When Spring decided to give us some planting weather, she did it right. We’re sleeping with the windows open, waking up with the birds, and loving every minute of these gorgeous days. I got Everything done: planted squash, watermelons, parsley, sage rosemary, thyme, basil, green beans, cucumbers, sunflowers, cardinal vine, marigolds, then polished them off with a splash of Miracle-Gro.
The coreopsis in the Peace/Bird Garden is so Cheerful, don’t you think? The purple coneflower blooms are beginning to open up and check out my strawberry!
We covered the pool area with new heavy-duty woven fabric and moved the umbrella table/chairs onto it. Today the pool goes up.
I’ve made some new discoveries regarding my Kinkade/McWilliams ancestors, and learned new Grandpa Eaton information, so I’ve spent any non-gardening time working on that. I’m planning a Cemetery Loop Scenic Drive for Memorial Day. I like to imagine that my 3x great-grandparents will be thrilled to have a visitor, as it’s been at least 50 years since any of our side has stopped by.
Oh, do you remember that we had to cancel our trip to London in June 2020? We received credits for our hotel and I rescheduled for June 2021…next month. UK is still requiring 10-day quarantines, so I cancelled out that date, as well. However, the folks at Queens Gate, where we’ll be staying, say things are opening back up soon and that quarantines should be lifted by July. We’ve decided to take our trip the last week or so of September and I’m full-on into making that happen. Sooo excited!
So that’s my week here at Sonnystone Acres… Hope you’re enjoying the Season wherever you are!
I’ve been Trying not to gripe, but this weather has sucked. Eight straight days of lows in the 40s when I’ve already planted my peppers dictated that we cover them every night.
The tomatoes didn’t like it either, but I did talk to them every day and all seems well. They were not small or tender, so there was no chance of them dying, but I know from experience that they will be slower to fruit.
It’s the continuing saga of learning to not get in a hurry; everything in its own season…
The birds have kept me company as I wait to get outside and really dig in. I heard a goose honking and carrying on and looked outside to see this…
Sort of a Goose on the roof… He was talking to his companion, perched just out of the sight of my camera and they seemed be planning something, then flew off.
The feeder was visited by a Scarlet Tanager — surely a sign of Goodness…
This week I’m Really going to get the garden in: plant the cucumbers, squash, watermelon, sunflowers, marigolds. I’ve got some parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme for a Simon and Garfunkle garden bed and they’ll be happy to be in the ground, too.
Happy 13th Birthday to my #2 grandie, Olivia Mayne Casey! She is a writer, author of a series of books she’s been working on for a couple of years now. She is a singer and a dancer, a scholar and a good friend. She is a Joy to be around and I love our Saturdays together. We went out to the mall yesterday and did some low-key celebrating; she picked out a pair of new shoes. She’s wasn’t keen on letting me take some pictures, but I did manage to snap this…
Happy Mothers Day! Though she’s been gone nearly 19 years, I still miss my Mama every day. I recently framed a picture of her when she was young. I find myself going over to it and feeling her spirit; unfortunately, she keeps telling me she hates her hair in that picture!! She was always picky about her hair…sorry, Mom, I like it…
I’m researching our Irish ancestors and coming up with some new info. It’s keeping my mind off the weather that is not warm enough for the peppers I’ve planted. I’m obsessed with trying to keep them happy as the temps stubbornly refuse to rise up to our averages… Spring is so whimsical…
We finished up the Upstairs and it doesn’t look too bad, if I do say so myself.
Of course, when I say “finished” I actually mean “got to a stopping point”. There’s more painting to do and we haven’t even started on the bathroom, but that’s for another time because…
We’re into The Countdown to Disney 2021…! 7 days from today we will be at our resort and the Jr. girls are stoked… I’m pretty excited myself. We’re getting Goldie ready and she’s looking good. The weather is predicted to be warm and I’m angsting over pasty-white legs, but I think I’ll survive.
We’re going to plant our peas and potatoes on St. Patrick’s Day and that seems like a good time to fire up the Garden Blog, Growing Every Season. I hope you you’ll take a gander at that on Wednesday.
Don’t be fooled by the beautiful weather, don’t be taken in by the abundant sunshine, bluest of skies, or the buds on the forsythia–it’s Not Spring…yet. It’s time for the crocus and the snowdrops to pop up, and the buds are in sync with the season. It’s time to plant peas and potatoes and any other cool weather crops, but don’t get too carried away, and be prepared with covers for the crops when winter returns for its final frost, as it inevitably will.
Inside the house, we’re finishing up some painting in our upstairs bedroom where Casey put up new beadboard. We’ve moved a lot of the furniture to the attic, shuffled the rest around, and cleaned the filth that has accumulated.
We found a couple of twin-size headboards on the fb marketplace for $15 each; our mattresses are scheduled to arrive today, just in time for us to put it all back together and move on to outside work.
The Best News from the last week has been the announcement that I can travel to New York without covid testing or quarantining! I am going to see the New Yorkers! The last time I was with Emma and Eliza was last July when they visited for two weeks. I have gone this long without seeing them before, but the last time I saw them in their natural habitat was Christmas 2019, 15 months ago!
I am so excited to return to NYC and visit Emma’s new school, their new Irish Dance School, and Hug them until they squirm out of my clutches.
First, though, we’ll be setting out with the Jrs. for Disney World on the 20th. After a week there, we’ll head over to Sebastian Inlet State Park to do a wee bit of camping and a certain birthday celebration in Melbourne. Returning home on the 29th, that will give me enough time to do the laundry and fly off to New York on the 31st to spend the last days of the New York Spring Break with the EEs.
Back in September, I merged my garden and ancestry blogs with my primary blog Sonnystone, thinking, correctly, that more people would read them. Last week I changed my mind. I can’t explain why, exactly, because it’s a lot of work to move 45 posts and re-publish them, but I like working on each topic individually. I also un-earthed my old travel blog, down for a couple of years, and started moving any trip posts; that will take longer and since it’s called “Trailer Trippin”, it will have to be re-branded, probably as Adventures with Goldie or some-such.
So, I’m Busy again. I love it. The Jrs. are coming over for a Disney Movie this afternoon. The week looks Sunny. Hope yours does, too.
In my humble opinion we’ve had a perfect kind of snow, deep enough to cover the earth with a blanket of iridescent white. A good snowstorm feels like the sky is tucking me into my cocoon. The temperatures outside were arctic, but inside the radiators were cooking and the fire was glowing, a perfect excuse to curl up and read…or binge-watch some shows…and cook…and watch the birds.
There were dozens of birds that needed feeders, including some bully birds that we don’t want to encourage (starlings and some cowbirds-ugh), but you can’t be picky when there’s no place else for them to go. The squirrels stayed in their nests for the first couple of days, then returned and took advantage of the extra elevation to make the feeders into their personal buffets; they have their own food in another spot, but would rather own the birds’. The birdbath heater has worked well, always keeping enough melted for drinking.
Now the temperatures have risen to 40s with predictions of rain. All the beautiful snow will melt and leave a mess of mud…and it will start to feel like Spring. Just a Tease, but I’ll take it…
When we bought our travel trailer back in 2016 we had a vision of freedom to explore the United States, staying under trees, in open spaces, feeling the Earth as we went. We were going to stay put in some places long enough to get a glimpse of what it would be like to live there. We’d avoid the dull Eville winters, roaming from sea to shining sea.
The reality was much different. Winter is winter everywhere in the contiguous 48, and where it’s the least bit tropical or desert-ish there is a serious shortage of places to park a 30-ft. travel trailer. Those state parks in warmer climes are cheap, but generally unavailable during the winter months, as are the nice RV/campgrounds that cost more than a hotel room. It’s almost like a whole lot of people had the same idea and got there first. The weather between here and there is often prohibitive of travel in winter, too. The trailer had to be loaded up in freezing weather and de-winterized after arrival in warmer temperatures. For two years we spent March in Florida; though it was warmer, it wasn’t necessarily “nice” weather and we weren’t real happy with our campsites, either. By the time we returned from New Mexico in September 2019, we had decided that we wanted something smaller for our Adventures.
As You know we sold the travel trailer quickly and started exploring our options. Particularly we considered just How we wanted to use a camper. We didn’t like the snow-bird camps in Florida — too clique-ish, felt like it was a secret society. KOA was helpful for overnights when there’s a lot of driving involved and affordable, too. We wanted the capability to drive up into the higher elevations and/or to boondock. We ended up buying Goldie, a 20-ft high-top conversion van, and started making changes to meet our needs. Casey reworked the electricity so that we can plug into shore power; we removed the passenger seats and put in two 3-drawer plastic bins. The bed folds down and we figured we’d be able to sleep sideways, curled up, without difficulty…but maybe not…
Starting a couple of weeks ago, I checked forecasts daily in our closest “warm” spots, generally along the panhandle of Florida (about 10 hours driving), and prepared to make a test run for an overnight stay in the Goldster. Just after the inauguration, the prediction was four days of warm temperatures, January 24-28, so off we went…to Disney World, of course…with a stop at Casey Jones Campground in Lake City, FL.
It was an easy drive, no major slow-downs, no stops in Atlanta, and partly cloudy skies to shield us from glaring sunshine as we traveled south, arriving just before dark. We hooked up to cable, watched some shows we hadn’t seen in a long time, and ate sandwiches. So far, so good. The low temps were predicted 60degrees and we didn’t need a heater, just our cozy blankets. Tired, we fell out early. I woke up several hours later trying to get comfortable and repeated the process several times during the night, to no avail. By the next morning, I had brainstormed a way to improve the sleeping facilities, but my back hurt, my legs were stiff, and my arms felt like they were still asleep.
Good thing we were going to do a lot of walking in WDW, where we stayed at Pop Century Resort…
At first I was planning on camping one night down and one night back up, but when the temps dropped, they dropped into the 30s, so we drove straight back, leaving early in the morning of the 28th.
We learned a lot on this short trip! I’m real excited about adding a foot of length to our bed, and a new storage box to replace the chest of drawers behind the driver’s seat. Casey went right to work on it and it’s looking Great so far.
This is much more like we had envisioned our travel, giving us freedom to Go Now when the conditions are right. Since WDW is currently the Only Place I know of where a mask policy is strictly enforced, and it’s usually warm there, I’m grateful to have an annual pass so I can visit often. However… I’m seriously looking forward to the time when we can Go Someplace Else. Hopefully, that will be in the Fall, after we’ve brought in the crops.
In the meantime, we’ll be visiting our Disney Pals with the Jr. family for Spring Break this year. We hope the Jose’ fam can join us there, too.
… And we may just run down there when the weather’s just right, and our modifications are complete, just because we can…
After a week of carefully arranging our Christmas decorations on mantels and hutch cupboards, covering nearly every flat surface with Mr&Mrs, nutcrackers, snow globes, and other accoutrements of the Jolly Holiday, we were ready for the grandies to hang the ornaments on the Tree.
The Jr girls are our usual tree-decorating Elves, but since I don’t get to see (in person) the New Yorkers this year, I’m trying to pull us all together via instagram. I didn’t do so well at getting the screenshot of the New Tradition, but I’ll get better. I had bought four new Mickey ornaments from WDW and Emma and Eliza directed Olivia and Samantha as to placement of the ones they chose. Eliza also entertained us, playing Christmas music on her keyboard while the Jrs. finished.
The icicle lights Outside are dazzling the passersby and our Peace Wreath has been updated with new red and white lights. The neighbors are struggling with light-outages, but so far ours have performed with distinction. As soon as I can I’ll attempt to catch the night pictures.
It’s Goldie’s maiden voyage and we’ve had a smooth trip down, though Atlanta Always insists we move verrry sloowly through their town. The only time we didn’t get stopped/slowed there was the year we drove down on Christmas Day, many moons ago.
Truly, this is a drive we have taken dozens of times in our years together, whether it’s just Us, or with our kids, or with our kids and their kids. We often take the Alabama route, adding about 60 miles to the trip, not just to avoid Atlanta, but also Chattanooga where there are too many Runaway Truck Lanes to suit me, especially when we were pulling a trailer.
Today is the last Pretty-Weather day of this outing — first is the last. Per the weatherman, rain will be “steady” all day tomorrow, ushering in a cold front that brings lows in the 30s on Tuesday… I keep looking to see if it’s changed, but it’s pretty much a sure thing.
Not to be daunted, we have jackets of all sorts, as well as Boots — something I’ve never worn in Florida. We are accustomed to the cool, though, and looking forward to the Extra Warmth from our Masks.
I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving week-end. No rest! It’s time to swing right into the Advent/Christmas Season! Disney is decorated for the Holidays, so we hope to return to Eville with lots of Spirit and most of our shopping done — I’ve arranged for a video shopping trip with each of the grandkids at the parks.
We were headed down here for our Anniversary back in August, but opted out for various reasons, deciding we’d celebrate 40 years of wedded-bliss at the same time as Casey’s Birthday (tomorrow). That’s a lot of Celebrating, so I’d better get started…
Before the race starts, the horses parade around the saddling paddock, led closely by a horseman. Crowds line the perimeter, folks watching closely for signs of their readiness to run: do they look energetic, ears alert? are they feisty or placid? When the bugler plays the Call to Post, the jockeys swing up to their backs and together take to the track.
Here at the beginning of Thanksgiving Week in the year of our Lord 2020, today is the day I jump up on the horse and head out to the starting gate. Even though our holiday will only include people in our Pod, that’s nothing new for us.
The New Yorkers (sadly, Not in our Pod and We not in Theirs) have had a serious tradition pulled from them: Oireachtas, the annual Irish Dance Gathering in Philadelphia, has been cancelled. They have attended the competition for the last many years, preparing for it Non-Stop in the lead-up. They’re bummed, but stoic.
Here at Sonnystone, the Jrs usually arrive early for the Macy’s Parade and we have our Dinner around noon–turkey, mashed potatoes, crescent rolls, and pumpkin pie, along with assorted side dishes. That will remain unchanged, since NYC is offering up a fake Macy’s Parade that we Truly Appreciate. After sleeping off the feast, they have always celebrated at Jessica’s grandma’s house; not this year.
Traditionally we have put up our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving Weekend, but why should we be Traditional when so many people can’t be? Instead, This year, I’ll send as much food back home with the Jrs and start packing. We’ll leave early Saturday morning and drive to WDW, our Home Away from Home.
As usual, we are bringing cooler weather with us as we head to Florida; high temps in the 80s are now predicted to be barely 70 during our stay. I actually like that, and don’t mind a little rain, either. The masks will feel more comfortable, the crowds will be thinner, and I’ll wear a jacket with pockets so I don’t have to carry a purse.
Ha! you say…she’s preaching about pods and restrictions, but takes the risk of traveling herself! Well, I will Not use truck-stop bathrooms and I will not have contact with the Unmasked…Even my doctor agreed that Disney World is Safe. If only there had been a mask mandate right out of quarantine, the whole world would look like Disney.
So I’m picking up my pace as I near the starting gate, looking alert, feeling a little skittish, not sure if I’m the jockey or the horse…
Samantha’s visiting again today to help me with decorations.
The News from Sonnystone Acres 