Seashells by the Seashore (Camp LeJeune, NC)

Seashells

On the Camp LeJeune beach map, the above picnic shelters are labeled as "Seashells".  Perfect!  I love the seashell colors.  I like them so much that I dug through my little stash and found some similar colors to make a new quilt.  I wish I had more pastel yellow, but this will just have to do.  I know I have too many projects on the sewing machine already, but what's one more?

Mmmm, I can't wait to start this quilt project!

Monday! Monday! Monday!


I can't wait for this evening!  Both Eureka and Warehouse 13 will be on SyFy and I will be able to watch them!  WhooHoo!  Yea, I'm a geek at times.  We rarely have cable in the campgrounds so this is an extra treat to have cable and be in the right place at the right time.

Hello From Florida!

Ahhhh.. Sun!

Hey! Hey!  WE were here first!!!

We are at Tyndall AFB on the Florida Panhandle between Panama City and Mexico Beach for the next couple of weeks. We are staying at the base’s FamCamp. We have a nice spot with trees and bushes giving us a little more privacy. Seeing the Gulf beaches again is great! Just the way we remember the beach with sand so white and soft it feels like you are walking on sugar. The ocean water temp is warm, no rain forecast for the next week, and air temp in the low 90s.

This is a great place to start getting back into shape for kayaking on the bays nearby and I need the extra practice. We started kayaking the day after we got here. We kayaked in a nearby back bay and saw a large pod of dolphins (porpoise). They were pretty close at times, well under 20 yards. They hung around where we were for about 5 minutes or so. Mullets were jumping. One tried to jump into Dan's kayak. We also saw a Red Tailed Hawk perched nearby in an old tree, but he would not let us get too close before flying away.  I'm not getting much quilting done...oh well, got to enjoy this beautiful weather while I can.

Just had to add this picture to our blog since we are headed for Key West....There BE Pirates Here!  Arrrgh!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Merry Christmas!

I hope this finds everyone surrounded by loved ones enjoying this wonderful time of the year.









This year has been a mixture of great joy and sadness for us.



My sad news is the loss of my Mom. In November, Mom was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. She decided not to take treatments to prolong her life. She moved in with my cousin Linda who invited her to stay during her illness. My brothers and I were able to visit her at the same time while she stayed in Vancouver, WA. In less than six weeks, Mom was in a coma and passed away quietly on December 16. Mom will always be remembered for her sense of humor. Even when she was in pain, she would joke about being ready to party after her nap.

We are so thankful to my cousin Linda and her husband Bill for easing the pain for Mom during this difficult time. We do not know what we would have done without them.

Our joy is our full-timing lifestyle. We are still enjoying our life on the road. Gail and Don, owners of American Sunset RV where we are work-camping put together a Christmas potluck party for all the work campers and monthly residents. Don roasted two very large rib eyes while the rest of us brought lots of delicious side dishes. No one left the party hungry. As a matter of fact, there was so much left over, we had lunch the next day. Tasted twice as good the second time around. Yum! I have decided that I like this new tradition of holiday potlucks. I don’t have to do as much cooking, but I do get to try new dishes and walk away just as stuffed.

We decorated the coach’s dashboard with a 2-foot tree and some small Christmas favorites. Of course, the cats think the tree is there for their entertainment. They like batting at the decorations and leaning on the tree when we are not looking. The windshield has also been decorated with flashing LED lights powered for 150 hours by two AA batteries.

I made a mini quilt using "Holiday Cheers" clipart by Rebecca Carter. I find great clipart from different artists at pcCrafter. Here are some close-ups of the Santas.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!

Work-Camping in Westport, WA

We are settled in Westport, WA until spring – when we may decide to head for Alaska. We started work-camping for American Sunset RV. We will be working two 6-hour days every 7 to 10 days. I know it’s rough but someone’s got to do it, right? The only thing we are not looking forward to is rain. It can rain up to 16 inches in some winter months, but we are prepared with rain gear. It is not unusual to have standing water from heavy rains. The standing water does go away as the tide goes out, but that will leave a wet and muddy area. Dan made a porch out of a pallet and outdoor carpet so we can wipe our feet and will not be stepping out the door into puddles.

Oh, and there is a quilt shop within a mile of the campground called Quilter's Stash. It is a small quilt shop, but this is a small town. I was surprised to see a quilt shop here. She has around 1,500 bolts of fabric and offers classes. Guess where I will be when I disappear. With a long wet winter ahead for us, I plan to spend a lot of time sewing. I hope to finish quite a few of my projects. Our next door neighbor is a co-worker and a quilter, so I will have someone to share my interests with during the long winter days.

The town is small and doesn’t offer a lot during the off season, but the beach, two state parks, and the marina will keep us entertained. We have already spent some time watching surfers and kite surfers. The kite surfers are very good, cutting through the waves at high speed and occasionally rising more than 10 feet into the air. Lot’s of energy flowing in the waves and winds.

We met all of our co-workers and they are very nice. They are all full-timers. Most of them have more experience than we do with the work camping.
We spent one evening sitting around our fire with a couple of our new friends on a beautiful evening. We have been going for walks along the docks looking for sea lions and seals. One dock system is over 1/3 mile to the end. Sometimes we go to the state park to walk along the beaches and look for whole sand dollars and shells. There is also a 2.5 mile pathway between Westport’s lookout tower and the lighthouse state park. The path is a lot of fun to ride our bikes. This is the first lighthouse we have been to that allows people to climb to the top.

It is so nice to go to sleep at night listening for the sea lions barking, the fog horn, and crashing waves.