Exhausting Recreation

What a busy week! We had a great camping trip, leaving Monday and returning on Thursday. This was our setting:

The white 5th wheel is ours. The other RV belongs to Charlie's brother, Jim.

We found the stroller to be very useful for Rocky, although he surprised us by walking 1 1/4 miles with no problem. He isn't very fast, so if we wanted to move faster, we used the stroller.

We camped with some friends from the Meet-up group here in Bend. It was a very relaxing trip. Cooking and cleanup was minimal, because we ate homemade TV dinners, sandwiches, cereal and boiled eggs.

Rocky needed help to get up onto the bed, but he really enjoyed it.

The issues we had were few. First was the discovery of a leak around one of the vents on the roof, which Charlie fixed. We found it when I discovered the bed was wet. It had rained the night before we left. I put the bedding over the two picnic tables when we arrived at the campsite, and it was all dry within a couple of hours. The other issue was learning that one of the two batteries for the trailer was not very good. It wouldn't hold a charge. The low temperature Tuesday night was 32.2º, which was pretty cold for sleeping in the trailer without turning on the heat, but with two humans and two canines all under the covers, it wasn't too bad.

The pups enjoyed access to the water, although we had to keep them from wading in too far because of the current.

The two ladies who participated in the camping event each bought one of my books. (I had brought two along.)

I got some knitting in. Here's my progress on the Kevät sweater.

I just added the stitch markers between the pattern repeats, because it's getting more difficult to tell where the chart starts and ends, now that I've finished the first colorwork section. The yarn for my Brioche Shawl Feathers shawl was delivered the day we arrived home.

Our son and DIL arrived Friday evening for the long weekend. (They are still here.) Their canine family member dug up one of the marigolds in the newly planted vegetable garden, so Charlie had to do some repair. Fortunately, he had plenty of marigolds still needing planting.

We walked to the playground on Saturday, so the boys could play and run off some energy. They are going home today.

While our son was here, we moved my loom down from my workroom to the living room, where there is an empty corner with two windows. He helped us put it together. Years of Lego building put to good use. I had written down the order in which I had taken it apart, and I had taken photos of each step. Each set of hardware went into a bag labeled which which part they went to. It was still a challenge to put together. We (or better, they) persisted, and success came at last.

I plan to make some rag rugs for the house and the trailer, but I think our son deserves one, too.

We had some great meals while the kids were here. DDIL is a great cook, and they brought their veggie share with them. We played "I Spy" and "Guess the Animal" during dinner. 

While the kids were visiting a friend here in Bend, we Zoomed with our daughter. She had lots of news about what they and the kids have been up to.

I'll have to whip up another story this week. Part of my cushion of prescheduled stories was used up with the activities of the past week taking over, and we go camping again next week. (!)

Where's my blog: As you may know, the entity that notifies people when a blog they follow posts will discontinue notifications in July. Those two things motivated me to link my blog to Bloglovin', as I did some time ago with The Doll's Storybook. If you are following my blog want to continue following after July, I recommend you go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: The dish mat, the Brioche Shawl Feathers and the Kevät sweater. Progress on the dish mat and Kevät, but none on the Brioche project...yet.

What's on my sewing machine: Dust

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. No more progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Wheels on the Court." Emil tells Jolena about his latest letter from Holly, in which she tells about playing wheelchair basketball.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still reading The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer. Barely started.

What's in my wine glass: Empyrean Lyra Pinot Noir 2018 Yamhill-Carlton.

What's my tip of the week: If you bake salmon, skin-side-down on a piece of foil, don't use cooking spray. Just add a little oil and whatever seasonings you want to the top of it after you place it on the foil. Bake it for 10-12 minutes at 425º. When it's done, the salmon will come away from the foil and leave the skin behind.

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from BookBaby, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. The three stories in the book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. The stories (and links to them) are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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