What Just Happened?

For the past couple of days, Mike has been spending his time repairing a propane leak on the RV. Initially, he thought it was one the propane cylinders, or the fittings, or the valves. It was a process of experimentation and elimination, until he finally narrowed it down to the final culprit, a fitting on our generator. After multiple trips to the hardware store, he was able to get it fixed yesterday afternoon. He really is pretty amazing when it comes to fixing things. It's one of the reasons I married him. My dad was the same way. He's really nothing like my dad in other ways, but in this one important capacity, they are alike.

So my job has been to keep myself occupied, and there's been precious little to do...at least on my own...since we got here. I've been keeping myself occupied walking around a lot and trying to get back into the 10k step groove.

OMG...not another post about walking. Wake me when it's over.

I'm with you, Smitty. Yawn.

With Mike busy and me out walking, I've had a song going through my head. If you were born during the 14th Century, you might recognize it:

What are you doing the rest of your life

North and South and 

East and West of your life

And given all the traveling we've done in the past seven months, it's kind of appropriate with all those directional lyrics. But, truly, when you think about it, this trip has occupied our minds for at least the past year. And now we're here in Hemet, and the trip is in the rear view mirror, and I'm kind of wondering what's next. Sitting here for the next month will give us some time to think about it. We spend quite a bit of time going over all the places we've been and trying to remember the things we've already forgotten. I'm just glad I wrote it all down.

When we get home, there will be plenty to do...the CSA will be starting up again. We're splitting a share with Erik and Mae this coming season. There will be canning and bread baking and life will settle in. For the next month, however, I'm needing a bit of a plan. With that in mind, I was very brave out on my walk yesterday. I stopped in at the "E" Room where the "Golden Thimbles" group was meeting. As I approached the open door, I heard raucous laughter, and that seemed like a good sign. It really amounts to the RV park opening up a room and folks can show up with whatever kind of needlework they want to. The group meets Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 1-4. There's also a group called "Crochet Time" that meets at the same time on Thursdays. That group is devoted mainly to hand sewing of any kind. So, maybe I'll take my embroidery with me today and join in. I would have taken their pictures, but that seemed a little weird, so I walked off and took a picture of the room from across the volleyball courts.

Look closely through the windows, and you can even see some of the ladies in there. If it would have seemed weird to take their picture while standing in the room, does it seem even weirder to walk far away and take a picture from there? Please don't answer.

Okay, so what else did I see on my walks? Of course, there were blooming things...I am totally loving the flowers. I can't identify all of them, but chime in if you know something.

Snapdragons, of course.

This one I know. This is bottle brush, or callistemon if you're inclined to use snotty botanical names for things.

This one is actually very close to our space in the park. I didn't recognize it right away.

But then I started looking at the rest of the tree...holy sh*t! It's a lime tree! And here we are buying limes for margaritas (not on our diet). This one happens to be in an unoccupied space, so we figure the limes are up for grabs.

Also...living things in the form of birds...pretty sure this is an Annas hummingbird. We have them in Oregon too.

And this guy was just singing his guts out. It's a Northern Mockingbird. There were quite a few along the way, singing to beat the band.

I didn't see this guy on my first walk around, but when I came through again, it was high up in the same tree where I'd seen it the day before. It's unlikely I'm going to get a very good picture of him. He's up too high. The best I'll be able to do is to catch him in flight, and that's pretty unlikely.

There's also some clever yard art around. No sign of the basset.

How about this one?

This one made me think of the dolls I purchased while we were traveling. It's going to be like Christmas when I get home and open all the boxes of fabric and souvenirs I sent to myself.

These birds are made from gardening implements.

Some cute wind chimes. I love a good wind chime.

And I love a good bird house too.

This one's for you, Padsworth.

When in wine country...

and living with other travelers...

Finally, I saved the best for last. There are bunnies running around the park. I saw three different ones yesterday. Or, possibly they're the same bunny and he just runs really fast.

Squee!

So I'm thinking now that Mike is finished with his repairs, we'll have more time to visit the pool together. I know he's wanting to play some volleyball. There's a visit to Temecula Quilt Company in my future, and I think I'll pick up some fabrics to make a St. Patrick's Day table topper I saw online. Not sure what's on the agenda for today, but maybe I'll be brave and head down to sew with some of the women.