Joan on the Road...of Life

Every now and then, when the moon is in the 7th house, and Jupiter and Mars are aligned, we find ourselves in a DJ Night mode. I'm not sure what triggers this happening. I think that Jim hears a song that makes him think of another one so he sits down at my computer, where all the music is stored, and punches in a few select songs, then plays them with a running commentary. One song leads to another and pretty soon it's midnight!

Last night we started out watching one of our favorite movies, Tender Mercies with Robert Duvall. There is some priceless music in this film about an aging rock star and that got us going on similar music from our library. We have, probably, over 7000 songs stored on my computer using Musicmatch software which gives us a lot to choose from.

Somehow, we forgot to eat dinner and the music just kept on flowing all evening, along with the liquid refreshments and snacks. All the lights were turned down low and our string of colored rope lights in the front window lent a romantic atmosphere.

Our selections ran the gamut of our musical taste through Carly Simon, Dan Fogelberg, Elton John, Ray Charles, Etta James, Slim Whitman, Chris Isaak, Tina Turner...on and on...to our latest, Wasis Diop singing Everything from the Thomas Crowne Affair. It gets to the point where I can just think of a song and Jim will play it. I know this is because music is and has been such an important part of our life that songs trigger the same memories for us. For instance Elton's Rocket Man will take us back to the front porch in Lindenhurst where we sat outside one night with Duke, Alice, Jo and Art playing music by request and gazing at the moon. Of course, no DJ Night would be complete without Tanya Tucker and a SanAntonio stroll around the motorhome and Jim serenading me with Can't Help Falling In Love With You.

It's a once in a blue moon event, but a priceless memory.

Posted by Joan at 09:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Couldn't resist a picture of this lovely County Courthouse in Dade City, FL. I'm beginning to think that Court Houses are among the most beautiful buildings in the country. Dade City looks like it is on the downward trend but this is a gem. So much of Florida has suffered from hurricane damage that you'd almost like to take a rake to clean up the detritus and start over. ....but this is wonderful.

(Note: This picture has been altered. There was a nasty telephone line going through the sky and the clock tower which, through the wonder of digital photography, I removed.)

Posted by Joan at 04:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We went to the Tampa RV Show, billed as the country's largest, and then today went to Lazy Days RV dealership in Tampa, billed as the country's largest! We're dreaming! You got to get out there and shop and dream is our motto. Now we put the pictures on the refrigerator.

We have fallen in love with a 40' diesel by Winnebago that has a layout that would be perfect for us. Check out the webpage. The 40AD or FD is what we're dreaming about. The TV is behind the passenger seat in a corner cabinet (what a concept to not have it overhead) and there is a buffet with a pullout table that has computer options. It has 3 or 4 slideouts!! Well if we just had an extra $150,000 laying around we would have signed up.

The stuff that is included blows your mind...a dishwasher drawer, washer/dryer all in one, sleep number king bed...the list goes on. Oh well...we bought a bottle of wine and dreamed.

Posted by Joan at 03:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Monday, those in the know in Sumter County FL head for the Webster Flea Market. This is billed as the countries largest flea market and it sure is huge. We've been there twice and still have not seen it all. This is a happening.

The first time we wound up with a 2' long screwdriver that Jim said was essential to his toolkit (!?) We also bought another laser sculpted crystal cube with a light stand. This is a really big swapmeet item...four different vendors, four prices. I only needed the lighted stand but got another cube (2x2x4") scuplted with frogs and lilly pads. This is amazing technology and the real kicker is the price...stand and cube for $5! And this is made in China then imported through a couple of middlemen probably. And hopefully, everyone makes money. Mostly, the first time, we marveled at all the people, booths and tables of stuff, and the size of the event.

The second time we went to the area where tables of stuff are set under huge covered buildings. This is on the County Fair grounds. Early on we spotted a Tupperware lady...but this is used and old/discontinued stuff. I hollered for Jim to come look what I found--four gray sherbet dishes like we used to have that got all cracked. We use them for ice cream, nuts, snacks. The lady next to me said.."amazing what crazy things we get excited about." 75cents each. Then we picked up a few paperbacks, had strawberry shortcakes and beer, then found another crystal cube vendor. And this guy had rotating, color-changing stands..whoooeeee!! So we got another stand. We scanned the CDs and DVDs with no luck and decided to leave before we bought more stuff! We passed up the birds and puppies, stopped to listen to some bluegrass music and the lonely country singer waiting for donations.

Go back again???....probably!

Posted by Joan at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We said goodbye to Adrienne last Friday. Her glaucoma had worsened to the point that her eye was swollen and painful, meds no longer worked. It was another aweful decision to make. Now within 4 months we've lost both our doggies. We loved them for over 10 years.

Adrienne was a rescued puppy found wandering the streets of Los Angeles. Lucky for her a Basset lover found her in the pound and brought her to us. She had been abused and had broken teeth and a broken tail...hard to wag it! She wouldn't eat for days but finally we found she liked hot dogs. She was so sad and afraid but Jim was able to teach her to hold her head up high. He called her "kid" and I called her "little girl".

I think the doggies enjoyed our motorhome life because we were such a close "pack". This picture was taken in 2002 by son Jim as we prepared to take off for Montana with Zachary. The doggies were ready to go!! They introduced us to lots of people and dogs on the road so we will really miss those dog walking adventures.

Posted by Joan at 06:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

View to the swamp...

If I could walk through this area to the swamp behind I might see egrets, herons and white storks! There was a flock of these huge birds here a few days ago but I didn't have my camera...bummer. The wing span of the storks must be 5-7 feet. They looked like people walking through the swamp. I asked the folks here if there are alligators in the swamp and they said no one ever saw an alligator but they sure would not walk back there.

Today was our day for Jim to get his eye check up so we journeyed to Orlando to the retinal clinic there. All is well with the eyes. We now have a string of retinal specialists in CA, AZ, IL and FL. And they all know each other. So since the treatment in Chicago nothing has gotten worse...good news. Jim's vision is still correctible to 20/20.

The weather here is currently perfect...75 and 55...soft summer days...only it's winter. Can this last??

Posted by Joan at 04:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We are lucky to have a spot on the outer road of the park so we face a field of grass and trees. It is an everchanging scene...foggy mornings and glowing sunsets. There are a lot of birds here including bluebirds and huge snowy egrets. We also get a great view of all the health enthusiasts who walk and run around this outer loop. One guy must run the road 5 times each morning and again in the afternoon. All I do is walk the dog once around the track...and sometimes we bike ride every street.

Posted by Joan at 02:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The new map on the door...

There's 23,000 miles on the odometer and that covered 25 states. So we are half-way toward our goal of seeing all 50 states (well not Hawaii) in the motorhome. From our current Florida base we'll be heading up the coast to maybe Pennsylvania before we head to Illinois in April. The we'll head west and maybe cover those 4 states in the middle as we putt along to CA for June graduations.

THEN...maybe we'll go to Alaska this year. We got a DVD of one couple's trip to Alaska and got motivated to make the journey...then we could also knock off some of Canada on the map. Flexibility is our middle name...so who knows!

I love having this new map. It has a great visual impact, reminding us of all the places we've been and tuning us in to the journey to come.

Posted by Joan at 04:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)