1st of September month, 2008

I figured I'd better get this written as I have been putting it off for days.  First it was the Olympics, then the convention, and now the hurricane.  We get everything 1 1/2 hours later than the East coast so tv time starts at 11:30 p.m.  It makes for some late nights and not a lot of sleep.  Chet is asleep in the other recliner as we have been painting the fish market and he gets to go up and down the ladder.  Brett helped do some scraping today and the other day and today also did some painting.  He did a great job and did all of the boards he could reach on one side of the building.  I was so pleased to see him helping and how well he did.

Let's see........what has happened since I wrote last.  The days fly by and I am so tired at night.  I have started putting up the village.  I honestly thought I may never set it up again when I spent the 5 days it took me to pack it.  It makes me smile just to see the dozen houses I have up so far.  It is going to take forever to finish.  The mannequins are slowly being moved down from the attic and are being incorporated in to the house.  Boxes are being emptied and the walls are starting to disappear.  Ahhhhhhhhhh, I'm home again!  I had to get Twilly out of the village twice the other night.   For those of you who haven't been in my houses; the village is the Dept. 56 Dickens Village houses, etc.  I collected pieces for 5 years, until I saw the pieces that were supposedly never to go on sale, go on sale, so I quit buying them.

We got a rug for the bathroom that looks great with the new mirror that Chet bought me.  To give you an idea, a 5X7 carpet was used to cover part of the bathroom floor.  The room was so big that it felt like it needed furniture in it.  It felt strange to take a bath in there.  I'm getting it filled up and it is beautiful.  We wired 2 large hanging oil lamps for the bedroom and the bathroom.  They are too beautiful.  Brett and Chet keep banging their heads on them so we put a table under the one in the bedroom.  I have finished decorating 2 of my 3 year round Christmas trees.   We got some real cute decorations in the desert last winter so I did it with pink flamingoes, fairies and hibiscus flowers.

Yesterday, we went to "The Prime Berth" fishing museum and found out all about the fishing here in NL.  We went with Nina, John, and Bernie.  It was a guided tour and the only thing we didn't get to see was the gutting and preparing of a cod.  I wasn't at all upset about that.  It was interesting to listen to how the fishing industry was shut down.  It certainly changed the face of NL.

Marilyn Ashbourne just came by and while she was here the man who sold us Brett's tv at Costco in St. John's came to the door.  He and his girlfriend will be by tomorrow for a visit.  Just before that our friend Heidi came by for a dvd she loaned us.  It has 192 pictures of Twillingate from many years ago.  We just saw our house and saw where the back kitchen was 2 stories and twice as big.  It will be fun to look at them with Marilyn and Gordon as they are a wealth of information.  

It was funny while we were painting today and all of the people who came to buy fish had a different bit of information on how to paint.  I said tomorrow I will bring a bunch of rollers and brushes and have everyone demonstrate their skills.  The brown has a burgundy tinge to it and wasn't as dark as I had thought it would be, but it is pretty.  The bottom of the market that goes down the hill will be a lighter shade and I still haven't decided what color to paint the window trim.

All is well and the end of Brett's stay is fast approaching.  It will be empty here without him.  The end of our stay is drawing closer too, and we are sad we have to leave but we will get the itch to hit the road again.

I hope you are all well and safe and that the hurricane doesn't do too much damage.

25th of August month, 2008

One more great day in NL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ellen, a young lady we met at the Rv park in St. John's last year was here for the night last night.  It was fun having guests.  She came with her mom and we took them around the island and did a little off roading.  It was fun having company.

We found out this morning that there is a bit of damage to the wood at the fish market.  Since our amazing, Greg Domm, who sold us the place, only put a thin coat of stain on the wood we have to replace a board and paint the outside as soon as it dries out.  We had a good downpour today.  Hopefully it will cut down the humidity and heat.

We went to a pot luck at Nina and John's tonight and had a great time.  There were 14 of us there and a lot of laughs were had by all.  Steven Rogers played the piano and it was exquisite.  I want to adopt him and buy a piano.  OMG, can he make the keys sing as his fingers dance across them.  I could sit and listen for hours.  Sorry I didn't get to say goodnight....and thank you.

Brett and Chet are asleep and as usual I am just waking up.  I am going to make this short and sweet and go sit in my bathtub.

Carl, I am so excited about your coming.  We will be picking you up in the motorhome so not to worry about the Real Estate Convention.  We will have a short but sweet visit.

Leslie, we would like to try to hook up with you two on our way back to see the family in Nov.  We must make a plan.

Jon and Erin, the pictures were beautiful and I do miss you all so much.  I just wish I knew how to post things on the web page.

Mitchell and Andrea, I hope all is well with you and we are trying to decide if we will be in LaLa land for T-giving.  I guess we will make a reservation at the RV park.

We are so happy here.  I think I have more friends than I have had since high school.  I love the people we have met here and we are meeting more all the time.  You must come and see what we see.  It isn't hard to fall in love with the island.

I hear my bath calling me......

21st of August month, 2008

Well, my son Jon said all I ever talk about is food and eating in my muzes so I shall change the format........

It is 2:24 p.m. on another spectacular day in N'land.   We just got back from blueberry picking.  It is hard work but fun. The native blueberry bushes grow only 10" above the ground at most.  Brett so thoroughly enjoyed himself as he kept saying eeeewwww every time he picked a blueberry.  On occasion it changed to gross.  He told us his dad just buys them at the market!!!  We got a goodly amount and will probably try again tomorrow.  Brett is really looking forward to going!  NOT.  It's darn hard to do that stoop labor and I am tired.  

Just before we were getting in to the car, Marilyn Ashbourne was on her way across the field with a plate of cookies for Brett.  That is only after delivering home made rice pudding two days ago.  Newfies LOVE their sweets and breads which is making it very hard for me as I love them, too.  She is such a sweetie and full of the devil.  How we love to sit and listen her spin yarns of the "old days".

We went for Chinese food last eve and when we were served by the owner she said, after finding out we lived here, there was "more food for the locals as they have to work harder".  It was only about twice as much food as the last time.  We brought some food to Randy Hann and he gave me his artist's proof #4 of a drawing he did, in which he used one of our bedrooms for the setting.  I am really excited as he does beautiful work; drawings portraits, etc. (Check out www.RandyHann.com to see for yourself)

Chet and I just put a chicken on the stove and after this muze we will head up to the attic to look for several things we can't find.

There, Jon, no talk of food!

Yesterday we went to the Twillingate museum and it was fun to see a photograph of the house in there,  I must say that I have several museum quality pieces here and a good part of them I brought  with me.  I love the house and could putter all of the days and nights.

We went to my friend, Bonnie Rogers, yesterday to get the top of the quilt she is making me.  It is soooooo beautiful and I look forward to next spring to get the finished product.  She has to learn how to use her quilting machine this winter.  I could have someone else do the quilting but I want her to finish it.  She is truly an artist and I will be making her a pair of sleeves in return.

Gotta get off my duff and get to work as the day is fleeting by!

My son, Jon, had his new boat delivered to him yesterday but they forgot to send the keys.  It feels like our saga with the bath tub and George Morlan Plumbing not being able to get the parts to our shower.  I think Chet will call them again today.

Best to you all and we keep you in our hearts..........

18th of August month, 2008

Ahhhhhhhh, but just another stellar day!  The wind is howling because it is coming from the West.  It is so nice to listen to.  It is fun to watch my little forest (chuckle) dance.

We are up and ready as Wayne was supposed to finish his last week here, as he has 4 other jobs waiting, but he came for his tools. His electric panel burned on Saturday so today and tomorrow he will be working on his own house.  He said his wife would be happy as her dryer hasn't worked in 3 years as it would blow the fuse.  You know, the old story of the cobbler's kids going without shoes.

I worked myself silly over the weekend and we actually have almost all of the rooms cleared out.  The hall is another thing as we had to put it somewhere!!!!!!!  Progress is what's important, right.  I think maybe the first piece of "The Village" may go up on the shelves in the bedroom today.

Yesterday, I cooked cabbage, onions, garlic, pork and turnip greens for supper.  It was soooo good and was surprised to see Brett gobble down every bit of it.  I'm sure he willl love it again today!

I soaked in my bathtub for an hour last night.  Oh I was in ecstasy until Twilly go into the tub with me.  Yes, into the tub voluntarily.  He climbed down on me and had quite the time playing in the water until it was time to get out.  I have mentioned he is the least graceful cat I have ever had.  He leaped for the side and didn't make it.  Leave the rest to your imagination.  I then helped him out.

I hear Brett upstairs in the shower.  He has adjusted to the time difference very well.  He is starting to settle in a little as he is watching the water and the ocean to see what is coming and going.  

We had another cruise ship here the other day.  It is fun to see the ships come in.  Last evening we sat in the turret upstairs and then I was arranging yarn which will be organized just in time to leave.  Then I will have to decide what to take as there is no down time to do much knitting here.  Brett was completely relaxed with his feet up and mentioned how quiet it is here.  It is nice that he is enjoying himself even though his first response is that he is bored and weird here.  We take him to different music happenings in the town and have found two other good restaurants in town because of him.  We walk, bought a board game to play with him, and spend a lot of just plain family time together.  He helped Chet quite a bit yesterday as they assembled two night stands and a kitchen stool and then he helped him in his computer room.  

Chet has gone from "S" shaped to "?" shaped now so we will probably take a stab at a walk today.  There is an island we want to take the ferry to for a day but not on a windy one!  We will take the car and it is only about a 20 minute ride.  Maybe we will go on Wednesday as it is supposed to shower tomorrow.

We have been having fun vicariously visiting Alaska with our friends WC and Leslie.  They send spectacular pictures.  We do miss them a lot and look forward to the day they can come here.  We even have a dump and water for an RV at the house.....even though there is one in town.  We will have fun having "hot dog nights" with them even though you get the choices that they sell here!!!!  We do have big sweet potatoes though.  

Well folks, possibly more later.......on to Dickens Village.

Even though we are exquisitely happy here it feels a little funny and scary as I set up house so far away....................

A momma and Grandma's love to you, my missing pieces!

 

16th of August month, 2008

I can't believe Brett will be home on the 15th of September....I am in countdown mode :-.(.

I was wakened to the sound of Chet yelling at Twilly (a not too uncommon practice for any one of us or the workmen).  He is into EVERYTHING!!!  He is so cute.  Chet was watching a show on homing pigeons and Twilly was stalking the pigeons and was caught just as his nose touched the tv screen.  Chet finally had to give up and change the channel.

I was a little tired as I was up until 3:00 a.m. decorating.  It takes time and not too much gets accomplished quickly but I love it.  The time goes by in warp speed here for some reason.

We had to go 2 hours to Grand Falls to get the motorhome steps fixed and pick up our new thermostat.  I hope the diagnosis regarding the thermostat is more accurate than what we were told in St. John's about both problems...."they're broken".  It turns out that the gears were not stripped in the steps.  A bolt was sheared off so now we own the gear assembly if it ever does go out.

We did a fair amount of eating as we waited and shopped but forgot the one thing we really needed which was a bigger harness to fit Twilly.  Oh well!!!!  We got some stools for the kitchen work table and some night stands for our bedroom that still has EVERYTHING in the middle of it since a week ago Friday.  Hopefully the three of us can get it back in order today as Chet is not looking so much like an "S" today when he walks.  

It was pouring when we left here at 8:00 a.m. yesterday and it was a deluge until later on in the afternoon.  One of the cashiers told Chet it had been raining for the past two weeks solid.  The roads leave a bit to be desired and it is too easy to hydroplane.  One of the ladies we know flipped and ended up in a ditch a few weeks ago with her 85 year old father in the car.  At least we had a dry ride home and all we had to watch for were moose and humans, of course.  The ride never ceases to be magnificent.

It is a sparkling day outside today as it was 2 days ago.  Brett and I mowed the entire lawn that which was quite a job as I just usually do the circles and any area that isn't just straight line mowing except for the path over to our neighbor's house.  We keep it mowed so Marilyn can walk over if she wants.  We actually have Brett on videotape mowing the lawn.  He doesn't like to go in straight lines either which makes it a little problematic as I had to do the big flat area over to get the spots he missed but it was all well worth it.  I was exhausted and went to sleep before 10:00 p.m. that night.  It was the first full night of sleep in many days as I get to work when everyone is in bed and then get up when the workers arrive.  Needless to say my patience was running on overtime and was in mild tears all day the day before.  I know sleep deprivation has a lot to do with that!!!!!!

Well, dear hearts and my friend Carl whom I haven't spoken to in a week.......It is almost noon and the work goes on.

We are going to see Ada play music again tonight and the honor chorus will be there from the local elementary school.  Oh yes, watching the Olympics that start at 11:00 p.m. adds to my sleep deprivation and tonight is the last night of swimming.  To quote Mark Spitz, "Michael Phelps is giving us an epic performance".

Oh, the parts for our bathtub that we have been waiting for from George Morlan Plumbing, "the Water Heater King" to get our shower and bathtub working that has been sitting unusable for two months now got returned to them as they didn't fill out the customs forms correctly.  What a bummer to have to look at the tub/ shower combination on a daily basis and dream about using it.  I am just a tad frustrated and angry.

I love you my children.......and I miss you my dear friends.......

Jack and Lilli Mae, there are no words to describe how I miss you.

 

12th of August month, 2008

It's 9:45 p.m. and we just got home from the performance of the Split Peas.  They are a group of 7 women who sing Newfie songs, play the accordions and piano.  Brett was clapping away and had a good time.

It is starting to rain but it is not cold out.  

Yesterday Lewis, our worker who has been helping us for 2 months came and told us he got a job "away" and will be leaving for Manitoba this week.  I was devastated as he did everything for us but we knew he had to go when he found a job.  He was painting our bedroom and we have living with everything in the middle of the room since last Friday.  Chet painted yesterday and also helped Wayne clean out the garage and lifted the propane stove/heater into Wayne's truck to take over to our other building.  I guess he forgot it took 3 or 4 of them to get it out of the living room.  Needless to say he is not walking today and is in a lot of pain.  I guess I should mention he lifted it out of the truck and into the building, too.  Wayne finished the first coat today and will put on the 2nd one tomorrow.  We only have him until a week from Friday so he is going down my punch list which is filled with too many things to do.

I am in the throes of decorating and that is fun.  The place is starting to look more like "home" every day.  I'm tired as we get the Olympics around 11:00 p.m. so staying up to watch them is leaving me a lot sleep deprived.  I do love to watch them though.

Not much else new....today we had 4 different visitors.  It is really nice.  One lady was from the states and wanted to know where to park.  She and her hubby will be by to visit tomorrow or the next day.

I hope you are all well and happy.  I send you some of the beauty we see out of every window of our house..............

I do miss you my children.

 

9th of August month, 2008

Yesterday, oh yesterday!  We woke to the MOST spectacularly, beautifully, impeccably perfect day.  It was flawless; the colors in the sky, the wildflowers, irises, the purple-topped grasses mid chest high, the water, everything.  One couldn't ask for more beauty.  

Chet and Brett made a couple of runs to the dump and I played "decorating" to my heart's content.  It was unreal.

We had our first dinner party with the new kids on the block, Nina and Jon, who just moved from Ontario to be full timers here.   I'm jealous but we will return soon enough next year.  I am so out of practice after living in the motorhome and our eating patterns changing to a minimalist fashion...entertain?  What's that....Bernie helped me make the salad in preparation for our gourmet feast of hot dogs.  Yes, I did say hot dogs.  We have been having hot dog nights with Bernie for a while and now we have new people who like to eat them, too.  I made whipped cream and it promptly fell out of the refrigerator on to the carpet and Bernie's shoes and pants.  Fortunately I whipped it into right proper peaks and we were able to save most of it under the 10 second rule.  We have to have have boiled hot dogs with 3 different kinds of mustard, pickles of two kinds, red onion, mayonnaise and ketchup.  Nina brought potato chips.  After filling ourselves full of roasted pepper hummus and tzatziki we sat down to our feast and had a lot of fun.  We are all under construction except Bernie, who is finished, so the house wasn't too much of an issue.  The suggestion of going across the street to the ice cream store for butterscotch ice cream came up and I said I had already bought some....ironically.  I also served bite sized blueberry tarts topped with peaks of whipped cream :-).  A good time was had by all and we even took pictures.

Chet started watering the trees after supper and I suggested a walk.  We wandered up the road, ran into Nina, walking her dogs, said our hello's and proceeded around the hill and down the other side thinking we would find our way back.  It was getting dark and the sky was filled with color and we asked some people how to get back to the main road and after they explained we turned around to go back the way we came.  The hill was a killer and when we got back I was sitting on the Chesterfield (sofa) and fell asleep with a glass of water in my hand which tipped and spilled on my leg and woke me with a stat.  I proceeded to go to bed and spilled my water in the bed so I sat the glass on the floor and woke this morning to the sound of Twilly playing in the glass that had, of course, fallen over.  I am trying to be more careful tonight but already poured some down the front of my shirt and on to the kitchen rug which had just been washed from the whipped cream spill.  Enough....

Thursday evening there was a movie being shown at the Lions Club for a fund raiser for the honor chorus of 4th through 7th graders going to Ottawa to sing next July.  They have to raise $80,000.00 for all of them to go and their chaperones.  We will be eating sub sandwiches next Thursday as another fundraiser.  The movie, Nim's Island, with Abigail Breslin  and Jodie Foster was cute and we were 4 times older than anyone else there.  A good time was had by all and we even had popcorn.

Today we were wiped out so did little in the way of work.  We played cards with Brett and then went to listen to Ada sing again.  We met yet some more people that just bought a home here and watched the 7 year old guest performer sing Johnny Cash songs.  It was too cute.  Our circle of friends is expanding and we are loving it.  Randy stopped by yesterday morning and we watched butterflies on the flowers and took some pictures.  He did a drawing from one or the rooms of the house and we will get one of the 10 artist's proofs.  That is very exciting.  His daughter Tia came over on Tuesday and we had a great time putting the mannequins together in the Attic.  They are starting to get positioned on the first floor right now.  Oh, our home....I have never had a living room so big!

As everyone who buys here or stays for an extended time says....."you either get it or you don't"!  We are so lucky to have "gotten it".  This is magical. 

 

 

3rd of August month, 2008

Once again, it is very late and all I want to do is go to sleep.  I don't want the days to go by as I love having Brett here.  Chet And I decided he is the only person we know who REALLY knows how to take a vacation.  He relaxes and just hangs  out and enjoys himself.  We said everyone else, including us, runs themselves ragged and are exhausted when their vacation is over. He is so sweet and it is so good to see him.

Today we did very little....I think we watched 2 movies and sat a lot.  Chet and I cooked some potatoes, onions and spinach and were going to use them for supper.  I served some cucumber, avocado, tomato, hummus, tatzhiki, pita chips and rice crackers for a snack that turned out to be our supper.  We were full and everything went into the refrigerator until tomorrow.  After that we went out to the light house and no sooner did we say it's too bad that Brett won't get to see any icebergs that we saw one.  We were astounded even though it had floated pretty far away.  There was a small one out there, too.  Life never ceases to amaze me.

We ran into Cal and Josse at the light house and had a few laughs.  Then we started to look for whales but to no avail.  We left and drove through the city campground for a quick second that turned out to be much longer than that.  There were a pod of whales and we sat for about a half hour watching them frolicking right in front of us.  We also saw some people catching capelin spawning on the shore.  It was really cold so we stayed in the car.  

We left and drove around a bit and stopped to chat with some other couple from the states who had emailed the Maritime talk group that Chet moderates.  We picked up a possible hint to try to fix our thermostat and will try tomorrow.  That would be great if the reset works.  

We had promised Brett a banana split so we took him to our favorite place for soft serve in town here and he and Chet had their banana splits.  I watched, had a couple of bites and a half of a banana.  We came home....oh that sounds so good....came home! ;-).  

I set up some Dept. 56 pieces that Brett had from 1992 that had been stored with me since.  I forgot about them and ran across 1 of 2 boxes.  They looked so nice and I sure want to set mine up. First Lewis has to paint the bedroom as there is no way I will set them up and then take them down again.  It took me 5 days to repack them when we went on the road,  All of the shelves we need are already in our room....one more reason we were meant to have this house!!  I even made french toast for my men this morning...

My sister is failing rapidly and I wish her no discomfort and my love.  

Goodnight all of my loves and friends.....loves being my family..... 

 

2nd of August month, 2008

I know, I know, I haven't written in over a week.  

We finally met Brett at the airport at 1:00 a.m. as his plane was over 2 hours late and were we tired but sooooo happy to see him.  It filled me with warmth and an inexplicable, very deep feeling of joy and contentment.  We went back to the motorhome where we all slept very late the next morning and finally rolled out of the motorhome to run some errands and go to the movies at 3:30 in the afternoon.  We saw Mama Mia and loved it.  It was a real "feel good" movie.

The day before, we took the motorhome in to get some things ordered like a new thermostat and new gears for the motor to our automatic front steps, which we will have to go into Grand Falls to get it fixed but it is only 2 hours instead of 6.  

I shopped to complete exhaustion getting light fixtures and things that we couldn't get here.  Chet bought me a beautiful mirror that is standing in our bathroom with the tub we still haven't gotten the parts for.  I found a metal headboard and footboard complete set for $260.00.  It was on sale of course and a great find that was totally unexpected.  We needed one as we rearranged the bedroom and couldn't lean up against the wall in the turret.  It was impossible to keep our pillows on the bed.   We got Brett an early birthday present of a new tv for his room.  His room looks so cute and even has a little refrigerator in it. He sleeps on a bed with two mattresses on the box spring and he loves it!! He looks straight over his toes at the harbour and his TV. :)

We just ran and ran in St. John's and still didn't get everything we needed to get (next time we'll get more).  When we got home, Lewis had finished painting the living room and it is just delicious in there.  It was so pretty it made the tears roll down my face.  I think Brett's being here had a bit to do with that, too. It is nice, as we are able to start putting things up on the walls and arrange the rooms.  I just don't ever think we will get finished.  I don't want to stop but get so tired I have to.  The place is really starting to take shape and it is such fun and so beautiful.  We don't want to leave!!!!!!!

All is well, the heat didn't break until 3 days after we got home. We were gone for 5 days, so we had hot, muggy, yucky weather for about 3 weeks.  Today and yesterday were more like it.  We even had to turn the heat on.. It was chilly and I put 2 little electric stoves in the fireplace openings and they look so cute.

Yesterday we mowed the lawn and I got Brett out to help for about 5 minutes.  I love to mow the lawn!

Tonight we went and listened to some music-Ada's Backroom sessions. There's a tremendous amount of local talent here. Her guest was Steven Rogers, who's a music student. We saw him play at the Church Museum near our house on Friday. He played one the eight surviving pipe organs of its style. We'll get some pictures on Monday. He was so amazing. He made his accordion sing and I've never been a great fan of accord ian music. He was so good we had to go back and see him tonight. We were told he was awesome on the piano and indeed he was.

Tomorrow we will go to the light house to look for some whales and take a hike.  That's what I am saying now, who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Good night. all.........

 

23rd day of July month, 2008

We are being influenced by the charm of the Newfie way of speaking....They say July month instead of July or the month of July and of course all of the other months, too.  When in NL do as the NLanders do!!!!

We are on our way to St John's in the motor home to meet Brett as he is flying in for 55 days tomorrow night and I am just a little excited to say the least.  We were supposed to be on the road at noon hour but as usual we left three hours late and have quite a bit of cleaning to do when we arrive at our destination.  The refrigerator has been off and somehow it got closed and I need to say no more.  We will have fun cleaning it when we stop tonight.

I realize my muzes have been a bit mundane lately so I will tell of the day's happenings so far.....

The carpet installation was completed late Monday and I had to have one room in order and that was Brett's  We spent hours yesterday and last evening moving things into proper rooms and then put Brett's room together right down to getting the window to open so a little air could come in.  Usually a little air is all one wants but we have had some inordinately hot, muggy days and nights.  The house is so well built that it holds the cool air until it heats up and then it holds the warm air and that is not a fun thing.  We don't take the storm windows off as there aren't usually as many hot days as we had this year.  We open the windows inside a few inches and there are screen covered holes to let the air through.  That usually works just fine.  Hopefully this summer was an exception and we won't have the heat problems next year.  We would like not to have to leave at all but the call of the road is yelling at us and we know we are not ready to stop motorhoming yet.

Yesterday two women stopped by to question how we had our belongings shipped and while talking they came in and saw my fiber art. leaded glass fireplace screen and dyed material that I had done when I had my line of wearable art clothes; hand dyed silk and leather.  They were so excited and complementary and asked me to be a part of the Herring Neck Art group they are going to start.  I was very excited and it was nice to meet some other woman from away.  Today, three more women came over and said they had heard there was an artist living in the house and wanted to meet me.  It was lovely.  

While they were there we were showing them the downstairs and Spotty promptly puked all over the brand new carpet right in front of a picture one of the ladies was trying to get to on my wall.  (Jon, it is the one of you holding the fish and Brett's story about being the favorite child and your addition to the story.)  That was expected as we knew he would christen the carpet sooner or later but he could have been a little more discreet about it.  She's trying to get to the wall as I am busily cleaning the carpet.  We forgot to ask what to use to clean it so I used water and will find out when we return home.  I must interject that it is an absolutely stellar day and the bays and ponds we have been passing are especially magnificent for some reason.  The water lillies are in bloom and they all look look Monet's paintings.

We quickly chatted and asked them to come back another time or anytime as we were trying to get on the road.  Fortunately Wal Mart has no check in time as we are going there tonight and then dropping the motorhome off at the RV repair tomorrow as our thermostat is not working therefore no heat or air-conditioning and our steps are not going out or retracting properly.  They're both integral parts of motorhoming.  The next three nights we will be at Pippy Park and were lucky enough to get the last full hookup spot there was in the park.  That is the first place we stayed last year and within 10 minutes the people across from us were at our spot with a plate of dinner.  That is NOT the way people in the states are; much more standoffish.  It's so cute as Newfies love to go camping and come from there homes 5 or 6 miles away.

We just stopped for an A&W root beer and a toilet so I will take a break......

Ahhh the simple pleasures in life; a great big diet A&W. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm good.  We are back on the road now and I shall proceed with the happenings as we started on our way....those of you who are feint of stomach may want to stop here but it really isn't all that bad and I had to look on it with humor as I was running back and forth in a moving motorhome.  Twilly was wandering around so I put him in my lap.  He was breathing very fast and we just assumed he was nervous.  We're also wondering how he would make the transition back to the motorhome after having 3 stories to run around in since May.  He got up yowled, which he only does before he pukes, and I chased him to try to get him off the carpet.  This entailed getting out of my seat belt and the seat.  Well, I didn't make it and he got the rug and the box fan we brought just in case we can't get the air conditioning repaired.  He was frothing so I wiped the floor up and him with some cool water all the while trying to keep my balance.  He spread himself out on the floor and I gave Freddie his antibiotics and he did a perfect job of not spitting any of it out.  Chet jokingly had said he hoped Freddie didn't join in on the fun.  Weeeeeeelllll within ten minutes of my sitting down again we hear him yowling and I jumped up and was able to keep him off the carpet.  Just a side note, we carry a lot of carpet cleaner including a green machine carpet cleaner.  Twilly was in the front and I was ready to sit down when I heard a yowl.  I ran for Twilly but it was Fredddie so I ran back to him and Twilly was there watching and started frothing at the mouth again.  I was wondering if there was something in the motorhome but we are fine.  I opened a window and all has settled down and the boys are happily sleeping.  That is the only time Twilly had ever been anywhere but the motorhome and the old boys had a 3 month respite for the first time in 5 years. I guess we will have to take them riding more often.

My god I can't find the words to explain how beautiful it is right now; the sky the water everything.  We are so enthralled every time we take a drive.  I go back to my oh, oh, oh as there is no way to impart the beauty.

I plan on a day of shopping tomorrow while waiting for Brett and I do look forward to it.  The only Costco on the island is in St. John's but they are going to build one in Gander and that is less than 2 hours away from T'gate.  We have things to get to finish the house which is so incredibly beautiful you will only believe it when you come and see.  The grasses are so high and the tops are turning purple, the lupin are blooming along with the roses and the wild irises.  The place is a cacophony of color.  We can see it from every window of the house.

Please join us........Love to you!