I planned on having a couple of days to prepare for five weeks of travel with my two nieces, Shannon and Megan, my brother Brian’s girls, after I returned from a trip to Canada by myself. There was a family party scheduled for the weekend between my arrival home and my departure, and more importantly, my daughter, Betsy, and my two grandchildren came up to see me and attend the party. Grandchildren are a powerful attractant for a grandfather. Everything seems to be dropped and put off. I did, and I’m not sorry. Both my grandkids are at a perfect age, and I hope that they will always be a perfect age. They change, as a state of being. I suppose I’ll have to change, so they remain the perfect age. I’m up for it. Continue reading
Blackwoods Campground – Acadia National Park
The last time I was to Blackwoods Campground, Louise and I camped there in 2015. We’d been there before, back in the ‘90’s and had a great time with the girls. The 2015 trip was in lieu of a cross country trip. It was complicated, but we were in Blackwoods because I love her. I had great difficulty last night looking across the table, and her not being there. This is the first National Park I’ve returned to without her. When you love someone so much the quote from the Bible “ . . and the two shall become one . .” becomes true, you develop a perception of normality, and when your normality becomes askew, you subconsciously look around to see why. You don’t think, you just am. Is she outside? Oh. No. Where is she? Oh. No. I’m going out to make a fire, want . Oh. No. I really hope that with my nieces as my companions, and seeing the new in their experiences, revisiting some of the spectacular places Louise and I frequented, later this month, will help in that aspect. I hope. Continue reading
Back in the USA
The Ceilidh (pronounced Kay-Lee) last night was great. There is incredible talent in the Maritimes, and I listened to some last night. The hall was packed, the primary singer Prendergast was great, his sin Sean Prendergast was even better, and there was a guest filler, 16 year old Cailyn MacAulay. There was an intermission where they served blueberry tea and oat cake cookies. The cookies were home made by the mom and grandmother of the Prendergast’s, and were a combination of Walkers short bread and a really good oatmeal cookie. The party ended at about 10:00PM. By the time I returned to the campsite and got settled it was 11PM. Sleep finally arrived sometime around midnight. There went the early start. Continue reading
Go Figure
Well yesterday, I was all puffed up with the fact that I swept, washed and waxed the floors and polished the cabinets and straightened the RV so it was looking Pretttttyyy gooood. This morning I spilled a box of chicken stuffing. You know, the big open tube, with the stupid it never stays on tight after you’ve removed the aluminum foil sealer, so you better us it pretty damn quick, ’cause it will go stale lid? Yes, that one. All over inside the cabinet.
What is that saying? No good deed goes unpunished? I’ll have to keep my yammer shut when it comes to that kind of stuff. Karma is whispering to me.
Sunday in Stanhope
I’m staying at the Stanhope Campground in the Prince Edward Island National Park. I knew when making the reservation that there would be some challenges to staying here. For one, I started my stay at the end of one of the largest Country Music Festivals on the Island. There weren’t many vacancies. The site was listed as suitable for a 20 foot RV. I’m 24’ without the additional rear carrier that I added. The carrier adds almost three feet to the RV. It’s the tightest RV site I’ve been in, in years. There is no room. At the rear, I’ve got maybe a foot between the RV and the water and power post and the front grill is a foot, maybe, from the brush that borders the other part of the site. No complaints, I knew going in, that it was pushing the limits, but no one has ever been this truthful about the size of a campsite. Continue reading