Sorry it’s been pretty quiet here at RV There Yet. We’ve been at our family Cabin in Vermont, and we’ve been too busy just soaking it in. We were the first ones up this year – first ones to drive through the high grass to the front door…..

First ones to see the pear trees in full bloom


First ones to use our rustic “bathroom facilities”. (OK, so it’s an outhouse, and trust me, it’s always better to be the first of the season than the last of the season.)

First one to see how high the pond was

and then to walk down and be the first one to take my “official” cabin picture -

and then a couple more pond pictures-


We were the first to check out the wildflowers before the first mowing -




First ones to sit by the fire for that first cup of the day (or the last one at night) -

First ones to hear our hummingbirds scolding us until we got the feeder filled!

First ones to mow the grass.

(That was a little tricky this year. But after a new tire, a new battery and a new blade bearing assembly (?), the riding mower is good to go. Of course, we ended up doing the first mowing with the push mowers, and were reminded again that we aren’t as young as we used to be! So thankful my man was here to solve all those problems!)

Mowed!
But I still managed to find a couple of buttercups that had escaped the blade!

And we were the first to sit on the back porch and enjoy the evening sky -



Being the “First up” has been great! We’ve been soaking in all that is The Cabin. The peace, the quiet, the naps and the chores. And have been blessed by all of it!
If you’d like to see more pictures from this last week – Here you go!
And if you’d like to read a little about the history this family treasure, check out this post.

Tomorrow we head to Pilgrim Pines Conference Center in Swanzey, NH, for our June SOWER project. But I’ll be back at the cabin next weekend for Girls’ Week. Ah…….

Recently we went into a local Verizon store to add some minutes to Gary’s “pay as you go” phone. (We mostly use his phone when we’re looking for each other in Walmart. ) Although the kind person explained that I could do it over the phone, due to some fat finger errors, I actually got to talk to a Verizon customer service “consultant” in Colorado. After we went through all of the credit card information and how much we wanted to add, she said that we would be charged $7.00 in sales tax.
“Who’s sales tax is that?” I asked.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean,” she replied.
“Well,” I said, “we have a Montana phone number with a Florida billing address, you’re in Colorado, and I’m sitting in New Jersey. I was just wondering who was getting the sales tax.”

And that, my friends, a snapshot of our life! I know I’ve shared some of the ins and outs about our life on the road and in the SOWER ministry, but I was wondering if YOU had any questions about what we do, how we do it or why we do it. Would you like to know more details about our RV, how we decide where to go next, or how we really feel about going to laundromats? Any questions about how we make life “work” in this crazy life we’re currently leading? The floor is open – send along your questions either in the comment section or by dropping me a line over where it says “Contact Us”. (Or if you’re reading this on Facebook, leave a comment or send me a message.) I’ll do my best to answer whatever you ask! (And if I don’t know the answer, I’ll ask Gary!)
The floor is officially open……

Family, friends, baby showers, haircuts, banking, more friends and more hugs – that’s what this past weekend was all about! We were back in the old neighborhood for three days, and we managed to cram those days full to overflowing! I wish I could say I whipped my camera out at every opportunity, but I confess I was too busy catching up with friends to get too involved with documenting the activities! But here are a couple -
First of all – my dear Birthday Buddies -

The three of us have gathered during our birthday month (November) for the last umpteen years (we really couldn’t figure out how long it’s been!). Now that I’m on the road, any time I’m in town is a Birthday month for us – so, (not that I really want to hurry it) Happy Birthday to Connie and Bonnie and me – it was such a precious time of sharing and praying with you, dear friends!
And then there was the Baby Shower for my DIL, Abigail.

Again, being on the road has pretty much eliminated my ability to attend any showers for my grandbabies (except for Ellie who was born before we set out). Imagine my delight to be able to share in the celebration of a shower for my newest grandbaby (a boy!) due in early July. And as a bonus, Gary got to spend the afternoon with Josiah. A good afternoon for everyone!
Quick Quilt aside – here’s a close-up of this fun black and white quilt I made for Baby C.

My buddy Lynne made a couple of these for her grandsons, and I loved the idea! I found a little bit of color for the front -

and then lots of color for the back!

I sure hope the little guy likes it!
But along with the blessing of going to the baby shower and getting to see our kids, we also got to spend time with our good friends, Joe and Janet. They housed us and fed us and didn’t mind when we kept taking off to see folks and go places. They are the best! No picture, of course. But here’s one of their backyard –

They have some really beautiful gardens (not to mention a killer veggie garden that is behind that fence!), filled with all kinds of flowers -



But one thing I was reminded of especially this visit was that beautiful yards and gardens like this take a ton of work.
And a ton of mulch!

(That’s Lily heading to the patio, but the pile of mulch in the background is what was still waiting to be spread.)
I sure do love looking at that yard, but I sure am glad I have none of my own!
It really was a Five Star weekend. Besides the shower and the Birthday Buddy Bash, I got to play cards with dear friends, enjoy a Starbucks with a buddy, stop by my old job and enjoy a great lunch (and company) in downtown D-town, have my hair cut by the girl who cut my hair for twenty years before we left town (instead of a random person at Cuts-R-Us), worship at our old church and generally collect hugs. Lots and lots of hugs. Loved, loved, loved it. (Gary had fun too, but let’s face it, the weekend was more fun for me than him. He cheerfully played chauffeur and even managed to get the tires rotated. See, he had fun too!)

We’re back in Egg Harbor City for couple of days. Two more days of work and then Thursday we head to New Hampshire. We’ll be dropping the rig off at our June project – Pilgrim Pines Camp - and then heading to The Cabin for the week between projects.

I can almost smell the wood smoke now…….

We’ve had a string of perfectly lovely days this week. And that means we’ve had no excuse NOT to take a good walk after dinner. We’ve discovered (thanks to a tip from our co-worker Niki) a great little loop that takes about a half hour. Perfect. And tonight I brought along my new phone (which has a pretty sweet 8.0 mega pixel camera ).
We started out through the back of the ball fields, past a neighbors’ house and down a long lane to a side road.

That’s Gary walking ahead (of course) because I was enjoying the expanse to our right -

I stopped again to check out the “macro” setting on some lovely wisteria – I know it’s there, but I couldn’t find it. However, I gave it a shot anyway -

Needs a little work.
Soon we were on our way back to the school along the main (well, main for us anyway) road -


We decided to go a little further down the road to do a little geocaching – and try out another feature on that new phone!

Sadly, between our rusty geocaching skills and trying to figure out the phone, we came up empty. Well, Gary did get some pretty good scratches from the pricker bushes!
Still, it was good walk. A beautiful evening, some quality time with my honey (and he even waited for me to catch up after my “camera pauses”) and just a little adventure. I hope you’ve also been enjoying some beautiful weather where ever you are!
Go take a walk!