Our Life in Reflection

💭 Dave has taken back the driving duties! I was surprised he let me be the driver as long as he did after his knee replacement surgery, but I’m really glad he’s feeling well enough to drive again. (I’d rather be the passenger!)

💭 Raynaud’s syndrome has really hit me hard this winter. My fingers get so cold they feel numb/tingly. The muff a friend made me a few years ago has been very helpful – WHEN I remember to bring it with me. (Thanks again, Pat!) Sometimes my toes/feet get quite chilly and my nose has been affected for the first time this winter also. Weird to see bluish purplish colors in the affected areas! Looking forward to warmer weather.

💭 I recently read that some people want the entire country to stick with daylight savings time year round. This would mean that sunrise here in RI wouldn’t be until 8am or later during most of December/January, but sunset would be after 5pm. I think I’d rather have the extra daylight in the mornings! How about you?

💭 Last month I celebrated 1 year of healthier for me eating, which meant excluding animal products from my diet. I did make a few exceptions during that year, but overall I can honestly say I can’t think of anything much that I really miss. And I’m still having lots of fun trying new recipes. Most importantly, I just feel so much better!!

💭 I am hoping the airlines stop messing around with the flights we are scheduled to take to Seattle in June. Flight cancellations already meant we missed a visit from my sister, Ellen. Enough already!

💭 Beware the ads on social media! I see lots of them on Facebook lately claiming their clothing is made in USA – in South Carolina, to be exact. BUT all those websites seem to use the same graphics as the website I fell for… and when the clothing arrived, the labels all said “Made in China.” The items I bought were very much smaller than the sizing chart on the website stated, so I am very thankful I was able to get a refund.

💭 “Come From Away” was the best show I’ve seen at PPAC so far this season.

💭 I’m trying really hard to adjust to this shorter hair, but so far it’s just annoying because it seems to always be in my face! I’m thinking maybe a little bit shorter might work, but I’m still just thinking about it. 🤔

💭 My St. Patrick’s Day tree makes me 😊 Next up will be the Easter theme.

💭 I am very thankful to have a good statewide library system to support my reading habit. The DOD MWR library system online is wonderful too!

💭 Did you know you can make crispy potato chips in the microwave? Slice them really thin, season with whatever you like, put on some parchment paper and microwave for about 3 minutes 30 seconds (up to about 5 minutes, if the potatoes are large.) YUM!

💭 There is a saying about how you can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family. I disagree! I think we carefully chose all those who we come in contact with in our lives, and for different reasons. Recently we experienced a tragedy and the resulting shock and sadness within our extended family, but we also experienced family coming together with so much love and emotional support. For that I am so very grateful.

💭 I so enjoy the moments when I look up and spot something that reminds me of a special person sharing this lifetime with me. The rainbows on the wall remind me of a friend in Jacksonville. Hope you are well, Candace.

💭 It also makes me smile when friends/family post pictures of hearts and tag me on Facebook.

💭 And when friends/family share recipes or books or movies they think I’ll enjoy.

💭 Some years we receive so many calendars – pocket calendars and wall calendars – so many that we don’t know what to do with them all. This year we received exactly the number of wall calendars we needed, plus one to share with Paul (who got none!) But we didn’t receive a single pocket/purse sized calendar! Maybe you all just use the calendar on your phone? I still like the paper ones best.

💭 Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we came up with exactly the words someone experiencing sadness/grief needed to hear? I never know what to say and what I do say seems so inadequate. I want words that make the person feel like they have been embraced by a hug full of compassion and empathy.

💭 I realized today that we play so many games where the directions state scores should be kept, but we’ve never kept score. We’ve always just counted how many hands/rounds each person won. Racko is one of those games and I’m thinking we’ll give scoring a try. It’s certainly made Mexican Train dominoes much more interesting!

💭 It’s been a windy winter! And that has made walking outside a no go for me most of the time because my cheeks get so windburned/chapped. Ouch!

💭 We saw a sign reminding us to purchase our beach parking pass. While I am very much looking forward to Spring with its milder temperatures, this sign reminded me of how nice it is to spend the day at the beach – reading a good book after taking a walk.

Well, that’s it for now. My deepest thoughts right here in black and white. Now that Dave is feeling better, perhaps we’ll get out and about more. 🤣😂😅

Wishing you all peace, love and much joy in your lives.

Kathi

As we get ready to celebrate the arrival of the new year, I’m reflecting on experiences.

Healthy.

If you’ve read my previous blog posts, you know that just a bit over 10 months ago I decided to try something new. I gave up eating animal products\byproducts – no meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, eggs, etc. Wow – could not believe how much better I felt! I am not living a vegan lifestyle – and that’s what it is, a lifestyle. Pretty hardcore too. I understand and I do my best, but it’s just not really me. Oh, I am all for the absolute best treatment of animals. I detest the factory farming system in place in this country and I just do not understand how people can be so very cruel. And I LOVE vegetables, fruits, and grains! But sometimes I give in. And I’m okay with that.

10 months. Recently I have started trying some foods again. If I remember correctly, I had a few tastes of the Mississippi Pot Roast I made for Dave and Paul, I had a few spareribs Paul smoked, as well as a smoked chicken drumstick. I had lobster ravioli in a restaurant, and another time there was goat cheese on my salad. There was probably butter on a few vegetable dishes I ordered in restaurants (though not noted on the menu) and I’ve downed a few peanut M&M’s. I also made Christmas cookies that include Reese’s dark chocolate peanut butter cup mini’s. All were delicious and I have no regrets, just reminders after digesting some of those foods that I haven’t experienced feeling that uncomfortable since the last time I ate those food items. Lessons learned.

Dave started 2022 recovering from ankle surgery and ends the year awaiting a cortisone shot to ease the pain of arthritis in one knee and surgery to replace the other knee. So, another winter of recovery is upon us. Dave is doing his absolute best to stay healthy otherwise. 😉

Wealthy.

Not in the monetary sense, but there is a wealth of love and laughter in our lives these days. 2022 has seen a return to much more family time, more group activities, etc.

We enjoyed spending time with our extended families this year. Dave’s sister and her son came to visit for a day or two, just in time to help celebrate Dave’s 70th birthday!

Dave and I drove down to Maryland to visit with my sisters, brother in law, and nephews twice. The second visit also included the funeral of my godmother. It was nice that so many of us were able to gather to celebrate her life and spend some time reminiscing.

We continue to spend most weekends hanging out with our grand-dog, Samson, while Paul works. It’s nice to have a few hours with Paul those couple of nights also. We often enjoy afternoons playing card games with Laura. Emma keeps us hopping too! She is on several basketball teams and we are having fun watching most of those games each week. Gets us out of the apartment to socialize a bit, let’s us explore different areas of Rhode Island, and it’s just so much fun to cheer those girls on!

Dave and I celebrated our 42nd anniversary in Newport, RI. We had dinner in the White Horse Tavern, the oldest tavern in Rhode Island.

We got together to bake and decorate cookies before Christmas. And we all (both the Wischnowsky and Champagne families) gathered at Matt and Laura’s for Christmas brunch. Matt cooked up a storm, everyone else contributed goodies also. A good time was had by all!

I also enjoyed visiting with some of my cousins just yesterday. Too bad Southwest Airlines cancelled my sisters flights, she would have enjoyed that visit also!

Wise.

2022 brought us the wisdom to understand and accept our place in peoples lives. We have many people who love us and want to spend time with us, so we are quite comfortable with no longer actively pursuing relationships with those who don’t seem to share those feelings. . . we do extend our love and best wishes, of course.

We look forward to a happy, healthy 2023 for ourselves, our family, and our friends. May we all enjoy a peaceful year with the blessings of love, laughter and kindness.

Much love,

Kathi and Dave

If we were still living in our camper we’d be very busy packing up getting ready to head South. There was always a bit of excitement preceding the travels. Instead, we are trying to figure out how it’s possible that on this date two years ago we had College Hunks help us move all our possessions into this apartment. I think there is some truth to that idea that time seems to pass more quickly the older one gets.

I still miss the camping life somewhat. Mostly it’s the people I miss. Camping folks are, for the most part, very friendly, welcoming, and like to chat. And folks we live amongst in this apartment complex are pretty much the opposite. I’ve written about this before, I know.

I think there are 154 apartments here. Dave and I came up with about 4 people who actually say hello to us – and we don’t know their names, with the exception of one person. For the most part, we just know them because of their friendly dogs… we DO know some of the dogs names though! 😊

It’s almost eerie how people move in and out of here but we hardly ever see the moves in progress. I check the website every once in a while to see which apartments are coming up as available, just to see if we’ll have new neighbors. We ran into one of our new next door neighbors in the hallway recently and I said, “Welcome to the neighborhood. I’m Kathi and this is my husband, Dave.” The guy quickly said hi and went on his merry way – no idea what the heck his name is.

We did happen to meet a couple of folks while we were grilling recently – they were talking to another resident and I mentioned how nice it was to see that some people actually do have conversations with their neighbors. They asked if we were new here and were shocked to learn we’ve lived here for almost 2 years. They laughed and just said, “Yeah, there are some pretty pretentious people living here.” We haven’t seen them again! LOL

But life is still good. We enjoy weekends at Paul’s house, game times with Laura (and sometimes Emma and/or Matt), watching some of Emma’s basketball games. We have friends here we gather with at times. COVID, assorted medical issues amongst us all, etc. have made those gatherings few and far between. But I think we’ve all been vaccinated/boosted and most of those health issues have been taken care of for now, so hopeful we can get together more often.

And, truth be told, Dave and I are really quite okay spending most days just us. We enjoy each other’s company. We enjoy playing games – Mexican Train, Gin, Backgammon, Phase 10, SkipBo, etc. We enjoy reading, short walks, and sightseeing drives. We are really quite content. Good thing since we’ll celebrate our 42nd wedding anniversary on October 24th! Here’s to the next however many years the Universe decides to bless us with 🥂

Oops, I missed it! April 2nd was the 2 year anniversary of this blog. I don’t have a lot of readers, but I sure have enjoyed writing. One of the reasons I started this blog was to help me get over the intense fear I have of other people reading the thoughts I put down “on paper.” My school years, with all those essays and speeches and reports, were full of anxiety! And OMG – having to get up in front of the class??!! Glad that’s all behind me now. Even though I’m so much better at handling those situations these days. I got to that “I don’t give a darn what others think” stage (for the most part) sometime around my 50th birthday, but only recently could I apply that feeling to my writing. So freeing!

Another reason I started this blog (besides the fact that my friend, Betty, made it look so darned easy!) is that it was a way for me to share our adventures. Back then we were living in our camper full time and traveling between Florida and Rhode Island every year. We had some great adventures, met a lot of wonderful people – many of whom became good friends. Now, we live in an apartment not too far from either of our adult children and we enjoy a very quiet life. But I’m hoping to start expanding our horizons a bit as the weather improves, and as long as COVID doesn’t go crazy again. I look forward to sharing our adventures once again!

Last month I shared how I had given up eating meat, poultry, seafood, eggs and dairy. I suppose vegan is a label often attached to that, but I’m not so sure I can claim to be vegan – it’s a lot of work trying to figure out if ALL the products we use were made by companies that don’t do horrible tests on animals, though I’d sure like to find out and avoid those. And the vegetarian label doesn’t quite fit either: A vegan diet excludes all meat and animal products (meat, poultry, fish, seafood, dairy and eggs), whereas a vegetarian diet excludes just meat, poultry, fish and seafood. So, I’d say I’m somewhere between vegan and the very popular Whole Foods/plant based category.

Whatever the label, let me just say that I’m really having a lot of fun reading cookbooks, recipes that show up in my inbox, and blogs… LOTS of blogs! And I’m having even more fun trying many of those recipes! Although, quite honestly, I’m still happy with the simpler meals: oatmeal or granola with fruit for breakfast, salad of some sort for lunch, potato or quinoa or some variety of pasta or grain with roasted veggies for supper.

As I shared last month, I’ve tried some of the faux meats, though for the most part I would gladly do without those. I did like Gardein’s meatballs, and Trader Joe’s Beefless Ground Beef worked really well in the taco meat recipe we’ve used for years. I found a recipe for bacon bits that is quite good also. Other than that, I’m quite happy to stick with beans, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, and whole grains.

Tofu is my latest experiment. It’s interesting, a blank slate of sorts, and used as a substitute for so many different types of foods. So far I’ve only attempted 2 of the many tofu recipes I’ve collected: I drained and pressed some firm tofu last week, then marinated it and air fried. It was delicious – even Dave enjoyed it, saying it reminded him of fried popcorn chicken (Although, to be honest it’s all about the visual and the texture for Dave. He lost his sense of smell, and therefore taste, decades ago); This morning I attempted a frittata made from silken tofu (in place of eggs) and veggies. It tasted good, but definitely didn’t come out as the recipe indicated it should. I think the leftover veggies I used were just a bit too soggy and/or I just didn’t drain the tofu enough, so it caused the frittata to not firm up as much as expected. I’ll eat the leftovers and will try again – but with a better selection of vegetables and better draining.

With the temperatures warming a bit, I’ve returned to walking outside. Perfect for spending time with the grand-dogs! On weekends, Samson walks with me… not too fast and not too far though. His limit seems to be about 1.5 miles these days, but there are lots of different routes we can explore within that distance. And he loves to go for walks! Last week we took Penny for a walk on the bike path near the library. She did quite well, so tomorrow I’m going to take her to another section of that bike path and spend some time alternating walking/running with her. Expend of some of that 7 month old puppy energy! 🤪

Shows on Netflix have provided some entertainment lately: “Queen’s Gambit” and “Tender Bar” are two that come to mind. And we both continue to enjoy books from our local library (which provides a receipt letting us know how much money we save by borrowing vs purchasing each book!) And then there is Wordle, Quordle, and canucklegame! LOL Those have become a daily challenge. Lately I’ve told Paul that I must be part Canadian, since canucklegame is the one I seem to consistently solve rather quickly. 😉

This evening we’re enjoying the Ken Burns documentary about Ben Franklin. So much we didn’t know! Looking forward to the rest of the series.

And I look forward to hearing from you… Make a comment, like the post – let me know you’re out there!

Wishing you all health, happiness, and peace!

With love –

Kathi

January brought a blizzard, then February added to the fun with a bit of sleet and ice yesterday. And the silly groundhog saw its shadow, so supposedly 6 more weeks of Winter.

I suspect Spring will show up eventually, but for now I’m kind of enjoying the long pants, turtlenecks, sweatshirts, and sweaters. My old winter coat is still sufficient, but I do need to find a warm pair of gloves. I have 3 or 4 pair, but none of them keep my hands warm! Maybe I’ll just have to double up.

In the meantime, we decided we weren’t ready to say goodbye to the cheerfulness some of the Christmas decorations brought to our surroundings. Paul brought his ladder over and hung the white lights around the frame of the windows. We exchanged the colored lights for white lights around the fireplace and changed the tree from Christmas to Valentines Day.

Dave’s pretty much all recuperated and happy to be walking again. I think that time went by rather quickly, but there seems to be some disagreement on that. Now Dave just has about a months worth of PT to get through and he should be all set! Woohoo!!

Some people give things up for Lent – me, I give things up because I read something and say, “Hey, maybe I’ll give that a try.” And that’s exactly what happened about a week before Christmas – I gave up alcoholic beverages just because I read something (absolutely no idea now what it was, but probably health related) that made me decide it might be something to try for a while – figured I had a doctors appointment mid-March and that would be 88 days of no drinking. Now that I’m more than halfway through those 88 days and not missing the alcohol at all (Dave’s wine even smelled not very good when he set it down nearby the other night), I figure I’ll probably just keep on keeping on… at least for a while.

It was just about a year ago that I was diagnosed with early stage COPD. Recently, I was reading something online about COPD and there was mention of sleeping on an incline to help with breathing. So I said, “Hey, maybe I’ll give that a try!”… And ordered a foam 12” high wedge pillow! Dave says it looks like I’m sleeping on a ski slope, but it’s resulted in the best sleep I’ve had in years!

And the last item under “Hey, maybe I’ll give that a try!” ….

I bought a rebounder (aka mini trampoline) and have been enjoying exercising on it. I am amazed – jumping jacks are a cinch!! Walking/running in place, bouncing and dancing are pretty fun too. There are lots of good workout videos for rebounding on YouTube to follow along with. The best part is that it is SO much easier on the joints to exercise on the rebounder than on solid ground. (I tried jumping jacks on the solid floor the other day – N O P E!! But I can do at between 50-100 of them on the rebounder!)

Our main form of entertainment so far this year has been reading. Dave has been enjoying books by John Grisham and David Baldacci. I reread “Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande, and then read “Winter Garden” by Kristin Hannah, “Block Island Mystery” and “Argentine Mist” by Christopher Dacey (a local writer), “Watership Down” by Richard Adams, and a few others. We watched the “Watership Down” movie after I read the book. (I still can’t imagine 6 year old and 8 year old girls enjoying this, but apparently the author told these stories to his daughters at those ages.)

We don’t really watch much on TV any more. Dave likes to watch “The Price is Right” some mornings and we watch the news, “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy” most evenings. Friday is Dave’s night for “Diners, DriveIns and Dives” marathon, and he does like to watch some football and baseball during those seasons. That’s about it these days. But we are recording the Olympics (nice to record only the events we are interested in watching!) This evening we watch some Luge runs.

We also started watching the Reacher series on Amazon Prime today. And I watched “Under The Tuscan Sun” yesterday and enjoyed it. And as I type this, we are watching “The Martian.” Probably the most we have watched on Amazon Prime in ages!

Of course, all this reading, tv and movie watching means we’ve taken a break from playing Mexican Train – and just when Dave started winning again! 😉

Well folks, enjoy life and be well!

Kathi & Dave

2021 began with COVID restrictions still in place, bursitis in my right hip causing pain and keeping me from doing all I wished to do, the (not so surprising) diagnosis of COPD, Dave’s ankle causing pain again, and both of us looking to get a bit healthier.

We are ending 2021 with some COVID restrictions starting up again, stretching exercises are keeping bursitis from bothering me too much, COPD is pretty much under control with inhaler use before exercising, we are both many pounds lighter than we were a year ago, and Dave is 3+ weeks into recovery after ankle surgery. Life is really good!

In between all that, it’s been a year of so many experiences we are grateful for: celebrations, reunions, the times of sadness and those of happiness.

 

Dave and Paul enjoyed some father/son time camping and watching the car races at Limerock and Watkins Glen.

Dave’s sister, Linda, came to visit for several days in July. The last overnight guest in our camper, I think!  Was good to spend time together again. 2020 visit was cancelled due to COVID.

Sadly, we lost 2 friends within 5 days of each other in July: Elaine DeSilva and Margaret Weaver. I noted in my journal that it was interesting how they both were “tell it like it is” people, kind, loving, give you the shirt off their back people… and they were both relatively young. They were loved and are missed. We are thankful to have shared this lifetime with them.

 

I spent a “Girls Weekend” with my friend Colleen, her sister Lisa, and Colleen’s friend Cathi. What a beautiful cabin in a beautiful spot in White Lake, NY! It was so nice to spend such a relaxing weekend together. Hoping to do it again.

We also drove down to Maryland in August and enjoyed a visit with my sisters, brother-in-law, niece, nephews, son, daughter, and granddaughter! It had been 2 years since we had all been together, once again due to COVID.

 

 

August also brought news that Camp Westwood seasonal camping area was being closed after the season. So, we sold the camper and most of the camping related stuff. Dave was more ready for this than I. I still miss it sometimes, but do agree we made the right decision in selling the camper. It was a wonderful almost 4 years, but we are quite comfortable where we are now and very much enjoying time with our family. 

September found us taking the ferry to Orient Point, something we had not done in many years. We spent a weekend in a little apartment we found on Air BnB, got to visit with Colleen again (twice in just 2 months!!), enjoyed a little time on the beach at Robert Moses, had a great time at my 45^th high school reunion, had brunch with childhood neighbor and friend Sharon and her mom (so very nice to spend time with both!!), and enjoyed all the food one has to eat when in NY that I’ve been missing (pizza, Chinese, bagels, etc., etc.)

 

October brought us to a celebration of our 41^st wedding anniversary. We spent a fabulous weekend on Block Island. We stayed at the Avonlea and enjoyed the few restaurants and bars that were open. We also got to meet up with Lisa Sprague – Dave hadn’t seen her in many years and this was my first time meeting Lisa. Hope we can spend some time together on our next visit to the island.

 

We’ve enjoyed watching Emma play softball and basketball over the past several months. She plays both quite well; her athletic abilities definitely do NOT come from her Nana! LOL😉

Paula and Frank came to visit us for a couple of nights just before Thanksgiving. We camped out in our little apartment one night, then we all went to visit Paul for the next night. Fun times!

The holidays were pretty much back to normal this year – yippee! We spent Thanksgiving with Paul. On Christmas Day we were able to spend time with all – including Matt’s parents and brother. Was so very nice to spend the holidays together once again. 

New Year’s Eve finds us enjoying a quiet evening at home. Pretty sure we’ll be sound asleep well before midnight and will wish each other a Happy New Year when we wake up to pee in the middle of the night! (The joys of getting older, huh?)

We wish you all a happy, healthy 2022 filled with peace, love, and much joy!

Dave and Kathi

What fun to reconnect with people from my youth! End of September Dave and I spent a long weekend in Babylon, NY and had a blast at my 45th High School Reunion. We so enjoyed our time reconnecting with old friends! I don’t know about you, but a huge part of my memories is food!! We covered all the necessities: pizza, Chinese, bagels and bacon & egg sandwiches on kaiser rolls.

And then I’m thinking back to my March Madness post these days. I’m still a lifetime WW member, but went several months without logging my meals or activity. Somehow 3 months later, my weight was exactly the same!

As I said back in March, my goal is not really weight loss but healthier eating and exercise. This is a bit more difficult when bursitis flares up, but I’m still doing my best. And I feel a lot better than I did at the beginning of the year.

Dave has kind of joined me in this journey and is doing his best each day also. He broke a tooth Saturday night and will have that (and a few other dental issues) taken care of in two weeks. Ankle surgery is now scheduled for December 9th and dealing with the post-op picture is our current focus. Non weight-bearing for 6 weeks!! That is going to take a lot of upper body strength and coordination. We are looking into pre-op PT to help with that and are also making a list of things we’ll need to buy to make it easier at home. Prayers are most welcome!

I have been enjoying fitness sessions available at seniorplanet.org The morning and afternoon stretches (as well as other offerings) are wonderful! I have experienced VERY little bursitis pain since I started these sessions a few weeks ago. Yesterday I walked about 2.5 miles and today 2.6 miles pain free!! I haven’t been able to do that in a very long time. And today I was even able to jog for about 45 steps 4 or 5 times during my walk. My goal is to walk 50 miles in November.

While not aiming for vegan or vegetarian diet, I am trying to include many more plant foods into my diet. I’ve aimed for 30 different plants per week and have been doing really well for these past 4 or 5 months. It’s definitely not as difficult as I thought it would be, though I am trying to diversify a bit more.

Dave and I celebrated our 41st Anniversary last month! We spent a long weekend on Block Island at the Avonlea. Sabrina was a wonderful host and we look forward to staying there again in the near future. We enjoyed meals at the Poor People’s Pub and McAloon’s during our stay on the island. Highly recommend! And buy a calendar from Blue Moon Creations of Block Island if you have the chance… beautiful pictures and quotes! https://www.facebook.com/blue.moon.353 or mamasprague1120 on Instagram.

Dave wanted to make sure I included the addition of our newest grand puppy – Penny! She is so cuddly and adorable, though Samson (our other grand dog) hopes she calms down very soon! LOL

Joy:

We’ve been back at Camp Westwood for about a month now and it’s been nice spending so much time outside again. We’ve enjoyed sunny days at the lake – the water is just barely near swimmable temperature… for us old folks, anyway. The kids have been swimming for weeks now.

Challenge:

The mice continue to be a challenge this year, although thankfully they are confining their visits to the storage areas and underbelly of the camper now. But that still presents a problem because mice are known to cause major damage to campers, so we have multiple traps below and they are proving to be quite effective.

Challenge:

We’ve also been under a boil water order from the RI Department of Health since just after Memorial Day weekend due to possible E. coli found in a water sample. Hoping that is lifted once the latest test results are provided later today. I don’t normally drink/cook with the water straight from the faucet at any campground, but Dave does. He might have changed his mind about that now, but I wouldn’t guarantee it. We know some people here are still drinking and cooking with the tap water and they haven’t gotten sick.

Joy:

We are enjoying the convenience of camper and apartment within 20 minutes of each other. We go home to do laundry and fill bags with regular size ice cubes from the ice maker in the freezer once or twice a week. Also refilling jugs with filtered water from the fridge.

Joy:

Gemma has been a fun addition to camp life this year also. Emma enjoys sitting in the back to be our mirror, letting us know if there is a car behind us. We won’t tell her about the rear view mirror we’ve ordered. 😉

Joy:

Campfires! Whether with friends or just us two, we love to sit around a campfire at night. S’mores of different varieties are on the menu, of course! And if just us two, we might be listening to a baseball game on the radio.

As usual, our challenges are outnumbered by the joy of life. Hope yours are too!