Shortly after she and my dad moved south (almost 30 years ago), my mom announced that, despite her having lived all her life in New Hampshire, Florida was now definitely her home and she would never even consider moving back to New England. Of course, the rest of our family remains in New England. However, with regular calls and in-person visits a few times a year we’re able to stay sufficiently close. The motorhome turns out to be a perfect tool for the job…
Continue reading “Visit with Mom”
This time, it was a cosmic, serendipitous, path crossing of two Drumeos…
During an online conversation about drumming, fellow Drumeo member Shawna (aka Music Dragon) mentioned she was heading out on a road trip. I perked right up and asked about the trip. Numerous online conversations later, she mentioned that although she lives in North Carolina, Shawna was starting her road trip from her mom’s place in Florida. Florida? Where? Satellite Beach, about 5 miles from where my mom lives… And, she’d be in town for 2 weeks – overlapping with our stay. Gotta meet up!
Continue reading “Jabs and jams, part 1.5”
Apparently they had been thinking about it, too. We knocked on the door. They opened it. US: Wow, how long has it been?! THEM: 17 years! Trish and Jim hadn’t changed a bit. And, of course, neither had we.
We all lived in the same small, socially active neighborhood in Connecticut for about 12 years. They moved away to South Carolina at about the same time we moved to Vermont. Although we’ve stayed in touch that whole time, and we did try to meet up, it did indeed take 17 years to get together live.
Continue reading “Aiken, SC”
As Doug mentioned in the previous post, we’re on our way to spend some time with my mom in Florida. We decided to treat ourselves to a little bit of normalcy. We made plans to visit a few OVFs (Old Vaccinated Friends) along the way. Doesn’t that sound, er, normal?
Continue reading “Jabs and jams, part 1”
Well, we’re vaccinated now. Yippee! Of course we’re aware the pandemic isn’t over, but the vaccines are effective, COVID contagion is way down, and it seems folks might responsibly start venturing out and doing a few things again. Non-essential travel probably isn’t one of those things. On top of that, for our next major excursion we’re hoping to tour the Maritime Provinces, and travel to Canada is still not possible for Americans.
However, as much as it’s been a tough 14 months for everybody, it’s been tougher still for seniors in assisted living facilities. Sue’s mom lives in such a place and is long overdue for a visit, so we’ve packed up the quarantine-mobile and we’re heading south to spend a little time with her in Florida, returning back home before it gets too hot for us down there. It will be a shorter trip than previous ones, and we’ll see how it unfolds.
And just like that, we’re off on a new adventure. It feels a little weird…
After a year plagued (pun intended) by changes in, well, just about everything, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. We anticipate receiving our COVID-19 vaccines sometime in April. That will be a giant step toward the next phase of normalcy in our lives.
Continue reading “A Bit of Optimism, Light at the End of the Tunnel, Hope on the Horizon, Happy Spring!”
The summer of 2020 will certainly be one to remember. Or forget. Remarkable either way. We’ll remember that foregoing our usual summer travels allowed us to enjoy the simple pleasures of life in Vermont.
Continue reading “Simple Pleasures”
Vermont has not been hit hard (so far) by the coronavirus, though the impact of the shutdown on businesses and tourism has been huge. As in our previous post, we’re staying put until the pandemic is under control and spreading has stopped. The culture in our small state and small town is pretty much to look out for each other and, in general, people are following guidelines. As a result, the number of cases has been kept small and outbreaks have been quickly addressed. However, although it’s been a quiet spring, as businesses start to reopen and we begin to welcome some visitors, it’s clear that we’re not going right back to the way things used to be. The times, they are a-changin’, one might say…
Continue reading “The Times, They Are A-Changin’”
Well, ordinarily at this time of year, we’d’ve just finished up the ski season and we’d be getting the motorhome packed up and road-ready, while getting the regular home packed up and ready for the house-sitters. Instead, the ski areas shut down a month ago, and of course traveling for 6 months or so is out of the question for now. So we stopped packing, helped our house-sitters arrange alternative housing, and set about hunkering down.
Continue reading “Social Distance”
Yes, I made it back. The rig is unloaded and ready for freezing temperatures, though it still needs some cleaning up and a few other things before winter sets in. That’s all for now, maybe we’ll have more to say later – if not, here’s hoping we all have an awesome winter!
