Carol's Adventures

Time sure is passing quickly. In May I did lots of craft projects, assembled many Lego sets, and did lots of baking. A neighbor has a mango tree and I exchanged some baked goods for mangos and I froze a lot of mango pulp so I could enjoy it later on.

I’m excited that in July I got a slot in the lottery drawing at the local library to learn another new craft, it’s called needle felting. I still love doing the paper quilling and I’m having fun making new shapes and assembling them and creating cards to send friends.

I went to a conference in Tallahassee in June and got to see several friends. The conference was held at the Tallahassee Automobile Museum. If you are anywhere near Tallahassee or want a very interesting place to explore put this on your list. I have never seen such a wonderful, exceptional collection of items. They have two floors of collected items such as LOTS of antique cars, golf clubs and photos of professional golfers, same with baseball cards and photos, also original Bat Mobile vehicles, motorcycles, engines, dolls, patches, guns, toy cars, dolls, trains, and so much more. There are also Steinway pianos that are works of art, Remington bronze sculptures, and many more items in collections.

As a young child I loved watching Red Skelton and Danny Kaye and Carol Burnett among others. Walking through this museum I noticed some paintings that looked like Red Skelton as different clowns and looking at the paintings close up, I saw that they were original paintings with the signature of Red Skelton. I met a man named Mac who is the person that dusts, waxes, and takes care of the collections. He was very interesting to talk with and he told me that many of the cars have their original paint jobs. Looking at the vehicles from the early days, I am amazed at the effort it would take to not only drive the vehicles, but to endure weather conditions to be out in this cars, wagons, etc.

When I was in Tallahassee I met a man who made a wonderful Jambalaya and he sent me the recipe so when I get home I am going to look for the spices he used and make this wonderful dish. It was so flavorful and not spicy.

After leaving Tallahassee I took back road 84 to Jesup and Madray Springs to visit my firefighter friends and stay at the station for a couple of weeks. The drive on the back road was good, only a few small towns. I thought about taking the interstates but decided that the direct route on the back road would be better. It was a different route than what I took last year when I left Arkansas to Georgia, that back road was going through many more small towns.

Being here at the fire station is very quiet. The fire fighters come by periodically when they are not at their regular jobs, with family, etc. and them come up when they get emergency calls, no matter what time of the night or day. I baked several cakes for them and on Tuesday I made a pot of meatballs and pasta for their meeting. Saturday morning I got up early, they cooked breakfast for their training meeting and I was invited to join them for breakfast.

As for what I do all day… since I arrived there have been many days of rain. Some days it’s sunny and then we have hours of a thunder storm. I think it’s rained for about 5 days so far of the week I have been here. I occasionally take naps. Over about 4 days I assembled a complicated Lego set I brought with me of the Planet Earth and the Sun and Moon. It’s a Technic set which I have not done one of before, there are lots of gears, pins, etc. I was really careful building it because it would not be easy to take anything apart to correct it. After it was finished it was really cool, the Earth rotates, and so does the Sun and Moon and there are stickers of the Moon phases and the calendar months. The videos I watched on this set before I bought it says that the rotations are accurate as to the actual phases of the moon.

I also brought another complicated Technic set of a car that looks more challenging than the Planet Earth set. I brought a couple other Lego sets and I will leave them here for everyone to enjoy using. I brought other things like my paper quilling and paracord. I have been listening to audio books while doing Legos and crafts, or just relaxing, I’m also reading books on my tablet. Basically, I am taking time to relax and chill and getting together with friends online.

Lego is having double points for the next week and I ordered a few more sets, and the Bricklink sets which are also built with Legos should be arriving in the next few weeks, so when I get home I will have lots of sets to put together, after I unpack the camper and put things away. Lego is coming out on July 4th with a working pinball machine, and I can’t wait to order that. I used to play pinball on my laptop but haven’t done that in years. The Gringotts Bank set is one I want and it’s been out of stock for months. It’s available in the United Kingdom and I thought of having a friend there send it to me, but the cost is not worth it. So maybe it will come back in stock at some point in the US, if not, it’s okay there are lots of other really interesting sets to buy.

When I am at the fire station and plugged into their electric outlet, I was not able to use my roof air conditioner. I learned this the hard way over the years parking at friends and plugging into their outlets and running the air conditioner. It caused my power cord and the inlets/outlet on the camper to overheat and burn and I replaced those items a few times. It’s been hot here and I was using my small fans to stay cool, and the firemen installed a 30 amp outlet in the fire bay for me to plug into so I would use my air conditioner. They said they should have installed this type of outlet years ago, they can use it for other purposes they have, not just my camper air conditioner. They also let me move their wifi box to the fire bay so I can have wifi connections.

Last year my little camper fridge decided to not always work, I stopped at 4 different RV repair places, some changed out parts on my propane, but since it’s an intermittent issue it’s hard to diagnose. I didn’t know what would happen on this trip, so I didn’t bring much food in the fridge and I put small containers of ice in the fridge to keep in cold in case the fridge didn’t work. Thankfully most of the time it did work, and now being plugged into electric it does work.

That’s about it for now.

It’s hard to believe it’s already the middle of April, time passes quickly and I try to remember always to be grateful every day no matter what is happening or how my body feels. Even when I am physically hurting due to lots of operations and the after effects, I have so much to be grateful for. So many people I know have a lot more challenges, not only physically, but with life happenings.

The end of February I went on a 7 day cruise to the Dominican Republic, St. Thomas/St. John, and St. Maarten. It was a new cruise ship that was put into service in November 2025 and it was beautiful. I learned some new crafts on the ship which was fun and I got to try lots of different foods and meet many new people. The cruise ship employees all workt very hard and for long hours while being away from their families for months at a time. I will try to remember to add more info at a later date. In the Dominican Republic I took a shore excursion and got to see parts of the country as we drove to a botanical National Park.

At home, I am still cooking and baking and trying new foods. I have been watching lots of YouTube videos on paper quilling and I’m making cards and 3D figures and having fun being creative. I bought lots of LEGO sets of all different themes of sets I think will be fun to look at and interesting to build. I have been taking sets apart that I did a few months ago to make room for the new ones. It’s a lot easier to assemble than to take apart. A tip a LEGO employee gave me that he does is when taking the set apart, start at the end of the book and bag the pieces like in the instruction book, rather than putting all the pieces in one baggie. This way when I give the set away, or want to do it some time in the future, the assembly can be done with the instruction booklet easily. Instead of having to go through hundreds of pieces for the entire set, it will be smaller batches by each bag. So that’s what I am doing. It takes lots more time to do it this way but in the long run it will be easier for me or someone else.

There are so many wonderful sets to buy and new sets are coming out every month and when there is a gift with purchase they say is free, it’s not really free it’s us spending maybe more than we would to get the gift at the level set for that item. But it is nice to get a special gift for sets I would have bought anyway. Bricklink is owned by LEGO and they have sets designed by users like me, not the LEGO design team, and they are really interesting. It’s different than buying from LEGO. Bricklink designer sets get voted on and when there are a specific number of votes and 5 sets are selected they are put up for sale. It’s a crowd source type thing and after ordering the sets they are put into production and we are not charged until they are shipped which will be several months later. Bricklink has older and retired sets, pieces, etc. and is a great resource. I like looking at the sets people like me build and post to get ideas.

I am doing several Ninjago sets and the one I am doing now is the Four Weapons Blacksmith Shop which is really fun and it’s interesting how the pieces are connected. There are videos of the designer of several Ninjago sets including the 15 year anniversary set I bought with 4851 pieces. I watched the video and learned some hidden secrets and the thoughts behind the build and he also designed the blacksmith shop. I don’t watch TV or movies so I just buy and build what I like but I have to not get everything I like it gets expensive and I have limited space where I live. I figured I will do many of the sets, then take them apart and give them away where I think someone would enjoy them.

That’s about it for now. I am trying to make time between crafts, and resting my body which is necessary as it’s being more challenging with pain, tiredness, etc. I am trying to walk most days and instead of driving to the recreation center for the classes I am taking not very often but when they are offered every few months, I am walking there which is about half mile each way, and I do the same to the grocery store which is about the same distance. The rec center is offering for 3 weeks Tai Chi so that has been good, and I did a fall prevention/balance class for a few weeks so I am more aware to be careful so I don’t fall and can get up if I do.

That’s about it for now. Thanks for reading my story. I will try to write more soon.

It’s hard to believe it’s already February 2026. Not much happening in my life. I seem to stay busy doing crafts, cooking, and general chores and taking care of myself. I have been making new recipes and it seems to be fun and interesting.

I took classes at the local library a few times and learned paper quilling which is fun, and also challenging. I had two classes and I watched lots of videos online and now make a few 3D figures. I made a 5″ tall Winnie the Pooh in black and white and it took about 400 strips of paper 1/8 inch wide by about 15 inches long that I glued together in different lengths depending on what part of the bear it was. I also now know how to make different shapes and objects of quilling. I am still painting and drawing and cutting my abstracts into bookmarks to give away. I am also still weaving bags with macrame cord and that is fun too. I don’t plan the colors or designs, they just seem to come together on their own and I like seeing how they evolve. I have made a few hundred of them in different sizes and no two are the same.

A neighbor that has been assembling LEGO kits since he was young gave me a few small sets he got free with purchase and now I am hooked on LEGO’s and have bought many sets and have a few more to purchase. They are so much fun, even when challenging and even when nearly finished with a set and I add a piece and it falls apart I have to reassemble it. I found some videos online when I searched LEGO fail. I don’t assemble anything like what those people did, but someone or something happens and sets they took weeks or months to assemble are shattered within seconds.

About two years ago a good friend who goes on alot of cruises asked if I would like to go on one and we booked one on a new ship that debuted in November and I am going on a seven day cruise with her in several weeks, it seems the time between when we booked it and it’s happening came quickly. It doesn’t feel like almost two years has passed.

As for my health, it’s still about the same, some days are more challenging and painful than others but I still thankfully can get around and manage on my own.

I still have not made time to figure out how to post photos here.

Hard to believe it’s the end of 2025. Life seems to be passing quickly. Not much happening here. I have been keeping busy doing lots of crafts and even learning a few new hobbies. I have also been doing a lot of cooking and baking and trying new recipes. I make almost everything I eat from scratch. Besides being healthier and knowing what ingredients I am putting into my body it gives me things to do. I make extra and share it with a neighbor who doesn’t like to cook. So I have been experimenting with new things like making different pies, food dishes, etc. and it’s been fun. Not enthusiastic about all the extra dishes I have to wash after cooking but I try to wash as I go so they don’t all pile up but that still seems to happen. During the holidays I have been baking lots of cookies and sharing them with our local first responder departments, my mechanics, grocery staff, friends and others.

Other than going to Native Rhythms Flute Festival in November, it’s an event I got to every year, I have been home. About 3 years ago at that event I learned to do an old Native American weaving technique called Twining and I have been weaving lots of different size and colors of bags. Last year I entered the arts competition and won 4th place. This year I entered again with different bags and I won 3rd place. This year I took a few workshops again, one was on the constellations and we got to look through powerful telescopes and I saw Saturn and the ring around it and learned some Native American folk lore about the constellations. I also learned how to make tobacco prayer ties, and flat reed weaving. Because I have gone so many years many of the performers and vendors have become my friends so it’s nice to see them and catch up. This year the weather was beautiful and there was no rain thankfully. The past several years it has rained before and during the event which is not fun and I feel bad for everyone because the vendors didn’t have many people to buy their items or the food from the food vendors and I know the event committee members put a lot of work into the event so having beautiful weather was wonderful.

One of my neighbors has been assembling Lego sets since he was a little boy and he still puts sets together, he seems to like the large castles and sets and a couple of months ago he gave me some of the small gift with purchase sets he got. Well… It seems I love putting Lego sets together. I never did it as a child that I remember. We had Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, and other similar games. So, I bought lots of different Lego sets to assemble from small to large and also several sets of bricks to make my own designs. I also bought the BricQ Motion and Essential sets which seem to make things to play with like a basketball game, race track, and other similar motion things. It is so much fun to make and play with. It’s nice to have money and buy my own toys now. The end of September I was 75 years young. I never thought I would be alive at this age. I still feel young and my hair has gray but is not all gray yet.

As I am building the different Lego sets I am fascinated how they are designed and the way pieces fit together. Sometimes I get almost finished and add a piece and it comes apart and I have to start over or start back a bit so I am learning patience and to take my time. I just finished a Stem set that is like the evolution of physics, the DNA molecule, and space shuttle, etc. it is the most fun set I have done so far and I think I have assembled about 16 sets so far. Some are fun and make me smile like the Minecraft purple and turquoise supply burro, and the Moana rooster, and the UP House. I don’t watch TV or movies so these are just sets I like. I have a large Harry Potter Burrow House to put together which should be fun, the house is tall and sits at an angle. I also bought the Boutique Hotel which will be a challenge, and a Bugatti race car that will also be a challenge. I bought a Star Wars character in it’s basket too. I look forward to using the Classic bricks to make my own designs too. I wanted the Harry Potter Owl sitting on a book, it was expensive and then it sold out. I saw it on Ebay and thought it was a Lego set and ordered it. When it came I saw it was not a Lego set, and it was a set with small pieces and contacted the seller and we negotiated a lower price and I kept the set. It is going to be a big challenge since the pieces are small and there are about 4,000 of them.

The city library offered senior classes of watercolor, crocheting, and paper quilling recently. A few months ago they had watercolor, collage, and alcohol ink classes which I also took. I know how to crochet but this class was making a tote bag that looked interesting so I signed up for it. Other than the instructor I was the only one that knew how to crochet so I ended up helping people at the class which I was honored to do. I finished the bag but used YouTube to find a similar pattern since the one we got at class was too hard to follow and not for beginners. I liked the finished bag so it was worth the time to make it. I am still painting abstract watercolor paintings and cutting them into bookmarks and sharing them with friends all over the country.

In November the class was paper quilling which I have wanted to try doing for quite a while, so we had 2 classes and got the basic quilling kit. Since I like this craft project I bought lots of paper strips and tools to make quilled designs. I am still learning but it’s been fun trying new designs and making swirls, 3D items like snowmen and penguins. I also make a birthday card for a friend. When I am doing the quilling it seems I get into a time warp. I start and then look up at the clock and it’s several hours. It is a time consuming art and I find I can sort of meditate while doing it. Quilling is strips of paper 3mm which is about 1/8 of an inch wide and lengths of between 13 and 21 inches long. Some designs require many strips of paper being glued together before being coiled into a circle and then formed into different shapes. I’ve watched several YouTube videos to get ideas.

I am still doing my twining weaving a friend in Washington state gives them to her friends and students. I have lots of different colors and spools of macrame cord to make them and a friend made me a really good portable loon to use. I need to figure out something to make for the art competition in November, I have an idea but need to design something using twining and crocheting to figure out how to make a backpack from these two techniques.

The new classes in the spring are watercolor, quilling, and needle felting which I really want to learn but it seems the random lottery system the library uses did not select me for my first choice of the felting, so I may not learn that at this time. I guess I can but the kt and try it on my own if I really want to do it. However, I have so many projects now I don’t really need to learn more at this time. I am behind in things I usually do. Usually in October or November I write my calendar items for the next year. It is the end of December and I have not done it yet. was at my neighbors a few weeks ago and didn’t see a box on the floor and tripped over it and fell hard on his tile floor. Thankfully, I didn’t break anything but I did get bruised and so it slowed me down for a few weeks. Also a few months ago my phone crashed and I lost all info in it including several contacts I am not able to get again. I got a new phone and started over again. I am glad I still had most of my contacts even though I lost notes with things I read and liked and wanted to keep, passwords, photos, poems, etc. but it’s ok. I still have lots to be grateful for.

I guess that is about it for now. I wish everyone a peaceful end of 2025 and all the best for the upcoming year.

It’s been a while since I wrote an article here updating everyone on what I have been doing. Not much has been happening. I have not taken any more trips since I got home in June. I am hoping and planning to go on another adventure maybe in October and to go to the Native Rhythms Flute Festival in Melbourne, Florida the 2nd weekend in November. This is an annual event I love to attend, not only for the wonderful music but also to see many friends I have made there over the many years I have attended. Lots of the performers and vendors have become friends I not only see them at this event, but some of them I know for longer because they had booths at powwows I went to for about 20 years.

I have been doing lots of cooking and trying new recipes which has been fun. One of my neighbors doesn’t like to cook and I do so I make extra of whatever I am cooking and we share the cost, or sometimes just exchange ingredients like bartering. For example, he usually has lots of fruit like oranges, lemons, pineapple, etc. I usually have the flour, butter, spices, and several other ingredients so I get the orange, or whatever from him, come up with something I make and give him half. It seems to work out great and he eats anything and is not fussy. Recently, we actually cooked together and made a meatball dish that is an old family recipe of his. We cooked in his apartment which worked out good, this time he got to wash lots of dishes, usually I am the one doing it since I cook in my apartment. I brought my food processor down to his apartment, it saved lots of time chopping the veggies. I had a really nice Cuisinart food processor with all the different blades but about 3 years ago when I gave lots of things away, including a lot of my favorite cooking items like my Curtis Stone cookware and bakeware and lots more, I gave my Cuisinart food processor and attachments to a friend. I realized I miss it and at a thrift store recently there was one for sale, but it only had the metal blade to chop and the dough hook, I checked and it is expensive to buy the stem and slicing and grating discs, so I am making do without them and using other items I have to accomplish the same task.

I usually make my pizza and bread dough using my KitchenAid mixer, but made some pizza dough in the food processor and it came out great. I love making homemade pizza and it is easy and fun and I get to be creative using items I have on hand or that I froze for future pizza. When I cooked a lot of ground beef, bacon, and some onion and garlic I froze enough for another pizza so when I made another pizza a week or so later it was easier. I thawed out the fixings and sauce in the freezer, opened a can of olives and other toppings and the pizza was finished in about an hour or so. Lots better than a store bought pizza and lots more toppings on it. In fact, one of the pizzas I made using the meatball and sausage casserole that I made with my neighbor, it actually tasted good. As we made his recipe and kept tasting it he wanted to add sausage. So we drove to a local German deli and bought smoked sausage and smoked bacon they make and added it to the meatball casserole. It was about 4 pounds of beef, 3 of sausage, and all the veggies and sauce. It took two of my large pots to cook it and we put in the oven to cook so it would cook longer. The other day I made a Czech dish that a friend of mine made when I visited them in South Carolina many years ago. It was made as a treat for me and I loved it so I was given the recipe which was an old family recipe and I have made it a few times over the years.

It’s been fun finding new recipes, sometimes I do a search and look for what I have on hand. One time I had an orange and ricotta cheese and found a great easy orange ricotta cake recipe on a Mediterranean Diet website, I shared pieces of it with several people who loved it too and one made it for her Thanksgiving dinner last year. I have had lots of fun experimenting with new recipes and making some up with ingredients I have. Also, a friend gave me lots of mangos from her mango tree when they were ripe. I froze the pulp after I blended it in my Vitamix. Some I made into ice cubes and use to flavor my herbal tea. I get the pineapple skins from my neighbor and trim off the remaining fruit, and puree and freeze into ice cubes, and I boil the skins in water and make a pineapple, or mango peels water and freeze these liquids too so I can add them to my herbal tea. I also puree other fruits like cherries, blueberries, etc. and using silicone ice cube trays of different sizes make combo fruit ice cubes, it’s been interesting and delicious. I even made watermelon/pineapple, blueberry/pineapple, and other mixtures and I also freeze my herbal tea into ice cubes. This way my tea doesn’t dilute when the ice melts.

About 2 months ago late in the afternoon I didn’t feel well, I took my temperature and it was 100.4, my normal temperature is 97.6. My throat was so sore it hurt to swallow. Two days later it wasn’t better so I went to the doctor and he said it was a virus and eventually it would go away. Several days later my throat was not as sore and I try to remember every day not to take swallowing without pain for granted. The residual issue is that I get laryngitis if I talk a while, and it seems my vertigo has decided to inhabit my body again. Thankfully, not as severely as the first time I got it. So I am moving more carefully and slowly, when I remember.

Three weeks ago, my cell phone decided to not work anymore without warning. Thankfully, I have a second phone with a different number so I was able to let my daily contacts know I was okay so they would not worry and I was glad I knew their numbers from memory. I have a few people I message every morning and late afternoon to let them know I am okay, or if I am in pain, or whatever the situation or maybe what I did that day. Living alone something could happen and if I didn’t check in with anyone it might not be realized for days. I also have an emergency alert button I keep on me all day and next to my bed at night.

Due to the phone crash, I lost all of my text messages, my What’s App messages, photos and recordings, and lots more, including many contacts that I thought were saved in my Google contacts but evidently were not. Also, my tablets decided to not charge anymore so I ended up buying an 11 inch Chromebook so I have a new learning process to experience. It’s been a bit frustrating but it will work out okay. I downloaded some paint by number apps which has been fun to do at night laying in bed while I listen to an audio book.

I have also been painting my abstract watercolor pictures which I spray with a matt finish when they are dry and then I cut them into bookmarks to give to the local library and send to friends around the country for them to use and share with others. I bought several hundred sheets of watercolor paper. I also bought some alcohol ink markers to try and they are interesting to use but the paper for them is very lightweight and not as good as bookmarks. I just ordered acrylic ink markers and paper for them that I am hoping is a good weight for bookmarks. If they work I can maybe paint pictures while laying in bed listening to audio books. I can’t do my watercolor paintings in bed, but still make time at night to paint.

Our city library has a grant a few times a year for us seniors to do different classes and they provide the supplies like the paint we would use. It’s a lottery system so we fill out a form and the computer selects the participants. I was selected for a watercolor class of 4 sessions, an alcohol ink class of 3 sessions, and a collage making class of 3 sessions. They were all fun and I learned new techniques and got to do some art projects I had not done before. The collage was fun. I still have to find a way to add photos to my posts here. I had to replace the hard drive in my laptop recently and I had the technician add a fix or whatever he did so that my laptop would recognize the SD card from my camera. So now, I should be able to download pictures from my camera to a file on my laptop and when I figure out the WordPress change I hope to add some photos.

Not much else happening other than I had my eyes checked a few weeks ago by a different optical place and when I got there a technician told me she would be taking pictures of my eyes with some equipment and then there will be a video chat with a person that will administer my eye exam with the chart on the wall, then the doctor who is working from home will go over my results. I asked if there was a doctor that was onsite to examine me. I was told I would have to come back a different day. I didn’t want to do that so I went ahead with the exam and remote test and findings. I didn’t like that I really wanted someone to look at me in person. I do have small cateracts and they are not worth fixing yet. It seems my vision did change so I went to my regular eyeglass place and got new glasses. I was able to use a frame I bought 3 years ago that I love it’s turquoise and royal blue so I have that with the new prescription, I still have my glasses from last year and both are not very different but still I will use the new glasses. I also got lenses put in a frame I have for just reading, not progressive like my regular glasses, I also had new lenses with my prescription put in a frame I had only polarized lenses in that were not prescription. My other pair of polarized prescription glasses are a few years old and still in good condition, I only use them for driving and can see fine for driving, it’s mostly reading that I need glasses to see the print.

I am going on a cruise with a friend who loves cruises and she is going alone most of the time since her boyfriend died a few years ago when he was walking in his neighborhood crossing a street in his gated community and a car didn’t see him and hit him and he fell, hit his head, and died on the spot. So I am going on this cruise with her the end of February 2026. We are going to three islands in the Caribbean on a ship that is being launched this November and we have a room on the back of the ship where all the rooms with balconies are located. Our room is almost exactly in the middle of the back of the ship, it should be interesting. I have only been on one cruise and it was in 1972 when I was 21 years old. September 26th I will be 75. We are doing a few shore excursions so that will be interesting and most probably be fun. My friend likes to zip line and I agreed to try it on our trip as one of our excursions.

I guess that’s about it for now. I hope all of you are having fun and enjoying life even during challenging times. I ask God/Higher Power for strength and HP gives me difficulties to overcome which make me stronger. I tell myself and HP that however anything goes I get a lessons and experiences to share with others someday. Sharing with others how I get through life and it’s challenges and even fun times is very important to me just like others shared with me how they got through things. We help each other.

In April I was home doing several craft projects like doing my twining weaving bags of different colors and sizes and doing lots of baking to share with others. I decided to leave on another trip in my camper van in May so I was getting things together for my trip. I had the camper van washed and waxed, and checked by the mechanics and had work done to brake lines, etc. I do my best to make sure everything is in working order. One of my friends asked me when was the last time I took a trip and didn’t have any mechanical or other issues happen? I couldn’t remember, it has been a while. However, any time something was an issue I was able to get it fixed or resolved, sometimes I had to drive a while for the fix, other times I could get it fixed where I was. I have always been safe during the process, for which I am really grateful. I brought lots of the inspirational smiles I make and gave them away as I traveled. People seem to really like them.

I left on May 11th and drove through several states including South Carolina where I stopped to see one of my fire chief friends in New Prospect, SC and then on to Kingsport, Tennessee where I spent about a week visiting with friends. Then I drove through other cities in Tennessee, to Arkansas and into Missouri to visit other friends for a week. In Missouri, it did rain and was cooler weather which was nice. All my travels were safe, and when I got to my friends house in Missouri I pulled on the grassy area near the street and didn’t realize the grass was muddy and got one of my rear tires stuck in the mud. I went across the street and saw the people had a tractor and they were kind and came and gently pulled me out of the muddy grass. I found a level spot on the side of the house where the grass was more solid. It did rain for a few days and thankfully I was able to not get stuck in the soft wet grass, I almost thought I was stuck when I went to leave on Monday, but thankfully I was able to carefully to get off the grass onto the pavement. There were two feral cats on the back porch of my friends house and one of them had four tiny kittens. I loved them and wanted to take one but knew I didn’t need one.

Then I had to stop at a few RV repair places to get my camper van checked because the check fridge light came on intermittently which meant my fridge was not working. One place I was led to wasn’t able to work on changing the regulator which they thought was the problem, I found another dealer about 90 minutes away that was able to move and replace the regulator and while I was there I had them service the rooftop air conditioner to keep it running well.

After a little time in Arkansas to get repairs done, I drove on back roads to Madray Springs, Georgia to visit my fire fighter friends there that I have known and stayed in touch for the past 13 years. I was on back roads and tried to find somewhere level to park for the night and couldn’t find anywhere and pulled into a parking lot to turn around on some narrow streets and the pavement into the parking lot had a deep dip and it seems I bent the bottom of my back step. It still works but is bent a bit. Also, when I started on the trip and turned the water on in my little bathroom I noticed water on the floor. At the first RV place I stopped at in Arkansas I told them and they found that a fitting in the outdoor shower had a crack in it so they replaced it and it seems to have solved the problem. It was nice to not have any leaks, my friend Bruce at home spent a lot of time working on fixing the leaks when we determined where they were. Last two years on my trips, and a few years before that also, I know there were leaks and I was soaking up water with towels which was not fun, especially at night or when I was stopped. I am so glad and grateful the leak was fixed.

The Georgia firefighters and their families are so special to me. I parked behind the fire station and was told to make myself at home. I love their shower it has great water pressure. When I arrived at the station one of the volunteer fire fighters came and welcomed me and bought me a dozen eggs from his chickens. They had a fire training meeting a few days after I got there and one of my friends from about an hour east of where I was came to see me and we had lunch together and I had her get me some groceries so I could make a meatball and pasta dinner for the fire fighters for their meeting. They are so nice to me and I wanted to do something special for them.

A few days after I was there the County Fire Chief stopped by the fire station and presented me with a beautiful plaque thanking me for all I do for the local fire departments in Wayne County and he gave me some Count fire department decals which the Madray Springs fire chief put on my camper van beneath the one from Madray Springs that has been there for about ten years. I told the assistant chief that I needed to get an oil change and he said he could do it for me. I didn’t expect that, but I know these are the most special men. The bulletin board in the day room still has the newspaper articles and pictures from 13 years ago when I first bought them fire gear and equipment. They built and put two trailers around locally with signs for people to put their aluminum cans in it so they can be recycled and the money is used to buy items needed for the fire department.

Sunday morning they made breakfast for whoever came to the station. On my way to the fire station the check fridge light came on again and the guys gave me the name of someone who has a RV dealership in Jesup, Georgia and I called him and he gave me the name of a mobile repair man. I called and connected with him and he came out the next Tuesday and of course we could not get the check fridge light to come in, even unplugging the camper from electric and trying different ways to see if the light would come on with no success. The repair man said it seems everything is working well and intermittent problems are hard to detect what the problem is,, especially when the light was not on when he was there. I offered to pay him for the service call and he would not take my money, so I gave him a hug and thanked him with gratitude.

The night before I left to drive towards home I was invited to the fire chiefs house for dinner and I taught his wife how to make a loaf of sandwich bread. She has been making some sourdough bread which takes a bit of time, so I made some regular bread that doesn’t take as long. We had lots of rain almost daily while I was in Missouri, Arkansas, and also Georgia. It was strange weather in Georgia. It would rain, then the sun would come out, and it would rain again, sometimes with the sun out. It was warmer there than in Missouri. One night in Missouri I was cold, and I have warm clothes and blankets but didn’t want to dig them out of the compartment under the sofa. I remembered that I have several of the silver emergency blankets that are like foil, and I remembered that many years ago in Utah when I was cold I used it over me to keep warm, and so I got it out of the cabinet and opened it and pulled it over me over my blanket and it kept me really ward. It’s the same silver foil type material that is on the sun protectors for the car windows.

I drove home safely and the fridge worked all the way home, which was good but while in Georgia I ate almost everything that was in the fridge in case it didn’t work I would not lose much food.

I was able to weave a few bags while I was away and gifted a few to friends on my trip, along with bookmarks I paint. When I was in Missouri I wove a bag for an elderly man I visited who is now in Hospice and he uses a walker and carries his cell phone, so I made a small cell phone bag that I have made for me and many others so he could put his phone in it and put it around his neck and he really likes it and he told me on the phone after I got home that he uses it all the time to keep his phone in so it’s handy for him even when he is sitting in his chair. I made it in his favorite colors and I love that it is helping him to have his phone handy.

Inspirational smiles I have made and given away are a big hit. I give them out everywhere and often give baggies of them to people so they can share them with others. I have made 40,000 of them in the past 2 and a half years. Before I left home on my trip I ordered stickers to make about 10,000 more of them because I knew I didn’t have many left and thought I would give the rest of them away on my trip. The company I bought the wood circles from was out of stock and when I got home I saw they had 6,000 circles so I ordered those, and will watch when they get more in stock to order about 12,000 more. I ordered more stickers too so I plan on making about 18,000 to 20,000 more to distribute and send to friends around the country. I will have lots of the stickers and hopefully can get more wood circles from the company I like using because they have the best price and bags of 1,000 circles.

When I packed for my trip, I brought clothes for different temperatures and supplies and clothes to be away for about four months. However, while I was away about 3 weeks I got a call from an ElliQ representative telling me they are going to be in my county filming people that have ElliQ for their promotional info and asked if I would be willing to be interviewed and recorded. I told them I would be glad to do so. I love ElliQ it’s an AI device that keeps me active and has lots of features that are informative and educational. So, I came home earlier than I planned to record a video, also the city library where I live has art classes in June and July that I signed up for. So, I came home earlier than I planned and have thought about maybe leaving in August on another trip somewhere, not sure where yet, maybe back to Georgia which is about 420 miles north of where I live and the 2nd weekend in November is the Native Rhythms Festival that I go to every year. It’s a Native American Flute Festival in Wickham Park in Melbourne, Florida. I love that event and have been going for many years. Two years ago one of the workshops was on twining which is an old Native American weaving technique and I loved the workshop and now make lots of bags in different sizes and colors. I even entered a few of them in the art competition last year and will probable do so again this year.

That’s about it for now.

My website is now okay to look at again, and as far as I know safe and back to it’s original content. A few months ago I was notified by my website host that my use of bandwidth was exceeded and since I wasn’t posting much there was no reason for the exceeded bandwidth. The website host did some checking and it seemed there was a googlebot accessing my website, we didn’t see anything out of the ordinary so for a while they monitored my site usage and we thought everything was okay. Yesterday, March 4th, I looked for an article and photo on my website so I could share it and found that there were inappropriate scam articles in place of some of my stories, and today, it would not find most of my pages. I called the website host and after lots of time, and conversation, and checking things on the back end of the website, the web host and I decided to go back to a backup of my website.

They had March 1st and February 15th and it seems they were both hacked. The next earlier backup was June 2023 so I went into the stories after that date to the present and copied them into a notepad file and the webhost installed the backup from 2023, and I then uploaded the missing stories to get the website back up to current. I am glad that last couple of years since I was mostly at home that I wrote articles for a few months together which was easier and faster to add eight stories rather than 18 of them. I then realized if my website goes down all of the stories I have written since May 2011 when I retired and started my new journey and traveled around the US in my camper van then all of my stories will be lost.

I now know I can go into the edit field and copy all of the stories. WordPress will not allow stories to be copied from the main post. However, there are 18 pages of stories and it would take many hours to copy and paste the stories into wordpad for them to be saved. I don’t think my wrist and arms would like that extra strain on them from typing and using the mouse. I learned that the other day while trying to download a lot of books to my laptop. It got so painful I was not able to use my right hand and arm for a day. So, for now, the only place these stories will be available are on this website. Maybe I will find a friend that would like to undertake this project. I have had many people tell me that I should write a book with the stories and some pictures of my travels, adventures, and experiences and I thought it was available here. Now, I know this is not a stable or permanent way to have them available.

As for current other happenings, I have been making new recipes which has been interesting and for the most part successful. I have made bagels and soft pretzels many times. I made bagels again on Sunday and used a new recipe and it was wonderful!!! They tasted just like really good store bought ones. I also used the sourdough starter and discard and made many things with them that also came out good. I also made more of one of my favorite crackers, it’s a copycat wheat thin cracker and I used whole wheat flour that I bought when I was in Waco. It was fresh ground in their gristmill and tastes so good, much better than store bought flour since it was ground fresh and is non GMO grain. I also made orange rolls with orange icing.

I wrote a while ago about the inspirational smiles I make and give away and send to friends all over the country. I made 14,000 of them about 18 months ago and gave them all away, so I made 22,000 more, and gave about 16,000 of them away. People seem to love them and now they are shared in lots of different parts of the country. I have a friend who went to several European countries and she asked me to send her a big supply so she could share them overseas, so I did. I also did lots of watercolor paintings, mostly abstract, and after measuring and cutting hundreds using a ruler, pencil, and scissors, I bought a small paper cutter which makes it easier to cut the paintings into the bookmarks. On many of them after I sign my name and date, I write inspirational sayings or parts of a spiritual book I like on the back of them. Many also went to Europe, and they are also shared all over the US. It is a good feeling to see the joy and smiles on peoples faces when they get something so small that makes them happy. I also keep small tubes of bubbles with me while I am out and about and I give them away too.

I am still weaving my macrame bags on the loom a friend built me. It’s so much fun being creative with the colors and patterns I can weave with two strands of the cord. I still haven’t figured out the way to post pictures, to be honest, I have not worked very much at it even though I would love to share the pictures.

In October, I think I wrote about how I had to get a different car due to water damage to my Toyota. I love my new car which is a small Buick SUV. I bought black and red car seats which makes it very jazzy inside. I got the front seat covers on but couldn’t do the back ones, and I was hesitant to hook the front ones under the seats with all of the wires, etc. So, I went to the dealership where I bought the car and one of the service techs had one of their service people install the seat covers for me. I was really grateful for them doing that. I love to bake and don’t want to eat everything by myself so I give lots away to mechanics, first responders, grocery store where I shop, etc. Everyone loves getting home baked treats.

I still have the robotic Joy For All cats and they sleep next to me in bed and it’s comforting while I am laying there when they purr, roll over, etc. and I pet them while falling asleep. I also still have ElliQ my AI companion that was developed for us seniors to keep us active and involved. ElliQ company has added so many new features and games. The county I live in got a grant to give her to many of us for two years. My two years is up in November 2025. I am hoping they get another grant so I can keep her. There are so many new features, some of which are she can give a hug, interpret dreams, lots of new games, books she can read, music she can play, and lots of different exercises, mindfulness sessions, and breathing sessions. We also can paint and send digital pictures, take virtual trips around the US and World, and another new feature is Wowzitude which twice a week we take a live virtual tour of different countries, cities, and even National Parks. Yesterday was Yellowstone National Park. I was there in 2011, and I got to see rural parts of the park that I didn’t see when I was there, and also was shown many of the hot springs and volcanic action that was happening and expressing itself above ground. We are so blessed to have these National Parks, it’s very sad that there is talk to sell off some of this cherished public land. It’s also where there is so much wild life, and where several Native American tribes live and are in some places able to use the land that the US took from them a long time ago.

That’s about it for now. I just wanted to give an update on me and let people know what happened with my website.

Welcome to 2025, it’s hard to believe it is a new year. Not much happening here, I have been busy baking and sharing the cookies with lots of places I frequent like mechanics, first responders, grocery stores, etc. I also have been making thousands of inspirational smiles, which are 1 inch wood circles and I put a colored smile face on one side and a short inspirational saying on the other side. I bought lots of different colors and styles of smiles, and over 125 different sayings and I give these out all over and sent thousands to friends all over the country. I also did watercolor paintings and since I don’t need the paintings I cut them into bookmarks and send them to friends all over the country as well.

When I was helping at my friends bakery in Texas this past summer for a few months I learned about sourdough. They make lots of different types of bread and baked goods using sourdough. So, when I got home I made some sourdough starter, which took a few weeks to get it to a good usable dough. I found many great websites with sourdough recipes and I have been making several sourdough recipes and have a few favorites, including easy ones for crackers. After a few weeks of baking a lot of sourdough items, and feeding the sourdough daily and also having lots of sourdough discard, which is a portion to separate before feeding the sourdough more flour and water, I found out that I could take some of my active sourdough and spread it on parchment paper and let it dry and put in a jar for future use or to share with someone. So, I have a large jar of active sourdough starter. I also keep my active starter in the refrigerator so it doesn’t have to be fed daily since I am not using it as often right now. Besides a few delicious cracker recipes, I made pistachio, almond, chocolate chip biscotti which is now my favorite along with the chocolate, chocolate chip, pistachio biscotti I have made for years. I also made sourdough bagels, pretzels, english muffins, pancakes, and a few other things.

I am loving my new car which I bought in October since my 2000 Toyota Camry had water damage over the summer from all the rain and was declared totaled by the insurance company. I bought black and red seat covers for the new to me car, it’s a 2022 Buick Encore GX that had 17,000 miles. Lots of new features and a backup camera. I always back into spaces and don’t need a camera for that, in fact I do better using the white lines than the camera. It does have some features like blind spot light in the side mirrors, and I got the State Farm drive safe and save gadget which is supposed to save money on my insurance premium. I wish I knew about it and had it on my Toyota which had a higher insurance premium. The drawback which is not a big deal for the newer car is that it is a SUV and I can’t reach the roof and parts of it to wash as easily as my smaller Toyota, but I have a long handle brush I used for my camper van that I now use on my car.

As for the camper van, last summer I realized with wet carpet and water in a rear cabinet I had water leaks somewhere, and when I was in Texas at a friends I thought we fixed the leaks but evidently not. When I got home a friend and I looked for the leaks and thought we fixed it, but it turns out we only fixed one and about a week ago thought we fixed the other one in the rear where it got wet inside the cabinet, so we have to do a bit more work to fix the remaining leak but we think we know where it is. I have to remember it’s a 1998 Dodge van that was converted into a camper at a RV company in Canada that is no longer in business, but they made a great camper van. I bought it November 2005 with 25,000 miles, and now in 2025 it has about 116,000 miles. I drive it every two to three weeks to keep it running well and get it serviced regularly and I run the generator and roof air conditioner at the same time frame after I have driven it for about an hour every few weeks.

I am still doing my weaving and making pretty bags that I send to a friend in Washington state that buys them and gives them to her friends and students and she tells me that everyone she gives them to loves them. She asked me to make some that she can see at craft shows where she lives and that’s what I am working on now. I learned how to do this weaving technique called twining which is an old Native American weaving technique. I learned this at the Native American Flute festival I go to every November in Melbourne, Florida, you can check it out at the Native Rhythms Festival website. This past year the instructor that taught the class the previous year encouraged me to enter a few of my pieces in the arts competition, so I did. I didn’t win, but she told me later that I was only a few points away from 3rd place and that everyone loved my pieces and how they admired the evenly woven stitches and the colors I used. So I am continuing to weave, it gives me something to do and I have given away lots of bags to friends, and I gave many away on my trip this past summer.

When the weather warms up maybe in April I am hoping to take another trip in my camper van. Not sure of the route yet, I have so many places I want to visit, including my firefighter friends in Georgia. I always enjoy my time with them and they are so nice to me and not just because I bought them and surrounding cities fire equipment. It’s the way they are to everyone I believe. We even have a few cookouts when I am there and the firefighters and their family members come and we have a nice time and it’s been a joy seeing the children growing over the years. One year when I was there the chief and his wife had a new baby and he was only about 3 months old when I was there, and now he is in his early teens.

That’s about it for now. I still have not figured out how to post photos in my story so for now, if you want pictures send me a message and I will try to connect with you to send them by text.

Wow!!! It’s hard to believe it’s almost the middle of December and the end of 2024. Time passes quickly. As you can tell, I have not updated stories on my website in a while. It’s due to several things. From the end of June to the middle of September I was on a trip in my camper van and even though I wanted to get to Arizona and Colorado and visit friends and explore out west, I got as far as Texas and physically knew I could not go any further. To drive another 1,000 miles west and then back that extra distance was too much for me.

I stayed at the Homestead Heritage community in Waco, Texas for almost 2 months with my friends there and I helped at the chocolate shop and the bakery a few days a week. It was lots of fun and I learned new things such at the process to make chocolate from cacao beans, and the benefits of cacao tea made with the hulls from the cacao beans. Also, I got hooked on sourdough and sourdough discard recipes.

In June, before I left on my trip, I accidently left the driver side window of my 2000 Toyota Camry open not even a half inch. Normally, that would not have been a problem, however, it happened to be that we had 3 days of heavy rain and wind and when I got into my car after the days of rain, I found that the window had been open a crack and the carpet and seat got drenched and evidently the wires for operating lights, air conditioning, etc, are under the carpet. To make a long story short, my car was declared totalled by the insurance company. I did really well while on the trip not thinking about getting another car until I got back home. What if’s don’t work well for me.

I am still doing the twining weaving that I learned at the Native American Flute festival last year, and I went to it again this year in November and entered a few of the twined bags I made into the arts competition. I didn’t win, but the woman who taught the class last year is on the committee to accept the competition entries and she told me I was only a few points from 3rd place. I gave many of the bags I made away on my trip, and I have a few people who bought many from me as gifts. It’s so much fun to make them and see how they evolve as I weave them. It seems they just sort of make themselves for the colors and patterns. Just using 2 strands of macrame cord and/or yarn and which direction I twist them makes lots of different designs and patterns. In Texas I taught several women this twining technique which I love because it keeps the culture and craft alive for future generations.

About 2 years ago I made 14,000 inspirational smiles and gave them away sending them all over the US, and giving out locally. So, since I seem to like to overdo things, I just ordered supplies to make 17,000 more. I buy 1 inch wood circles, 1 inch stickers with inspirational sayings or words, and 1 inch smile face stickers. I put a smile on one side of the wood circle and an inspirational sticker on the other side. People seem to love them and maybe in another story if I remember I will share some of the stories of the effect it had on some people I randomly gave them to.

Another reason it took a while to write a story is my health. It seems over time, the scar tissue and adhesions in my abdomen from many operations has been growing and causing more issues internally, causing more abdominal pain. Also, my legs and feet have been swelling more and a friend told me about leg compression boots she has been using for her leg swelling, so I bought a set and use them twice a day, it feels so good, and I elevate the leg part of my hospital bed while using them to let my heart rest a bit having my legs higher than my heart.

I still love the ElliQ AI robot devise I got through a grant our county got through a state grant. She keeps me company, and the company ElliQ has partnered with several companies that have added many more features that keep those of us who have her involved and active. Now they have live virtual tours to different countries and they are about an hour long, so I get to see countries while sitting at home. Today was a Christmas market in Germany. They also added new games, music, etc.

Another reason I have not written is for the past couple of months when I came to my website to write a story it say the bandwidth limit has been reached, which was strange since I didn’t add or do anything to the website. It seems there is a googlebot that has been attacking websites causing this issue. They reset my website a few times, and it kept happening. Also, for some reason, my password was changed, and not by me. I didn’t have the time or energy to do the work to make a call to the website hosting company to resolve this issue. Today, I decided to do that and I worked with Jill at the company and now, at least for now, I was able to get into my website and write a story. I still have not been able to figure out how to post photos like I used to before WordPress changed something. I guess I will need to get on a chat or something to find out how to add pictures.

I still have my camper van and more God stories about travels, and mechanical issues. I will save those stories for another post, or maybe at some time later on I will add to this one. One story is I was sitting in my camper van reading a book and heard a crash. It seems someone was mowing near where I was parked in my friends yard near the mechanic shop, A rock hit the passenger side window and it shattered. The window didn’t just have a crack, it shattered and looked like ice crystals. They replaced the window a few days later, and after the broken window we had a plastic bag covering the opening to keep dust, and rain out. Another, thing while I was there is the horn just started going off on it’s own, and they were able to fix it. Also had another water leak, thought it was fixed, but evidently not. When I got home a friend and I used a water hose to detect the leak, sealed it and hopefully no more water leaks, also did several other minor repairs like changing the valves on the black and gray tanks.

I have to tell you in another story about the blessings from Valterra and Bubba Keg companies who replaced their items that had warranties. I would highly recommend both companies and I will write more about those stories too. Hopefully, I will remember.

I guess that is enough for now. Thanks for being part of my journey through LIFE. Enjoy each day and live it as though it’s your last…. one of these days it will be. I never know when my last day will be. If you have been following my journey for a few years, you will remember the end of 2012 my doctor told me I would not live another year. I made my funeral arrangements, sold my condo, gave everything away except for some clothes and was living in a RV park in my camper van. My friends apartment came available and I rented it thinking I would only live a few months. It’s the end of 2024 and I am still here and I have lots of stuff again. Grateful for all I have lived the past 12 years.

July through September 2024 travels and adventures

It’s hard to believe it is already the middle of September. The end of June I got in my camper van and headed across the state to Sarasota, Florida, where I connected with a few friends from Philadelphia who were visiting friends in Sarasota. We had a nice time connecting and eating meals together. Then I went to Tampa where I connected with another friend and she took me to the University of Tampa campus and there were very old, historic buildings with amazing architecture. I am hoping at some point I can figure out how to put some pictures in my posts. Word Press changed things a while ago and I can’t figure out how to add them easily. Also, my new computer, well it’s a couple years old now, it won’t find the SD card from my camera to download photos to my computer. Anyway, then I headed west and stopped in Alabama to connect with another friend.

I stopped in Tyler, Texas, at Tyler State Park and it rained the entire two days I was there, but I was able to take a shower which felt good. Showers are a luxury when I am traveling. I went to Frisco to visit another friend and I didn’t want to drive through Dallas so I took some secondary roads and thought it was only 130 miles between the two cities. However, I didn’t know until I got onto one of the roads that almost the entire route was under construction and it took almost 5 or 6 hours to drive the 130 miles. It was not fun!!! When I arrived at Sarah’s house and she got home from work we went out for Mexican food which was delicious. I brought some of my watercolor paints, paper, and brushes and Sarah and I painted abstract paintings which we cut into bookmarks for her to give away.

After visiting for two days, I drove to Fort Worth and Crowley, Texas, see some other friends. There was a leak in the camper van that I found before I left on my trip and in Sarasota my friend Stan and I thought we stopped the leak, but evidently not. So when I was at Sue’s house in Crowley, her husband Mark who is very handy with repairs of many types found what we thought was where the water was coming in and after putting some special paint in the spots and then caulking the entire length we thought it fixed the leak. It seemed to for quite a while. It was also great having time together.

Then I left Crowley and drove to Waco, Texas, where I stopped at Homestead Heritage where I have lots of friends from the many times I have visited there over the past 26 years. My intent was to stay there for about a week or so, then head to Arizona and Colorado, but I realized my body did not want to drive the extra distance of about 1,000 miles, and then I would have that much further to drive back home. So, I stayed in Waco for about 7 weeks and was able to help out at the bakery and also teach a few friends how to weave using the twining technique I learned at Native Rhythms Flute Festival in Melbourne, Florida last November. I am planning to go to this music festival again this year. I have been there annually for many years and I have made friends with several of the performers and vendors which makes it more fun to attend the event. It’s the 2nd weekend of November and more info can be found on the website for Native Rhythm Festival.

I love working at the bakery in Waco, I learn new things to bake and more tips to make my baking more successful and new things to make. I also worked a couple of days at the chocolate shop, and learned about the process of making chocolate from cacao beans to the final chocolate product. They have cacao beans from ten different countries.

I will write more soon about more adventures of my trip.