If you had the option to live your current life here on earth forever, would you choose to do so?
Continue reading “Would you?”Page 2 of 7
‘Sup? oh my….SUP
My oldest daughter has an SUP. Stand up paddleboard, in case you need to know. Her mother-in-law also has one. They rave about how fun they are, how easy they are to use, how great the muscular work-out they provide.
Continue reading “‘Sup? oh my….SUP”A moment in time
I had a “moment” the other day. It all started when I saw my hairbrush while getting ready for the day. It was full of gray hair. FULL of gray hair. And in that moment, I “saw” my mom. Of course when my eyes lifted to look in the mirror, there she was again.
Continue reading “A moment in time”Dreamy Hardware Stores, Dreamy Cute Guy, Dreamy Ice Cream
I grew up in a really small town in northern Kansas. Minneapolis. Not THE Minneapolis. No, when saying where we’re from, I’m certain every former and current resident always adds the important qualifying word: KANSAS.
Continue reading “Dreamy Hardware Stores, Dreamy Cute Guy, Dreamy Ice Cream”The year that changed Christmas forever
One Christmas changed everything.
Yaks and Origami
For most of the month of November we’ve been volunteering at a faith-based camp on the Texas gulf. Palacios by the Sea is a lovely little spot in the universe. So low-key and friendly. About 4600 folks call Palacios home. It’s bordered by a lovely bay that connects to the Gulf of Mexico. By the way, for those of you word nerds who need to know how Palacios is pronounced: Puh-lash-us
Continue reading “Yaks and Origami”While you wait on the Doorkeeper
Do you like to wait? When we go to restaurants and see more than 10 people in line generally we turn right back around and leave. That’s how much we like to wait. Once in south Wichita I was stuck in my car waiting on a train, and it turned into a 45 minute wait. Then I learned this was the norm for that particular area! I just can’t think of anything I really enjoy waiting for. Not food, not trains, not telephone calls on hold. I could go on and on.
Is there really no place like home?
We were driving through the Flint Hills of Kansas yesterday. Isn’t it beautiful?
Maybe you do this too……read on.
There are homes in this picture. You can’t see them well from this view but I assure you they are there. We drove down several lovely country roads while driving to and from this location. The views were just stunning, I’m not exaggerating. And as usual, I love seeing the homes on these acreages. On absolutely serene looking acreages that just scream “Perfect Life”. Do you know what I’m talking about? I look at these homes and think how awesome it would be to live there.
So….do you dream and imagine and envy a bit on drives like this? Like I do?
Continue reading “Is there really no place like home?”There’s a Lighthouse….on a (really steep) hillside
After a long period of time with no volunteering trips with our RV, we finally finally are able to get back out there and go. As I mentioned in my blog post titled “Purpose and Plans”, everything kinda stopped in 2020 for us due to Rotten Rona. In 2019 we began the volunteering plan, in 2020 it screeched to a halt. Only two projects total for us and BAM, done.
Continue reading “There’s a Lighthouse….on a (really steep) hillside”The Morels of Campgrounds
Against my better judgment I’m fixing to tell you a camping story. With details I’d prefer not to share. Go ahead and read, but I may need you to sign a waiver first promising you won’t share info. Reality check, Simply B, that can’t happen. They’re going to read it anyway. Well, okay, here goes.
Continue reading “The Morels of Campgrounds”The Eyes Have It
Again, I have been given the opportunity to reminisce about my mother. Several days ago I had cataract surgery. Soon I will have cataract surgery on my other eye. Just a short appointment, quick recovery, and voila, good eyesight. Maybe even no prescription eye glasses needed once my other eye is done. Just that simple.
Continue reading “The Eyes Have It”Traveling south; Gene, Blake, and Olive Ann
Did you know there is a national park in south central Oklahoma? Well there is! Chickasaw National Recreation Area.
Continue reading “Traveling south; Gene, Blake, and Olive Ann”Shakedown Shakes
We camp in a fifth wheel. We winterize our 5th wheel late fall every stinking year. Always with a sad face. Because we love to camp and the winter feels like an eternity when we can’t go camping.
Our part of the world experienced record breaking cold temperatures this past winter. And they lasted for a record breaking fourteen day period. Why does this matter? Well, it can mean winterization fails. AKA, cracks and leaks. Ugh.
Thus, our annual spring shakedown camping trip was taken with trepidation. Actually, for more reasons than winterization fails.
Continue reading “Shakedown Shakes”Significance
1963. If you were alive and above the age of 4 or so in 1963 you undoubtedly recall the day in November.
In February of last year we visited the 6th Floor Museum in Dallas. Dallas is huge, 7 million people live in the metro area. There are many buildings with six floors. But only one building houses the location where a gunman shot and killed President John Kennedy from a window on the sixth floor.
While walking through the museum and listening to the audio headphones tell the story I was taken back to that day in November. My 3rd grade classroom in Minneapolis Grade School. We listened to the news over the loudspeaker while our teacher, Mrs. Warren, wept. The only sound was the voice on the speaker and the weeping of our teacher. While a room full of eight year olds tried to process what was happening.
Continue reading “Significance”Right there
June 8, 1993 is a date long past. Twenty-eight years ago. It’s a day I will never forget. Not because of some national historic event or holiday or family birthday.
Continue reading “Right there”Long in the (Blue) tooth
Today I’d like to just share with you some observations on aging, really growing up a lot, becoming long in the tooth. It’s hard to come up with a palatable description for, uh, getting old. We’ll stick with the “tooth” phrase for my purposes today. You’ll see why later.
Embracing embraces. And the number 28.
Are you a hugger? I wasn’t as a child. It wasn’t our family’s “thing”. That’s okay, I suppose. Pretty sure all you non-huggers are tolerating the COVID-19 restriction policies better than us huggers. Though I’ve grown into being a hugger (with a few limits), during these pandemic days I truly treasure all the human interaction I can get. Smiles (that you can actually see on an unmasked face), hugs, elbow bumps, conversation. Anything, I tell ya. Growl at me even.
Continue reading “Embracing embraces. And the number 28.”Purpose and Plans.
We’re retired. It’s been two years now. Since we love to travel and have a fifth wheel, we looked into ways we could incorporate both of those into our life plan. Doors opened for us to volunteer at faith based camps while living part-time in our fifth wheel and in the fall of 2019 we had our first stint in eastern Oklahoma. After the first month we loved it so much that we quickly signed up for another month.
And it seemed we’d found our purpose.
Continue reading “Purpose and Plans.”Wait for it
If you’ve read many of my blog posts you know that I was one of those surprise package bonuses for my folks. They were in their forties when I was born and my three sisters were all teenagers.
Life is just weird for us surprise packages. A good weird, a difficult weird, hard to explain.
Continue reading “Wait for it”Let go of my Legos
Fifteen years ago I became a grandmother.
About eleven years ago, I bought my first ever Lego set for the boy who made me a grandma.
About eleven years and one minute ago, I became just a little obsessed with the delightfulness of Legos. So did said grandboy. We spent many hours building one thing after another, as the coins rapidly left our bank account.
Continue reading “Let go of my Legos”
Simply B 