sprain an ankle.

I am finally going for Botoxin treatment this week in my eyes. I always put it off as long as possible since the after effects are difficult for about a month sometimes even longer. I think I have been 6 months this time. For 12 years I have gone every 3 mos for treatment so this was unusual. The only part of it has been I have limited my driving distance in the daytime and almost never drive at night. I pray the treatment works as it should this time so I can safely drive the MH to FL in Dec. I have a friend, Bernice, who wants to go along but I do have to teach her to drive the rig. She has been busy so we haven't done that yet. Also, I now have 2 dead starting batteries that are original equipment (10 yrs) and are done for. The replacements are very expensive but they have to be purchased. I have pumped lots of dollars into the coach this year and haven't used it once. }}:

I have begun editing my book and will publish it on the web soon. Web self-publishing is the way to go for writers such as myself. My creative juices have begun to flow again, Thanks be to God. I also have started a series of paintings from my grandson Will's photos. I call them Through Will's Eyes. I see the possibility of at least 4. The Barnyard Series from the last two years is nearly finished. There is one more I want to do of a chicken yard. Wish me continued "juicyness". Sometimes it is very difficult to muster.

Be well dear readers.....

Some Poetry I wrote

Myrtle Beach, SC '05

Restless Ocean
knocking on the shore,
Berms, dunes, fences, grasses-
A wall built by man
to keep her visits to
a minimum.

She comes to her shore
like an unwelcome relative.
She comes to claim what
is hers.

Man opens windows
to allow her to come in.
She comes, she claims
every 12 hours.
She drags it all back
with her. As she spits
out plastic bags, bottles,
cans - debris,
flotsam, jetsum - sort of -
except
it doesn't come from the Ocean but
from shore; From her visits
through those open windows.

Gifts of welcome?
I hardly think not.

Some Poetry I wrote

Myrtle Beach, SC '05Restless Ocean
knocking on the shore,
Berms, dunes, fences, grasses-
A wall built by man
to keep her visits to
a minimum.

She comes to her shore
like an unwelcome relative.
She comes to claim what
is hers.

Man opens windows
to allow her to come in.
She comes, she claims
every 12 hours.
She drags it all back
with her. As she spits
out plastic bags, bottles,
cans - debris,
flotsam, jetsum - sort of -
except
it doesn't come from the Ocean but
from shore; From her visits
through those open windows.

Gifts of welcome?
I hardly think not.