500 Saturdays: Nomad Diary

  Months ago I decided to visit my newest grandson.  A big problem came up that made this visit more difficult than just flying across the country and showing up for a visit, the Pandemic.  I came up with a plan for my visit to include time without a facemask.  I would block out a month to fly out to Vancouver, WA and quarantine for several days and get a clear covid test so I could be a guest in my son’s home and get my hands on that baby. This required a huge amount of planning between everyone involved, agreeing to schedules, and finding a suitable place for my quarantine.    I did it, and there I was, dropped off by Uber to my Airbnb.   Once I was unpacked, I decided to entertain myself with practicing improving my humor.   My first assignment I gave myself was to write a story about my quarantine with surprising and humorous details.   And this is where I bring you into my quarantine story. I’m making the mo...

Where:  Near Huntsville, Alabama  I have become a 'Nomad' with my husband Darrell of 37 years.  I like doing life with him, and he likes doing life with me too.  This is the story of our life together today.  Our life is not glamorous.  We have a nice life.  Just weeks ago, we completely down-sized our household goods.  We sold $8K on Facebook marketplace.  We gave away more than that amount to family, friends and thrift store donations.  We sold our house that we lived in for 11 years as we saw our 4 sons into adulthood with college graduations and marriages. I am satisfied.  I am cared for and I create my plans and live my life in love, kindness and truth.  We believe in Jesus and study scripture and history and meet with others to share our faith and grow toward eternity with Christ. We have learned in our relationship to focus on the joys and agreements that we share.  We don't agree...

 Where:  Huntsville, Alabama area at a 1 bedroom apartment in a large house occupying our host couple. It has been a lovely and peaceful stay.  The fall weather of Alabama does not disappoint!  Here at our airbnb, we are under a lovely canopy of tall trees that are turning fall colors and dropping leaves.  We have become comfortable walking the quiet neighborhood with large houses, large yards and long country roads.   Weather today:  High of 70 degrees. Sunshine.  Slight breeze. We awoke early and lingered a bit in bed with it being Saturday and no alarm to get us up.  Darrell mixed up his favorite gluten-free pancake batter and added a twist with a bowl of cooked oatmeal.  The pancakes were delicious!  We served them with mixed fresh berries, banana slices, black walnuts, cinnamon and real maple syrup.  And a full pot of strong French Roast coffee, our current favorite.  I added into the coffee a scoop o...

Said goodbye on Friday to sister Cyndy's pup, "Boo"  and family.. Stayed overnight Friday at Holiday Inn Express.  Saturday night we arrive to our next airbnb,  a 2 bedroom,  2 bathroom house in Madison, Alabama. Its a familiar location for us, near to one of our frequent walking trails, Darrell's office building, and Bridge Street Mall.  We ate at the hotel for breakfast.  At Newk's restaurant in Meridian,  Mississippi for lunch we shared a delicious $10 pizza. Coffee and water in our truck. Gasoline prices are so low at 1.58 to 1.88 per gallon.  The drive has been mostly grey cloud covered and around 56 degrees.  We exercised before breakfast as is our habit for many years now. We rotate DDP Yoga routines. We exercise two mornings and take one morning off.  Crossing bridge into Vicksburg,  Mississippi  Airbnb in Madison,  Alabama  Airbnb in Madison, Alabama  ...

Weather today: in Madison, Alabama:  High 54 F / Low 28 F and sunny. We are a week into our 24 night stay in a reasonable 2 bed, 2 bath house.  We have had access to Netflix and caught up on season 11 of the Great British Bake-Off.  Darrell and I have been looking forward to having his pancakes today, and we did!  Gluten free and delicious with fresh berries and real maple syrup.  We drank plenty of dark coffee.  We discussed our christmas gifts and giving in a couple of weeks from now.   Today we talked about our shopping for particular clothing for hiking in England in 2022, and for streamling our wardrobes to work for each of us in functional and stylish ways.  We are using thinking time to plan our 1st big trip after Darrell's retirement in March 2022.  We are thinking of a month-long cruise to Europe in May/June '22 and one back from Europe in Nov '22, and living in England in between.  We want to hike long miles there. After b...

 Weather Today:  In Madison, Alabama it was raining until about 2pm, then it cleared up.  The high was 63 F and the low is 37 F.   Darrell and I did our morning workout routine with our DDP Yoga recordings.  Today was a 50 minute workout called "The Diamond Cutter".  It is particularly difficult and tiring.  We made it 42 minutes before going into the cool-down.  We are each improving through the years on our ability to do these workouts!  It feels so good to do these for the challenge and the positive physical and mental effects. After the workout, Darrell made his traditional Saturday pancake breakfast.  Today we added shredded apple and warmed oats to the batter.  The pancakes were so cakey and delicious served with fresh mixed berries, black walnuts and real maple syrup.  I made strong coffee in our big french press pot, and cooked crispy bacon too.  We feasted while the rain was coming down. A phone call to Darre...

Quinn sitting by his tree. Age 3 1/2 months. Figgy puds baked and topped with chocolate maple syrup  Handmade gift from Wes.  Porch drop to Wes' apartment with Eric and Erin. Dog is just hanging out at our party. Porch drop at Samuel and Ariel's  Gifts for Samuel and Ariel  Weather about 50 degrees in Madison, Alabama today. Covid is making Wes, Samuel and Ariel stay at home.  Eric and Erin went visiting with us.  Eric made cookies as his gift. We video called Jeremy and Andrea at each porch time to say hello.  After visiting with Wes, the 4 of us went out for Asian food. On Tuesday we leave for Florida!  Darrell and I took long walk today,  had a tough morning workout,  and have restarted Spanish lessons using the "duolingo" app. We cooked sausage at breakfast,  and that made it fancy! Salad at lunchtime, and popcorn in the afternoon.  We had a 2 hour phon...

 Anticipating Eric and Erin's arrival this evening!  They are coming to spend a week with us here.  The weather is cold, but enjoying walking and exploring our neighborhood.   I made a dark chocolate cake that is mainly sweet potato! It is delicious.  

Pupusa is a cornmeal bread with a filling. Like a Quesadilla or a toasted cheese sandwich.  Delicious 😋  Dinner was grilled beef, refried beans, salad, corn tortillas, green banana, hot sauce and queso fresco cheese. Really good food. Did a virtual EPT session with Quinn and he just fell asleep without a struggle during the forgiveness statements. So sweet. Today: last day and night in Florida.  Some rain. Returned rental bikes. 

Today is sunny and cold in the 40's.  Amazing multigrain pancakes with added pear by Darrell! Early morning DDP Yoga workout, and plans for walking, tax prep, family phone visits,  and relaxing time! 

In Madison,  Alabama, 40-55 degrees and sunny today.  Darrell's special gf pancakes with shredded pear and hazelnut muesli,  fresh berries and real maple syrup 😋.  I went to Madison Drugs and had an EPT appointment today. Darrell called his Mom and Dad also got on the phone today. He was cheerful and responsive.  Darrell worked on his Bible article for his Kenyan students.  We met Samuel and Ariel for lunch at Viet Huong restaurant.  It was a sweet time. We hiked 4 miles at Wade Mountain, Harris and Rock Wall trails. We stopped by Paneras for a hot tea and chocolate croissant. Then we went by Sprouts to get a couple of items for Eric,  and dropped them off as we face timed a call with Jeremy,  Andrea and Quinn.  We headed home for dinner. A lovely day. I so love my children and my prayers for their good and kind hearts for God is ever on my mind. Please God help my children to grow in you with goodness and thankfulness in their hearts a...