Hi 👋 We're Val & Holland Redmill … living our Life Story as silver-haired Road Gypsies in our 5th wheel RV Home~40 months married & 60,000 miles traveled across America; covered in grace every Day & trying mightily not to lose our sanctification during the bad & ugly times. I post everywhere - about everything: and if what I post can help someone else, I'm glad for the experience. But from sunrise to sunset, we live our Life for US. Trusting Elohim every step of the way.
Rain is forecast for the next 2 weeks, here on the upper end of the Peninsula … so, as soon as I finished my second cup of joy juice this morning, Holland ushered me out of the house for a day of nature, and nourishment 😊❤️
He wanted to make time for fun time, while the sun was still showing itself.
Song of the Day's drive …
38 Special - 'Wild-Eyed Southern Boys' song: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCq4EkzLlQM)
We have been curious about this chuck wagon, so we stopped & ordered here, today - and ate our boxed meals on the beach, watching waves, people, and the ever present birds:
Supper~Tu Tu's Lunch Wagon; #1505 259th Pl, Ocean Park-WA. The food is good, the cooks are friendly; & you will get your $$'s worth here 😁
My boxed meal; Teriyaki Chicken with veg's & sticky rice; yummy - it was a large serving, so I brought 2/3 of it home, for later.
Holland's boxed meal; Teriyaki Chicken with sticky rice … a portion of it came back home with us.
When we got back home, I put the leftovers in the 'fridge, got laundry going - and settled in watching a vintage black and white while finishing the textured book cover I had designed for the Clive Cussler novels David had gifted me with. These books are longer than normal paperbacks, so the covers I have, do not fit.
Calories burned just making the bed & sorting laundry - half of what I ate, on the beach 😉
'The Dark Past'~1948 Noir Movie. Steller cast - perfect for a chilly, wet afternoon.
The Dark Past I Noir Thriller 1948 I William Holden, Nina Foch, Lee J Cobb:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51ZL1Vai4Cw)
Air-dry clothing was hung to dry …
I finished up MOD Textured Book Cover.
MOD TEXTURED CROCHET BOOK COVER PATTERN~Fits 7-1/2" Paperback Novel:
And then, the rains came: there was no gentle patty-pats skipping lightly across Independence's roof - these raindrops blew in off the ocean, meaning to be heard and felt 😒
September 14th: We enjoy our grassy space at Ocean Bay Mobile & RV Park (it's peaceful), and the Park hosts are very nice people, and friendly too … but we miss being parked next door to David on his beach lot :-(
We are still having drainage issues in the spare bathroom, so we need to be connected to this RV Park's drain system until that gets sorted out.
I was feeling pretty punky this morning, so I got up early so I wouldn't wake Holland with my tossing and turning: he doesn't sleep well, and was up until about 3 AM before he fell into bed.
I worked a while on another little preemie sleep sacque while listening to the continual rainfall, and drinking a couple cups of coffee I hoped would ease my sore throat.
Drizzle this morning, before Holland woke up …
Worked a bit on this boy's preemie sacque button band.
When Holland got up around 10 … I crept back to bed; leaving my crafting stuff all over the table. I couldn't have tidied up if I wanted to - I was that tired. The PNW rainy season puts me into a semi-hibernation mode. My stuffy head, sore throat, and sour stomach added to the drowsiness.
I had short bursts of wakefulness & tepid energy. I sleep off and on most of the day.
We had planned to go to the Garlic Festival - then on to Ilwaco to the Saturday Market, but that fell by the wayside because I was just too ditzy to do much of anything but sleep. Holland didn't mind - he's more of a homebody, than I am.
Holland had made a tuna salad while I was drifting in and out of Dreamland … and I wasn't sure my stomach would keep it down: but after I forced the first bite past my nose and down my throat, the following bites weren't so hard; and my stomach did not rebel. Punky or not, I need to keep my body nourished.
Today, last year, I was eating my first tuna steak … and canning fresh tuna to carry with us on our Road Gypsy adventures: SO delish! Though I have lived in the PNW since 1966, I'd never been treated to this PNW delicacy - Holland has, so he was excited when we canned 24 pints of tuna with David. We still have about 10 pints left, so we'll skip canning this year; but it will be a definite {thing} going forward. I'm hooked on the tasty treat, now.
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September 15th: This morning I woke up feeling much better: the headache was gone, and my stomach was calmer.
I also liked the way Holland sleepily reached out with his long arm, and pulled me into his side, for a sleepy morning cuddle before I woke all the way up, and got up.
Holland followed a short while later - he wanted to check out the Garlic Festival (and hopefully grab some fresh garlic), and I was game … so, off we went. I had planned on doing this activity before Holland was part of my life, but doing it with him makes it more fun :-)
I'm back in the Land of the Living, today.
The Garlic Festival is a small affair … and pretty much like the Farmer's Market a few days ago: a lot of food stuffs, jewelry, and beach combing "art".
Festival Mascots …
We had to look hard to find any fresh garlic: we came home with 2 heads of garlic, and a handful of very small tomatoes because both were 'organically' ridiculously high priced … and a small box of spendy white fudge. I don't regret wasting the time, but I won't be going again.
The Outlaws - 'Green Grass and High Tides' song: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhiyKZsAW44)
On our way home, we turned down Bay Avenue in Ocean Park, to enjoy the Pacific Ocean at the Ocean Park Approach: Holland needs his daily water fix - and I'm finding that I look forward to enjoying it with him.
I don't think I've ever enjoyed spending time watching ocean waves, as I have - and do - enjoy a day at the beach with Holland. I love watching his senses come alive when he watches the waves :-)
I liked the kites … we had missed the Long Beach Kite Festival, due to Independence's repairs, so I was glad to see some of what had been shown. These pretty things are wildly expensive.
Fun beach approach; Ocean Park-WA
The 'sea chickens' were plentiful again, this afternoon; flocks of 'Heermann's Gulls'.
A black one! I wonder what it's labeled as … it's a 'first winter Heermann's Gull'.
When I first saw today's brown pelicans, I thought they were eagles because from a distance the large brown bodies with white heads appeared to resemble eagles - but Holland said they were brown pelicans; and that excited me, more: I love the way pelicans in flight look like prehistoric pterosaurs (I admit to being a dino freak ;-)).
The first time I saw brown pelicans was in 2020, when I was enjoying one of my solo lobo Sunday out-of-house Daytrips. I was deliberately pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and forcing myself to deal with memories without breaking down in tears … and to create new memories by doing things Bob and I never did; it was important in my healing process of widowhood:
Since 2020, I've enjoyed several pelican sightings: brown, and white - we saw white pelicans on our way to Warrenton-OR, the other day, but there was no place to pull over and take pictures.
The weather started turning - so, we turned towards home under the dancing kites adding color to the darkening sky.
We stopped at Okie's Grocery Store on the way home and bought some fresh produce … and some interesting black grapes; I said to Holland that the way they hung down reminded me of little trumpet-shaped flowers ;-)
Royal Queen Purple Iochroma flower cluster.
When we got home, Holland put the kitchen cart I bought a few days ago, together, for me.
And we enjoyed some of the black grapes, too. They were sweet and tasty - not tart, like the little round old-fashioned black grapes I am used to, that used to grow up the porch pillars of my cousin Terri's Skamokawa house: I like those the best … but these long, tubular grapes, are enjoyable, too :-)
Holland put my kitchen cart together after we got back home …
A tidy place to add extra space in the small kitchen ;-)
A new kind of grape - neither of us have ever seen, or tried them; but they look interesting.
They have a little 'navel'; LOL
The largest one was 2-in long.
Black seedless grapes contain significant amounts of vitamins A, C, and K. Flavonoids within the grape’s skin, such as resveratrol, also provide antioxidant qualities which can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Yesterday we spent a quiet, relaxing day in-house: Holland did some internet surfing, I designed and worked on a new crafted item, and Bleu just lurked around between the both of us. This afternoon, we spent some time at the beach … and enjoyed a short drive into Ilwaco; just for the fun of it :-)
Gallery - 'Nice To Be With You' song:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgN9bV_Uw2I)
It was wet, cold, and windy … but we all enjoyed the fresh ocean air.
Holland watched the waves, and cut a few sand doughnuts.
Bleu raced around in the sand, chasing seagulls and running energy off.
My eyes took in the scenery - and watched the males in my life relaxing, & enjoying themselves.
Frisky Bleu and the deep, angry sea of Ocean Park-WA; the angry waves are CA & OR storms fallout.
Angry, brutal waves were rolling onto Ocean Park's beachway, with spray being violently thrown backwards as they pounded down upon the roiling ocean surface; sand was churned up as the waves made their way inland, and by the time the waves were rolling up on the sandy beach, they were very brown with the churned up sand carried in their angry curls.
A dragonfly totem caught my eye; Ilwaco-WA
Glass Dragonfly Thrift Store, 110A Lake St SW, Ilwaco
Holland spotted this wooden hulled boat … I'd never seen one before. Interesting. I laughed when I saw the name of it ;-)
When I spotted the boat's name, I laughed aloud because the 'Run Bambi, Run' song … and news coverage of that time, immediately ran through my thoughts; and I told Holland why I was laughing: he didn't know what I was talking about.
So, I told him ;-)
Lawrencia Ann "Bambi" Bembenek, known as Laurie Bembenek, was an American former police officer, convicted for the 1981 murder of her husband's ex-wife, Christine Schultz, so that her new husband would no longer have to pay alimony.
While serving a 10 year sentence in a Wisconsin prison, Bembenek escaped through a laundry room window and was picked up by her fiancé Dominic Gugliatto, the brother of a fellow inmate. They fled to Canada. Bembenek's story went national after she escaped.
As publicity around her escape swirled, a slogan began to crop up: “Run, Bambi, Run!” Recaptured in Ontario, Bembenek pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in a retrial and was released with 10 years of probation.
Leaving Ilwaco, we spotted a Museum on a side street, and Holland said it might be interesting to visit …
When we got back home, I drafted the pattern I jotted down last night while I designed & worked up my crochet purse organizer … and while posting the Purse Organizer Pattern to Blog Hops I frequent, I smiled when I saw that the pattern for my Swiffer jet mop top had been featured on one of the Blog Hops I shared it with :-)
MOD CROCHET PURSE ORGANIZER: https://roadgypsiesvalandholland.blogspot.com/2024/02/mod-crochet-purse-organizerfebruary.html
My Swiffer Jet Mop Pad was featured on a Blog Hop ;-)
MOD SWIFFER JET MOP PAD PATTERN~Revised & Updated; Quartzsite-AZ:
The day dawned beautifully - and warmly, so we ditched the Plans we had made for today, and played hooky :-)
A beautiful day at the Pacific Coast; view from open front door, around 7 A.M.
I made contact with a dear friend around 8:30 A.M., while Holland shook the cobwebs from his sleepy thoughts:
I hope to see Karen when we pass through Tennessee; we are sticking to the goal of seeing every State … but we aren't going to be ridged about schedules ;-)
The GOAL is to have fun while we are road gypsies.
Elohim had blessed me greatly with the friends He has graced me with.
Holland's shoulder was on fire, so we decided to spend some time at the beach - I drove.
The ocean breeze was pleasantly warm, and blew gently over our skin; the day was a perfect day on the beach :-)
I love my big guy :-)
Bleu enjoyed the day's freedom, too.
The waves were lazy gentle rolls, this afternoon …
We watched a big, long-tailed kite wave it's lazy tail ;-)
Nat King Cole - 'Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days Of Summer' song:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRmEZMAfD3Y)
We had to keep an eye on Bleu, around stuff like this …
Time to go home after a few hours …
We finished off the last of the tuna steaks; Holland breaded them, tonight. Very tasty.
Tomorrow, we can get back to chores and tasks that need doing - but tonight, we are just going to enjoy being ;-)
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