Well, my daughter, her husband and cat have arrived in France to their new home in the Normandy region. It’s a beautiful area, rolling green hills, trees and old little quaint towns everywhere.

My heart aches with sadness and joy all at the same time. A really bad rollercoaster ride of emotions. my logical side of my brain his so happy for them, even maybe a little jealous to get to literally start over in another country. How exciting, and different. The child side of my brain is sad, I feel like they fell off the face of the earth and will never come back. I know how unrealistic that is thought, but it’s still the one in my child like brain! I am having long talks with myself over the silliness. As my son in law stated, the amount of time it takes me to drive my Tucson to their old place in California, I could be there by an airplane ride. So that thought does help, but the thought I can’t drive there really bothers me.

But to see them smiling and so happy that they are following their dreams, well it makes me happy and warm all over. I would never want them to settle for something less than what they want. It’s like jumping ship and not knowing where you will end up. Very exciting. I talked with my daughter a little while ago and they were heading down to have a crepe at a shop they found. What fun. I know that I will get to go over and explore all the wonderful little towns and shops soon enough.

Perter and I are getting ready to head to the East coast for a while. See family and friends. We will bring back my sons and his wife’s big dog to spend summer with us. They are traveling and he isn’t invited lol.

So I starting stacks of piles to load up soon. Unfortunately, the weather has decided to show off and its in the mid ninety’s and to hot to preload a bunch of stuff. So piles it is.

Nothing much else happening here. F1 racing is back on so that’s always exciting. Not a lot of news here. Hope life is going well for everyone else.

Well, looks like I really checked out for a while. I didn’t even realize how much time has passed since I was last on here. Life got busy! 

My husband was diagnosed with Parkinson Disease and the thought of what lies ahead overwhelmed me. I worked in medical field for over forty years of my life, and I worked with several families that were dealing with a loved one stricken with this disease. My husband is just now starting to understand what his future is going to be; however, I knew from the moment the doctor said the verdict. He is told old to get the surgery to help, so we are just hoping the medication can keep him going. In all reality, he is still very functional, and doing the best he can with what he has been given. I am so impressed with his resolve. His saying is: It is what it is!! All I could feel was loss and grief that I know will come. 

On top of that news, my daughter announced to all that they had bought a house in France and will be moving permanently in the next year, well the next year has arrived, and they will be moving in April or June. Of course, I couldn’t be happier for them, they were looking for a change for themselves and they found it. However, I seen it as another loss happening in my life. I would no longer be able to drive to see them. And I felt like I was going to be cut out of their lives. Silly I know, but the overwhelming feeling of loss I was feeling for Peters diagnosis and then this on top of it, Well let’s just say I wasn’t dealing with it well. Of course no one knew this. Me being me, held it all tightly close to my heart. My daughter has been to France to see the house at least 3 times in the last year, and every time her and her husband have made great efforts to call me and facetime with me when they are out and about. They included me in everything they are doing so I can see that we are still in touch and that we can talk and see each other just as easily as we do now. So I am feeling way better about them going, and still over the moon happy for them!! 

I started having terrible dreams, detrimental to my health kind of dreams. My kids suggested that I find someone to talk to about it with. So I found a wonderful woman about my age online through a mental health agency, and I have been zooming with her every couple weeks and she has really helped me put my mind and heart back on the correct path. The feeling of loss and grief is gone, and I have learned how to cope with these feelings better. Even the dreams have let up. I was never a huge therapist fan, but I have become a believer. I am on a better path for my husband’s disease and seeing it for what it is. I have not gotten to his way of thinking yet, but we are taking it month by month. He agreed to go to physical therapy to learn some different ways of doing things and being active. So life is finally back on track and feeling positive and the future is bright again. 

We are planning to another trip to the East Coast this spring and one up to the Northwest this summer. Then we will come home and reassess selling the motorhome.

Life in the desert this winter has been wonderful. Lots of rain, cool weather and having snow on the mountain tops is always a plus! Summer will be here before we know it!

My cousin who lives in Phoenix just bought a house in Green Valley, about 45 minutes away, yeah! I will have someone to hang out with. Looking forward to that.

I am still on my weight loss path, I am pretty sure that will be forever for me, but it’s still a journey I am going to try to see through. It was easier to eat my feelings this last year so I am trying hard to get back it.

Have a great Spring!

Fall

Well, it is fall in the great southwest and the heat is slipping slowly away. We have had a decent monsoon, and all is green and blooming. I feel for the west coast, they have been way hotter than us this last couple week.

Well after many, many visits to the chiropractor and then i had physical therapy for 3 weeks, I think that I can say that I am almost back to where I was before I fell on our trip!! What a frikin nightmare that was.

Well since we got home, we have had a decent porch put on the front of the house, before it was just half-moon cement steps, 3 of them and they started at a 7′ step up on the first up to 9″ by the time you got to the little, tiny one at the top. I have always hated those steps, my knees hated those steps, so I called someone and had them come build us a new porch. the steps are only 4″ rise and going up and down is like floating. My husband wanted to use the back deck, but it also has steps, not quite as bad as the half-moon style, however I like to come in and out of the front door thank you!! So know we have to sand the roughness off and paint them.

My sister will be here in a week to vacation. Her best friend from Alaska will join us for a week also. Can’t wait to have her here. She is staying 3 weeks.

Needless to say I haven’t lost any weight since we have been home. Not sure what to say about that. I know what I should be doing but never seem to do it. Same old Same old!!

Hope this finds everyone getting ready for fall.

Life is hectic!!

Well out trip to Raleigh was a blast, good to see family, been way! 5+ years!! It was wonderful to be out on the road again. The first hurdle we had was finding a road that wouldn’t take us through the smoke from the big fire in New Mexico. So, we headed down into Texas and crossed back up into New Mexico on the far south Easter border. Stayed the 2nd night in Carlsbad NM and the first in Demming NM. Then we got off the interstate and started East across the top of Texas and then realized we didn’t want to drive through all these oil fields, so we headed north back up to Interstate 40. As soon as we got East of Oklahoma City the countryside went from brown fields with oil wells everywhere to lush green countryside. It was so green it almost made you want a pair of sunglasses. LOL, we hadn’t seen that much green in a very, very long time. LOL Needless to say it put a smile on our faces. We stayed at little rv parks along the way, cheap, clean and mostly empty. No one wanted out names, or addresses, hell, most of them told you to put the money, or check in a drop box and have a nice night. We stayed at a BBQ place in Henryetta Arkansas, they had 8 rv places outside the little restaurant, I went in and asked about a spot she said take anyone you want that is open, I asked her, aren’t you going to ask me for any information, she said, oh I better get your names at least. I told her she was the first one to even ask for any information. She said, well since its tornado season I better get your name and cell # just in case you blow away. Hummm I didn’t like the sound of that, she said it is the season. We started checking the weather a little more often after that. However, we had some of the best BBQ we have ever had. My sister lives just north of Raliegh, about 30 minutes, in a lush green belt. No matter where you looked on the property it was all green and covered in tall lanky trees. Beautiful. I couldn’t remember the last time I drove over so many rivers and near so many lakes. The drive was beautiful. We went home down south to Atlanta Ga, what a crazy town that it, we finally got turned west on to route 20 and it was just as beautiful as the road to NC. We always tried to stay near a river or lake. Even though I had a fall we had a great time. The RV was easy to drive. We spent the night across from Elvis’s home in Memphis. I was completely blown away by the fact that it was located on the edge of town, surrounded by little business. A huge Walmart just down the road. What a tourist trap. Same in Nashville, we stayed near the Grand Ole Opry. It was all touristy. No thanks. We enjoyed seeing my girlfriend from New York, she bought a place just out of town, it was fun to see her and spend time together. I haven’t laughed that hard and so much as I did on this trip. My heart overflowed with family love. ON our way home we stopped at one of our favorite winery’s in New Mexico and loaded up. LOL and now for the saga of my fall!!

The RV was great, we got to know it well and feel we are getting back into the hang of traveling. While we were in Nashville, I fell in the RV and biffed it big time. I ell face first, flat out between the front seats and fell on a small, extremely well made, wooden step stool, I am too short to reach just about everything, so we have a step stool for me. Well, my hips and right thigh landed on it and to make the story short, I did not break anything, however, I dislocated my hips, and had major soft tissue damage on my right upper leg. Did I go to the doctor you ask? Of course not, I am a tough ole bird!! I could walk, lay, sit for sure and overall was okay. Not my first rodeo with my hips being out, not as painful as other times. I lived on Advil and did a lot of sitting since just about anything else hurt to do. My sister had a wonderful gel mattress for me to use and heating pad. So, I just carried on. We stayed for almost 3 weeks and then headed back. By this time, I think I was doing okay, I know I needed to go see a chiropractor but felt okay otherwise, well my right leg ached like a tooth ache, but the Advil and Tylenol was keeping that at bay. I thought all I need to do is rest and give my body some time. Well, I was obviously wrong!! We got home on June 3rd and I was at the chiro on the 10th, My old hip would not stay in because it had been out way to long and was swollen all around it, 8 sessions later my hip has stayed in, but my muscles on my right leg, hip and buttock decided that it was time for a little attention, I went to a massage therapist, I thought I was going to die, 30 minutes later and after a lot of tears I knew that wasn’t what I needed. Next step, call the MD and get a PT referral! What I should have done the day I got back!! I had one session with her last week, she made me stop everything I have been doing as far as exercise and housework, she taped me up in a special way on my right leg, gave me a couple gentle stretchs and told me to go home and resist doing anything for 1 week. The pain, the dull throbbing ache I had been living with since May 17th in Nashville, disappeared before I left her office. I was amazed at what the taping did, she said I deep tissue damage and the muscle that runs up the outer leg was damaged, she had been trained to tape injuries in a special way. I was blowen away. I slept for 7 hours, pain free that night and felt like running a marathon the next morning, but I did what I was told and am so much better. I saw her yesterday and got some more exercises and retaped and am on my way to recovery. Not all pain free, my hip joint hurts but I can sleep at least. And my Advil consumption is almost none. I have been doing almost nothing but trying to get comfortable for the last 2 months. Didn’t even think about blogging. All I know is that I am on the road to recovery, still trying to heal not only my body but 2 blisters I got from wearing crocs while driving. Life has been difficult that last couple months, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Monsoon weather all week here so getting some much-needed rain. Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer.

Number 83 — Adventure Geography

ANOTHER POST FROM MY SON, please in enjoy

Never have I felt my heart break and become whole in a single moment.  My tiny and overloaded Peugeot comes to a stop on Strada București, house number 83, the pop-up refugee center in Chișinău, the capital of Moldova. Currently setup in an old building downtown, the driveway runs through a big yellow archway at […]

Number 83 — Adventure Geography

Well its May already…

Really where is time going? It is true in my eyes, the older you get the faster time flies by. I can remember back to a time where it seemed it took forever for just one day to go by. LOL

Well the RV is packed and ready and we are just waiting for the results of some medical test I had to do. We went to see our MD who is retiring for the last time and while we were there he detected some PVC’s in my heart. I was in quite a snit at his office, my husband had been diagnosed with Parkinson the previous day, so that was weighing heavy on my heart, my son, who has been traveling all around Eastern Europe, working on refugee migration, was on the border of Ukraine and Slovakia, that was really heavy on my heart and all the pressure of finding a new MD and getting ready to travel, the price of gas going up and of course my husband vocally worrying about the money. and travel. Seemed to be to much for me. so my heart was beating a little irregularly. I asked my Md about them and his response was, “They haven’t killed you yet” ! Now don’t be hard on my doctor, he knows me well and knows that he has to say it like it is for me to really get it. I am pretty hard headed when it comes to my personal care, I like to be the one who makes the decisions in my care. So after thinking about it overnight, my father dropped dead of a heart attack back in 1983 at the young age of 63, and I googled PVC’s, I thought it prudent to see a cardiologist, so here I sit, waiting for my upcoming appointment a week from today. I have had a heart halter monitor for 3 days, done with that, and I had an echo cardiogram yesterday. The tech was quite chatty and shared with me all that he was seeing, which was really a very healthy heart. I passed all the criteria for having a good heart. He should me my Vena cave and other important areas in the heart, it was all amazing. In his opinion, he said the doctor is going to say have a wonderful trip, so that has made my life lighter in many aspects. So we should be on the road next Friday. YAY Better to be safe than sorry.

Summer is upon us early in the great southwest. We have already hit the 100′ mark on more than one day, so much for spring.

Looking forward to seeing the country again. We will have to drive around the big fires burning in New Mexico, seems like fire season came early also. We have a couple big fires up north of Phoenix so the air quality here is not good. I am ready to go. We are headed to Raleigh NC, where my sister and her family lives. I have not been back there since they moved before Covid. So really looking forward to that.

Our daughter was here last week for 4 days. So nice to have her visit. We explored the East side of Tucson, getting to know the city a little at a time.

Oh, by the way, my son is back in Germany finishing up his research at our nephew’s home in Hamburg and will be flying home next Wednesday. YAY Not sure when I will get to see them. Soon I hope.

Not much else going on here, need to get back at eating better, Stress eating for a couple weeks trying to deal with reality!! I understand that its not the best way to deal with stress, but I am who I am!! So today I am back at,

Hope life is good for everyone out there in WP land.

Happy Summer and Happy Travels, more from the road….

The Bura — Adventure Geography

This is what my son has been doing the last few months. He is now back in Germany preparing to head back to the states. I am so very proud of who and what he has done with his life. For sure this journey has changed his life in many ways. He has more post on his blog if you would like to read more of his journey. He did end up at the border of Ukraine and entered and drove the western border on his way back to Germany. My heart aches with pride…Kathy

This piece is not about wind, nor is it really about my own experiences. I mean, there is a substantial section about wind in the beginning, and yes, what I am sharing is compiled from my own experiences — but I am just the messenger — the wind is something more. This piece is about […]

The Bura  — Adventure Geography

Hello Spring

Seems like life is just happily moving along, not matter if I am not! Really can’t believe it’s been since December since I have been on here. And what’s even more sad, is that not a lot has happened in our tiny little piece of the world. We have been busy planting cactus I had growing on the deck in the ground so they can acclimate and get ready for the summer sun. That was a chore for sure, the gardeners that come a couple times a year to trim trees and the palm and just help us keep the plants in good order helped me plant the new bed. So glad that is over, and I am hoping that they are really happy their roots are back in the ground.

So big news is that we have bought a new RV, 2022 Thor 22E, yes we know the price of gas has risen, but this has been on the wish list for several years. And I am hoping the price will come back down at some point. My husband hates staying in hotels/motels and with a dog they are always a dirty motel! We love the freedom of having our home on wheels and can go anywhere we want. Its only 24′ long and has a 8cyl motor so mileage is a little better than the big motors. Its fully set up to stay off the grid if we want. We have been out breaking it in twice, must say the second time was easier than the first, LOL We have 3 more outings in it before we head to the East to see my sister in Raliegh and stop by and visit my best friend who just got a new place in Tennesse, she also lives in New York too. So that will be fun. I am really looking forward to heading back up to the Northwest and see all my stomping grounds of where I have lived, The Olympic National Park in one of the big ones. I lived there as a child for years and the ocean beach was my playground. So we are happy that we did this!!

So this is my big news, I will hopefully being putting up post about our travels.

Hope everyone is doing well! Since this my blog about life and weight lost, I am down 44#s from my highest weight and holding! yay So that’s a positive step to good, health. I know that my body is happier for the weight loss.

Hope your enjoying the spring, we are, hot weather is on its way for sure!!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

looks likes I have absent for awhile. Guess I just got wrapped up in day to day living. October and November were uneventful. Life as usual. On December 1st I took a 10 fay trip to California. I drove up Hwy 1 along the ocean and stopped and enjoyed the smell and sounds of the ocean. Been over 3 years since I had been to the ocean, well overdue! I stayed in a place right on the ocean and listened to the waves pound the beach all night. It was blissful. I enjoyed staying with my daughter and her husband in Santa Rosa, finally got to see there house they have been working on for the last 2 years. The new kitchen looked like something out of a magazine. Very nice. They are getting ready to move to Wisconsin in Sept this next year, so I was happy to get to see what they had done to the house. My son was out from Minnesota, and he drove me home last Wednesday and stayed the week with us. So much fun seeing and laughing with my kids.

Life is good in the desert southwest. Counting the days to Christmas and then New Year.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. Merry Christmas Kathy

September

Well I woke up on the first feeling very vulnerable as in no longer protected from Covid. Call it my witchy sense, lol, but there was a niggling happening in the back of my brain. I had the J & J vaccine back on March 3rd and have read everything there is to read about the efficacy of the medication. It all came down to the fact no one really knew. I had seen on the news that they were giving Covid booster to anyone with health problems. So I called our local pharmacy and sure enough they were giving booster, we jumped in the car and was at there pharmacy in 15 minutes. Peter got his 3rd shot of Moderna no problem, he had lung and immune problems, but since I the J&J vaccine the store policy was not okayed to do J&J only Pfiizer and Moderna. So I left feeling like I had been let down. My husband had seen an ER Doctor on CNN, Dr. Wen, she said if you wanted a booster and no one would give it to you, go see your MD and get a prescription. So off I went to see my MD and he suggested that we should start with an antibody test. He said no matter how many prescriptions I show up with at a pharmacy if there policy is no, its no. He did say that if he any vaccine he would of been happy to start me over on Moderna or Pfizer, but the medical offices are not allowed vaccines yet. Crazy!! So blood test down on Wednesday and results back Friday morning. They showed ZERO antibodies in my system. I called the Dr. office and talked with the nurse and she said the test results reflected that I had never even had a vaccine at this point. No wonder my witchy sense alarms were going off!! So off I went to to the pharmacy to start over, I had to give my first name and filled out all the paperwork, this was going well, so far so good, I didn’t mention that I had already had a vaccine. I was sitting and waiting patiently for my Moderna shot and the pharmacist came out and asked me if I had the J&J, long story shortened, I was refused, even after I offered to sign a waver. SO home I went, I called 9 places, some of them twice, it seemed no one knew what to do with me. I finally got a wonderful nurse at the Epidemiology line at the Banner hospital. She listened to my woes and advised me if I had been directed to her line I was pretty much at the end. LOL She advised me that the only people that would have any kind of help for me would be the DHS of AZ. I told her I had called there but got pushed out to the county DHS of Pima County and so on and so. She said to to the supervisor who would be an RN, so I called and she actually answered the phone, by know it was 2:30p I had been at this for over 3 hours, she listened to my story and asked me to read to her my lab test, I got to the phrase IgG in the test ordered and that was the magic I had been looking for apparently. She said my doctor ordered the correct antibody test that they use, she said there are many test, but this one is the best, I was cheering under my breath, she took all my info, made me an appointment for 4p that afternoon and boom I was out the door on my way. It was at one of the hospitals that I had previously called, LOL the DHS had a clinic for Covid testing and vaccines. II feel so relieved that I was able to find someone that could help me. I felt that it was crazy that here the state is begging people to get vaccinated and here I am begging for it but couldn’t get any help. I already have a follow appointment for the 24th for my second injection. I am feeling better about having to be out and about. Just thought I would share my vaccine story. I am glad to see that at least they are keeping track of who and what shots we are getting, I really thought they wouldn’t be able to find me in the system, LOL I have a little more faith in the medical book keeping end of things, lol I hope you all have had your vaccines and taking care when out and about.

We were emptying the hot tub today and went to put something back on the shelf on the deck and there was a nice size King snake. It was about 3′ long or so. I think we disturbed it from under the deck with all the water and it was looking for a warmer spot to nap. It made its way back under the deck, we like King snakes, they eat rats, mice and rattlers so we were happy to see it, They keep the rattle snakes away.

We are almost out of monsoon season and it will be cooling down here soon. Looks like we will have a week or so of 100+ temps and then it will start to go down. I am so ready for winter. LOL

Not much else going on here, missed the full moon, we had thunder and lightening most of the night, But I enjoyed everyone’s pictures on line. I did a little twirl knowing that the full moon was out there behind the storm.

Keep smiling