When I talk about Thanksgiving with those south of the border they are surprised we celebrate it in October. I like it this way, allowing more time before Christmas. So here we are in a crazy world, in less than optimal and often unhappy times, being thankful. Many faiths have their version of the saying…

It's a thing, not a virus, but given the increasing amount of North American RV and trailer sales, almost an epidemic. Let's back up at bit. The year prior to turning 60 I hiked the Juan de Fuca trail with dear friends. It rained so hard our site flooded and the rain came up through…

That's 169 days since we finished our quarantine, having arrived back in Canada from Bali. The current Canadian case count is inching up to where it was back then. There's only one reason why that's so – careless people. I'm finding it depressing that we've lived this way for six months and there's really no…

The plague of smoke. The fires of California, Oregon and Washington have issued an alert for our area – air quality. Today we officially had the worst air quality in the world. My last post shows the normal view from our top deck. This is it today: On September 4th we experienced a smokey harbinger.…

It seemed weird to be de-winterizing our Winnie Micro-Minnie trailer (aka the Mouse House) in August, as it normally would be a springtime activity. But we made the effort and it was so worth it, if only for a five day getaway. Campgrounds opened, in June I think, only to in-province residents and we missed…

Much like the Freshman 15 I experienced in my first year of college, thanks to the unlimited availability of cafeteria chocolate milk and root beer, Covid initially had its way with me weight-wise. That first bit, during our 14 day quarantine, put us in too close proximity to the fridge. I drowned my sorrows in…

That's what we call it when you have to spend more, or are inconvenienced, in this time of pandemic than in the "before times." High-in-demand rubbing alcohol at $7.99 a bottle instead of $1.88, shopping at a smaller, more expensive grocery store to avoid the exposure at the crowded superstore, service charges to cancel our…

The covid stay-at-home routine is just that – routine. Same old same old. I try to shake it up a bit by walking a different route every morning and carefully planning the occasional errand outing. But today, out of the blue, the US Air Force injected some excitement into this sleepy little Canadian hillside beach…

That's how long we've been home from Bali and adapted our lives to the new vocabulary: we’re maintaining our bubble, physical distancing, masking up, washing, sanitizing, and all the rest. How well it's working is evidenced, not only by the fact that we appear to remain covid-free, but we are free of any traces of…

In addition to the gulls, of course, which C has named Poopy, Crappy and Splat, the streaky evidence of which can be seen on the roof. I had chosen more innocuous names, but agreed to go with his, as long as Crappy's original one was changed. I'll leave that to your imagination. That's Splat, discovering…