QUARTZSITE'S BIG TENT RV SHOW

What a great way to start the day.  A nice hot cup of chai tea.  

Oliver and Olivia wanted to visit the desert before the sun was peaking over the mountains.   That meant I needed to leave my toasty, warm bed and brave the cooler desert temperatures.  

But then.......as they were taking care of their business, the sun peaked over the mountain just ahead of us.  Beautiful.  

Then I turned one hundred eighty degrees to see the first rays on the mountains behind us. 

Wow.  

What a beautiful time of reflection, and thankfulness for all blessings that God has heaped on us.  

Yesterday was a day of surprises.  After two long years of anticipation, the Big Tent and the Quartzsite RV and Travel Show was open for business.    

I had quite a time finding a parking place that would be close enough that John would not have a long walk to the tent.  Finally, I decided to let him of at an entrance then park the car.  It still took me about twenty minutes to find a place to park the car on the last row.  

We were to meet friends Val and Larry.  Two years ago they shopped in our booth at the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival in Franklin, Indiana. Val volunteered to demonstrate spinning on my Schacht spinning wheel.  

Val and Larry live in Tuscon in the winter then travel in their RV during the Arizona heat in the summer.  Hummm what do we call those that travel north?  It sure is not snowbirds!  

We all headed into the big tent to shop for all things RV. NOT.  It is not all things RV.  We were disappointed to see so many booths occupied by vegetable peelers, hair straighteners, food choppers, etc.  Our expectations were unrealistic.  

How is this for a R.V. conversion?

Last night as I was trying to fall asleep it dawned on me.  The joy of Quartzsite is not the shopping. It is  sitting in the warm desert sun, feeling the healing wash over our bodies.  

It is all about reconnecting with friends, making new friends, listening to RVers with many years of experience share their knowledge.  It is not often that we can meet with others who blog about their travels and their RVs.  That is the joy of Q.  

With that, I leave you to have a wonderful Sunday.

God Bless!

  
  

SETTLING IN AND MAKING IT OUR HOME

It is a bit of a mess here right now.  You can see that in the photo!  Being a short one, I use the stool in the upper right, but it is foldable and should have been put in it's  place.

Then there is Noah's litter box.  For a while, it was under our dining table, then we moved it in the space between the "navigator's chair and my seat, but that is where my case with my circular sock machine is now located.  The only place I can think to put the litter box is in the shower.  Any other suggestions?

And ladies and gentlemen, on the right just above and behind Oliver, you see a full trash bag.  That dandy item now hangs on the hand rail.  I REALLY do not like that!

With John's COPD, I thought I had to bring our small room air filter.  Again, there is no good place for it.  Last night, it went to the campground dumpster and I will look for a smaller, less obtrusive filter.

Now, for what we have accomplished.  First is our floors that John installed last summer when he felt much better than he does now.  Then there is the Karastan oriental rug on which  the fur kids love to rest.

Well, maybe not so much to rest all the time.  It is  also used as a wrestling mat for Noah (the cat) and Olivia (the dog).  And guess who always wins....Noah!

 Oliver just stands in the background and asks "when will these two ever grow up and be more dignified, LIKE ME?"

After the rug went down, John removed one of the light fixtures on the wall and hung my cherry Howard Miller wall clock.  It is no longer hanging crooked as you see in the photo.


Next to the clock and waiting to be framed and hung is a pen and ink drawing of Talley's Pub.


John also removed the traditional Winnebago watercolor that comes with every rig.  There, we are going to hang one of my pieces of fiber art work.  This "painting" is composed of hand dyed fibers then blended and laid out to create the picture.  


This "painting" won Grand Champion, Best of Show at the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival. 


The holes left by the watercolor is where this picture will be hung. 

There is another fiber painting to be hung in the bedroom.  A few years ago, this was a Father's Day gift for John.  I entered this "painting" in the fine arts division at our county fair and won a blue ribbon.  What a surprise.

As we travel and John and I take pictures of scenes that we like, I will take the photo and recreate it by painting with the fiber.

I have my dye pot, dyes and all other equipment with me.  I guess we could say that our motorhome is an art studio on wheels.  From our traveling studio, I will be selling the artwork as Merikay and Karen in the Woods will be selling their works.

The final, so far, touch of home we have added is the last quilt John's mom made before her death.  This quilt was even made for John which gives it special meaning to him.

In the lower right corner is a small, portable washing machine.  This baby saves us a lot of money on laundry bills.  It was two hundred dollars and has paid for itself many times over.

As we begin our search for a newer motorhome, a built in washer/dryer is just one of my must haves. What is so funny is that although we have sold our house, we just have not felt a rush to purchase our next motorhome.  For me, that is a good thing.

Enough for today.  If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to head to the comment box!  Thanks for stopping by.

God bless!

So Happy to Have THAT Done!

I have been off studying and test taking.  In my other life, I was an insurance agent and I continue to do my continuing education and test taking.  Total stress time for this type A personality.  Of course I must get every question answered correctly.  Now, I ask "who cares other than me?".  Now that the test is over and I have my certificates to prove it, I don't even care. ha

If the studying enhanced my knowledge of health and life  insurance, that would be great, but what they place on there is junk.  Who gives a rip about the dates of early insurance, when Medicare started, etc.  That is not what makes agents good.  Useful knowledge of the do's and don'ts, the ways to use each policy, etc - that would help insurance agents.

I have been licensed  for 30 years and feel like I could write the continuing education materials.  BUT, do not ask me to.  I'm mostly retired.  I write for friends and family.  That is the only reason I keep my license.

Ok, enough of that!

The silk worms are making cocoons today.  It is neat to watch them work inside their cocoons.  The ones that have yet to start are just lounging around, not eating....just sleeping, getting ready for the big push.  I am going to have silk soon!  It has been an interesting experience, but not sure I will do it again.  Right now, I'm just tired and really don't want to do a thing.

But, tomorrow, I head to the studio.  I an positive that will put some excitement into my life.  I have yarn to dye, felting to do etc.  I have some neat ideas that have been cooking for a while and am ready to make some test pieces.

I found my camera!  It was "lost" in the Miata!  I haven't had the Miata out of the barn since Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival and I had the camera down there.  Mystery solved.

John is just a step or two from having the motorhome floor prepared for our new Allure floor covering.  He says that after removing the carpeting from the house for our hardwood and removing it from the motorhome, he never wants us to have carpeting again.  Even if one sweeps daily, grit gets though the carpet and just sits on the floor.  Yuck...and that is just what we see!  What about all the mites from our skin etc?  Double Yuck!

I do know that our allergies have been much better since we have installed the hardwood here in the house.

I'm ready for a trip again and so is John.  We haven't been home two weeks and we are ready to roll again.  Maybe next week after the Fourth of July stampede.  We really enjoy going to Brown County State Park and it is only 45 minutes from here.

Well, that's it for tonight so nite and God Bless!

The Joy of Having Children and Grandchildren

Wow!  Double Wow!!

What a time we have had since last talking to  you.  We have celebrated our grandson Ross' third birthday.  He is such a sweetie.  Beautiful red hair and energy to the max.  Ross has the sweetest temperament I  have ever seen.  He is totally into the Cars cartoon movement.  Ninety percent of his birthday gifts were in one way or another in the Cars genre.  He loved each and every gift and was totally overwhelmed with the entire celebration.  This is the first year that he "got it" as far as birthdays go.

Now the age spread between grandchildren is quite a spread.  Our two oldest are 23 and 21.  The younger two are 3 and 6.  A bit of a gap there, isn't there.  Megan, at 23 is expecting her first child, our second great grandchild.  Megan seems more like one of our daughters than a granddaughter and needless to say, there have been baby showers.  We took Meg to Babies R Us and she showed us the items they need for our little Harper.  We, being the stingy curmudgeon, of course did not listed....... HA!    We did our part to make her showers a total haul.

Harper is to make her entrance into the world this Sunday morning.  She has been a bit of a concern the last week or so.  An ultrasound has brought to light an aneurysm in the umbilical cord and arrhythmia  AND she is going to be a breach baby.  What more could be expected?  Nothing, I hope.  We trust that God has both mom, Megan and little Harper in His hands and we will have a healthy little girl to dote upon.

Today, Megan, her paternal grandmother and I all had lunch together at Bravo's.  It was funny to see the appetite an expectant mother can have.  Little Harper is not really giving her mom much room to breathe or to put food into her stomach, but Megan still managed to tackle her lobster bisque and salad.

After lunch, we went to Gymbore to look at baby clothes.  What fun!  The styles are so neat, I could have just purchased the store and been done with it.  Alas, that takes capitol....so we continue to spoil a bit at a time.  After our little shopping trip, we said our goodbyes and each of us headed to our homes.  Megan, for an expectant mother's nap, Gam's Pam home, and I went off to library and to our rental for a confrontation with our renter.

He is behind in his rent and is totaling up a lot of  late payment charges.  I decided that instead of a letter, I'd just show up on his door step.  What I found was very upsetting.  He opened the door and all I could smell was stale cigarette smoke - in a non-smoking home!  That really set me off!  Not good!  I asked for him to pay his rent to date and to add all the late charges.  Then I told him that he was not supposed to be smoking in the condo and he needed to be smoking outside.  Ohhhhh, the fun of being a land lord.  It is tempting to just sell the place.

I cam home and ranted to John, then retreated to family room to "cool down".  Following my cool down time, we went to dinner, but not before calling Megan and asking her to join us since her husband, Adam, works evenings.  We had a lovely time together and that just made the day complete..

One week from tomorrow, we leave for Wooster, Ohio for another fiber festival.  If you are in the area, this is a great opportunity to stock up on fibers, yarn, and all kinds of fiber arts supplies.  Today, I ordered more knitting lights and hopefully they will be in for the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival that is June 3 and 4 in Franklin, Indiana at the Johnson County Fairgrounds.  You might want to check our our website: www.hoosierhillsfiberartsfestival.com to find more information about classes and all the vendors.

Well, tomorrow, John and I resume our exercise.  We have slacked off since returning from our winter tour.  But tomorrow, he hit the road - walking.  After our walk, we are going to tour some garage sales so John can get an idea of pricing items.  He insists on having sales to begin selling off things so we can think about full timing.

As for now, it's time to go, - God go with you and bless your walk. -  This reminds me of a sign I saw this week.  It read "If you want to make God laugh...........  just tell him YOUR plans!  ..............

Blessings..............

On the Road Again

Returning home is not as exciting as heading out on a trip.  But Everything has a cycle and this is just part of it.  We have started our list of what we missed this trip and hope to make the things on our list our plan of "attack" next year.  We plan to start earlier in order to have more time on the road.  Since my show season begins with the Smokey Mountain Fiberart Festival, I will always have to be home for that event.  The next week end is the Black Swamp Market Day in Bowling Green, Ohio.  I sure am going into these events rested and totally relaxed.  That won't last long since the push is on for the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival the first full weekend of June, located in Franklin, Indiana - Just south of Indianapolis. I will be teaching wet felting classes at two of these shows.

As we have driven through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, I  have seen so many abandoned homes, farms, businesses.  Some appear to be ghost towns along the side of the road.  Here in Texas, many are in the  oil and gas fields.  This coupled with the dry grass, some pumps not in operation tells a story of hopes and dreams of the future.  It is a history lesson of families who gave it their best, some had success and some failed.  But failing at one thing, most pushed on to find success in another realm.  That's life, isn't it.  We don't give up with a failure, we push on, an on until we reach our goals. 

We boondocked or as they say in California, drydocked in another Wal Mart at El Paso, TX.  This one had a security guard that pointed the spot for us to use.  Now that's service!  We did some shopping, returned to the motor home for dinner and played more Nabbit.  John won both games last night.  I'll get him tonight. 

The border patrol is and has been out in force.  We passed 2 inspection sites in California, one in Arizona, and two in T.  We could have had a motor home full of Mexicans as they looked in the driver's side window,  asked how many were traveling in here and if we were citizens. 

Well, we are heading to Dallas, Fort Worth.  See you on the road! 

“One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.” -Oscar Wild

Wet Felting is my passion. I love to create pieces that people can wear and feel very "special" when wearing them. Teaching classes, teaching people who appreciate fiber brings me joy and brings the student joy.

As I continue to schedule my 2011 felting classes, I think of the joy that felting has brought me and then schedule these classes. The classes can be from making a light weight, drapey scarf to window treatments. From a wonderful messenger bag to a dainty handbag ..... from a warm winter cloche to a stylish "Derby" chapeau.... from a piece of prefelt to an enchanting landscape.....

I am looking forward to teaching at the Smoky Mountain Fiber Festival in Townsend, TN in March, the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival in south central Indiana (20 minutes south of Indianapolis) in June, then at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in early September.

All these classes as we travel in our RV....the "roadhouse".... While in Indiana, we can either camp at the Johnson County Fairgrounds, or stay at our "bricks and sitcks" 5 minutes away...guess where I'd rather be.....no contest....Anyone want to purchase a home on five acres with two barns and ready for horses, etc?

T Minus 4 .... Finally

In four days, we are outta here! OH Happy Day! After installing the cherry hardwood floors in the majority of our home and being dog tired from the effort, we are ready for a break. We have and more delays than there are M & M's, but finally, the brakes are fixed as well as the list of other fixes on the motor home. Sigh......

Zack (grandson #1) and Danielle's wedding is Friday evening, then we are free to roam westward. Ya know, it seems like yesterday that I was rushing from Indy to Cincy to be with my daughter and help with my first grandson. Oh, what a joy he was! (and is)..... And his big sister was such a hoot. Now, they are adults, making their own decisions, planning for their futures. What is a grandparent to do? We pray. We pray for them to have God's guidance and wisdom as they make their life choices. We pray for their safety as they go through life. That, my friends, is what we are here for...... to pray for our children and our grandchildren. That is the best thing we can do for them.

Speaking of children, our first direction will be westward to California. Daughter # 2 is there. She has been there for a long time (a mother speaking here). It will be so good to see her and share her new life for a while.

After California, we will head for Texas - taking our time. We will then spend the rest of our time exploring the "wild, wild west".

I will be taking my spinning wheel, fiber to spin, wet felting supplies and my new to me antique circular sock machine. Oh my gosh........what a learning curve there is to mastering making socks on that dear ole antique Legare 400. Let's see, I've started and restarted a sock so many times that I have lost count. BUT....each time, I get a bit further along on the sock. Today, I finished the heel and started on the foot before I dropped stitches and took it off the machine.....again! big, big sigh along with an eyeroll. Oh yes,,,, John will be taking his new rigid heddle weaving loom. Thanks goodness we have plenty of room!

I don't think I will be able to work on the CSM any more until we are on the road. Tomorrow, we shop for my shoes for the wedding, get a wedding present, pick up some food items from GFS, do some health food store shopping. Then we make a stop at the vet for micro chipping of Noah, the cat and Oliver, the dog.
purchase more ink for the printer so that I can finish copying information for the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival that is coming up in June.

I am co-chair of the festival and this will be my first year directing the activities from a computer in route to many destinations. The classes have been scheduled, most of the vendors are set, competitions are in the planning stanges, so most of the work is done.

We pick up the motor home Thursday, pack and be ready for the great escape on Saturday. My suggestion was to take the motor home to the wedding and head out right afterward, but for some strange reason there was a veto....spoil sport!

We have another winter storm watch,...another 6 inches of snow predicted....oh happy day! Calgon....(motor home), take me away!

Until next time....

Hard, but Fun Work!

Laying over 1100 ft of cherry hardwood is mighty hard work. I select the wood according to shade, grain, length etc. Some people call me "picky" .... can't imagine why! After the selection process, I lay in place and John follows behind with the heavy nailer and nails the wood. He also does all measuring and cutting. Do you know how many times you say thanks and you are welcome in a day of work? The more we work, the more we look forward to getting in the "Road House" and heading to warmer weather. We are having a sunny day of 27 degrees.....and this is only December!

Sad thing is that I've not been in my fiber studio for over a week! Withdraw hurts! Still getting vendor contracts for Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival. It won't be long until I have to return contracts and put people on the waiting list.

Christmas is only a week and a day away. I'm about ready. Shopping is done...99% was done on-line this year. Thanks Holly and Chad for the suggestion. It is so fun to have young grandkids to buy for! Lucy - 5 1/2 and Ross 2 bring joy to the times.

We are new to Motor Home life and have totally fallen in love with the lifestyle. The only problem is our lack of experience. I have read that some RVrs drive their motor homes once a month (when they are not out on the road). Is this a common practice or something that just a few people do? Ours has been parked just under a month. If necessary, we will get in and take it for a ride. BUT sure don't look forward to driving on our icy, snow packed roads.

Time to get back to work....gotta get this done for family Christmas celebration, ya know....anyone wanna come help?????

For now....N

Preparing house to sell

Carpeting is up, thanks to Zack - grandson #1. All squeaks in the floor eliminated. Roofing liner partially down and John is resting today. This is hard, slow work for someone with COPD. Today is a day of rest for him. He has slept most of the day. BUT, he says that If he enjoys this, we may remove all carpet and lino in RV and put down hardwood.

I'm working on Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival today. Placed ads in Spin-Off, Interweave Knit, a special edition of a Knit magazine, Interweave Handwoven, Crochet, Piecework. Guess I've spent enough money today.

Tomorrow, move that huge antique, finish the liner (serves as a moisture barrier) and begin laying the cherry hardwood. I'm getting excited, but sad that we will not enjoy the fruit of our labor for long (we hope).

I sold my desk and credenza! Another positive move. Now to take photos of antiques and get them on Craig's List.

The Road House (name of our 35'Winnebago Adventurer) is in the drive calling our names. It's ready to roll. Wish we were.