November 11th - 24h

For me, this was a return visit to Triple Creek Music RV Park in Woodville, Texas.  I was here last year for Thanksgiving week, and suggested to Rob and Helen that we meet here - for two weeks, which was awesome!  For one week, they went off on a timeshare to Mazatlan and their friend Char and I hung out - which was particularly cool because I got to drive their Jeep Wrangler while they were gone.  In order to get to the park, one has to drive down the 3.5 mile dirt track - there's even a tshirt that says "I survived the road to Triple Creek Music RV Park"!  We attended a few potluck dinners there, and Rob and I joined in on the jam sessions one evening - struggling to keep anywhere near up - but it was fun.  After the three of them left for Baytown, I went to a jam session on my own - met another Canadian from Haliburton and played and sang a bit of Gordon Lightfoot - very cool! We also visited the Heritage Village just outside Woodville, where buildings have been relocated to form a historical site.

Outdoor gazebo where musicians gather in the summertime.

Inside Helen and Rob's new rig

We went to church on Sunday in Woodville - lovely, welcoming congregation

Sophie - the Boss!

Mia

Schoolhouse in the Heritage Museum - Char getting ready to wear the Dunce cap

The train building had electric trains on tracks everywhere - around the ceiling, on stands

This guy gets to play with trains all day!

Little church in the Heritage Village

Char behind bars . . . 

Barber shop

Old carriages

Restaurant on the site - used to be a schoolhouse

Scene along the dirt track - Char and I tried to get pictures of the wedge-tailed hawks which were out in great numbers!

At the end of the dirt track!

Helen in the Heritage Village store!

The difference between my rig and the Ranch 2!

Helen and Jack

Helen and Sophie

November 9, 2015

Texarkana RV Music Park:  Lovely county setting - cool couple who own and manage this park.  Not very many people here - there was a music get together a week or so ago, and lots of people attended then.  No music here right now, but I had a great chat with Becky, who gave me four inspirational books that she has written, published, and hands out to people.  Awesome lady!  The camp dog (well, she actually lives down the road, but spends a lot of time in the park) is a beagle named Daisy, which made me think of Susan and Joan's Daisy!!

November 5 - 9, 2015

Finally got to a campground with reliable wifi, so I'm catching up on my blog!
November 5th I spent in the Nashville campground where I met Jen last year in the laundry!  Saw her this evening briefly -they were experiencing toilet issues - never a happy time - but it was great to get a chance to chat - I'll see her again in Galveston in December.

Two Rivers Campground in Nashville, Tennessee

One of the perks of this park is the Camping World store riext door - this is THE store for RV stuff!

The office and sign in front of the campground

November 5th I moved to Alabama, (the sign as I changed states actually said "Sweet Home Alabama) to  Mill Creek RV  park - definitely off the beaten track.  Lovely location - very nice couple running it.  I hiked a bit on the trail beside the campground and explored a bit along the river.

November 7, 2015 :  Moved to Center, Texas for two nights - really crappy RV park - very much an urban park - all cement, sites very close together, a few bushes between sites, supposed to be wifi, but it doesn't work.  Glad to leave!

The view from my window . . .

November 2nd to 4th

Loooong drive today - 10 hours behind the wheel - possibly a record for me!  Didn't actually feel that long - included border crossing.  I crossed at Port Huron - really a lovely place to cross - not much of a lineup, pleasant border guard, very quick process!  I had planned to aim for Singing Hills RV park in Kentucky and stop at a Walmart if I got too tired before arriving there - but I made it the whole way and was very glad to pull through the lit up wagon wheels and receive a lovely welcome from Beth, who remembered me from last year and two years before that!  How awesome to actually be recognized by her!  This is a Passport America park, so it cost me $33 for two nights - can't beat that!  This time, Beth put me right beside the pond - an absolutely awesome spot - and it's a wrench to be thinking of leaving this morning!  What a beautiful, sunny day it is here - everybody's wearing shorts and tank tops.  Ontario is apparently experiencing a heat wave, too - but it's pretty cool to be in Kentucky!! Had a really relaxing day yesterday, just wandering around the pond, sitting in the sun and reading, etc.  This morning, I'm off to Nashville to see if I can find Jen and her husband!

Little bridge beside the pond

There she is!

And the pond!

Almost Old Mother Willow - ish!  (Remember the movie Pocohantas?)

October 22nd to November 2nd

St. Thomas - my home during the sixties!  My old friend, Jim Covil and I went to high school together during that time - well, I spent Grades 9 and 10 at Central Elgin Collegiate Institute, then Grades 11 to 13 at St. Thomas Collegiate Institute.  We graduated from STCI in 1967, after which the school was torn down and an old people's home was built on the site.  I loved that school, and participated in all kinds of activities there:  glee club, french club, cheerleading, basketball, volleyball, badminton, track and field, variety shows - there are probably things that I've missed, too!  In the church (Trinity Anglican, where my father was rector for about eleven years) I sang in the church choir and attended Girls' Auxiliary.  Actually, singing in that choir gave me the realization that I really had to learn the music well - because if I sang the wrong notes or had the wrong timing, so did the rest of the choir.  In fact, one Sunday I wasn't sure of a few entries, so I held back, waiting for someone else to come in - and nobody did - they were all waiting for me!! I remember being quite dismayed at this prospect -  I was about sixteen years old at the time and my parents had always drilled into me the importance of putting other people first - so this was quite a soul-searching moment for me!  All this came flooding back when Jim and I went to the 10:30 church service at Trinity on Sunday. The service was very cool - because it was All Saints' Day, the church had  a time in the service when people came forward to light candles for loved ones who have died in the past.  Jim nudged me to go forward at that time and I lit candles for my mother and father - really a full circle sort of experience!  I talked to the priest afterwards about accepting my father's private communion box - and she said that would be great!  I'll need to talk to Phil about that - I had hoped to place it in the Anglican Archives in Toronto, but they don't seem interested - and this way, it would be back in the parish where my parents were happy - for the first time that I can remember, my mom actually had friends!  She was very sad to leave, although of course she never ever breathed a word about her own feelings!  When my brother and I took her to the airport to move to Nevis, I remember that she had a cup of tea and she couldn't get the cup back to the saucer, she was shaking so much!
Okay - so much for that tangential rambling!  Back to Jim and Marylee!  I've been stopping here for visits twice a year since I started this retirement thing - and this is one place I always love to come!  This time, I stayed  for a whole week, which was awesome!  Marylee's sister, Marion, was diagnosed in August with Stage 4 of a very rare form of extremely virulent cancer.  She was living in Cochrane and it looked as if she might spend her last days in the hospital there - which terrified her!  Jim and Marylee took her into their home and have been caring for her there ever since - with the help of various home care workers, oncologists, and nurses.  What an absolutely wonderful place for her to be - she calls for something, and Marylee and Jim are right there with love - and there's never a word about how tiring this is for them - it's all about Marion's comfort.  Nominations for sainthood?  Right there - two of them!
Marylee and I made a couple of trips to London to shop at the Mary Maxim store, which is chockful of tempting yarn and fabric - Judy and Chris would have a field day!! - and a few other stores, as well.  I'm pretty well supplied with crocheting projects for Jamaica Beach - Tuesday craft afternoons, here we come!!

Rosebud (aka Rosie or sometimes Buddy)

Marylee with cute, rambunctious little Lulu!

My friend Jim

The duvet cover, made from the quilt top Marylee gave me last year!

Jim, in a professorial mood

The old homestead!

What used to be the Gliddon's house next door to the rectory

Gazebo now in the side yard and lots of statues!

My dad's workplace for years

The purple steeple (doesn't look very purple in this photo, but it's an identifier - even the church bulletin refers to the congregation as the "Purple Steeple People")

I used to sit on the window ledge of the attic, hanging on by the centre wooden strip, and look at people passing by

The chancel

My dad's picture is on the bottom left