Filling In The Gap

“So, whatcha been up to the past couple of days,” you may ask?  Not much, really.  Same old stuff; our daily chores, our basket weaving endeavors, reading, etc..  Also, there have been the social times with folks, food, and fun throughout the park.  More people are showing up here in L. A. (Lower Alabama), both old friends and new faces to meet for the first time.  Then, if it’s the weekend; it’s football, of course. 

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!”  One of our Christmas wishes would be to have our entire family under one roof on Christmas Day.  But that dawg is just not going to hunt, at least for this year.  So pictures do help to “fill in the gap” in the meantime.  Here’s our latest for Christmas 2010 – a nice picture of the New Hampshire Grandkids with the jolly old fat man himself. 

So that’s it for today.  Be sure to check us out again tomorrow – It’ll be Flashback Time.  Take Care Until Then - - - - - 

Katt Tales

Katie here.  “When I was a little bitty kitty my mama (and dadda) would take me in the camper in them old campgrounds back home.”   Our camper was a 1999 Cedar Creek 26 foot travel trailer and we just couldn’t wait to get it out of the storage shed each spring.

I just loved that RV; I called it my Kitty Palace.  It had a front kitchen/dining area with a mid livingroom, a walk though bathroom, and a rear bedroom.  One of my favorite places was on the counter right behind the dinette booth where I could stick my head through the metal blinds and look out the front window.  Another was in the middle of the queen sized island bed where there was another window looking out the back of the rig.  Note that I was in my youth back then.

 

We would travel around the northern portion of the southern peninsula and up into the upper peninsula of Michigan.  Our camping season would be from mid-May to mid-October due to a phenomenon known as snow.  That stuff was horrible, it would stick on everything that was outside and was extremely cold on my kitty feet so I had to stay inside for a whole bunch of months.  Luckily I had a nice big house to run around and play in, but that’s another story.

One of our very first trips was to Houghton, Michigan to visit Matt and Jackie.  They had just gotten married the summer before and were attending Michigan Technological University.  We stayed at the City of Houghton RV Park (the first three photographs are from the RV Park website). 

It was a great jumping off place for mom and dad to visit the kids and go sightseeing.  They loved to chase after waterfalls and would hike into the back woods looking for them; silly kids!!

 

There were several other campgrounds that we loved to visit as well.  One was Indian River State Park which is on Burt Lake and another was Mecosta Pines Campground which sits on the banks of the Little Muskegon River.

 

Wow, it’s getting late and I have to get busy.  There’s breakfast to eat, toys to play with, and a katt nap awaiting me.  So you be good and dad will be back tomorrow.

Katie

Living The Routine

Today is shopping day.  The old larder has been significantly depleted over the past few weeks making it time for a journey out to visit Uncle Wally.  Shopping is always so much fun (he says sarcastically) and we are so ever glad that there is no inflation so that our “no cost of living increase” will more than cover the cost of our grocery bill (he says sarcastically).  None the less, we will have food in the cupboard, a roof over our heads, and Christmas gifts under the tree so we are grateful. 

Things at the Plantation are continuing to roll along.  Yesterday Miss Judy continued working on one of her quilting projects – we promise to show pictures after Christmas, if you get my drift.  I defrosted the ‘fridge, gave the bathroom a thorough cleaning, did some reading, and helped Larry the Cook prepare last night’s meal. 

We attended the four o’clock social and then had dinner at the clubhouse.  It was meatloaf night (we like meatloaf if it is done right and Larry’s meatloaf is done right) with “smashed ‘taters” and gravy and green beans.  There’s always a garden salad, tea or lemonade, and dessert.  We ended the day with computers, reading, and television.  Not a real exciting day, but we kept busy anyway. 

It’s been a few days since I addressed any of the “Ta Do List” items so I need to get back at it over the next couple of days.  There are a couple of items that I want to get cleared off the list before we head to Tennessee for Christmas.  The rest can wait until next year (why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?).

Well there you have it – Take Care Until Next Time - - - -   

Walk Before You Run

Yesterday I learned that “you need to learn to walk before you run” holds true in the painting world as well.  I had a great idea of what I wanted to paint next, but as I started running I fell right on my face.   

My first painting was done by following Gil’s guidance, brush stroke by brush stroke while Gil mixed the paint.  I learned a lot, but not enough to do the painting of the Portland Head Light that I choose to do next.  It’s a beautiful picture that we took last summer during the Maine Event and would make a wonderful painting.  But, it was like trying to play Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony before learning the scales.

Okay, so just what am I going to paint next?  Well, for one thing, I need to learn how to mix paint.  As you can see from the picture above, there are several shades of blue so the question becomes, “What color blue do I start with as a base and then what do I mix with it?”  Obviously I would use white, but do I add a little black to make a very light grey first?  This is obviously a starting point.

Next, where do I start a painting on the canvas?  And how do I proceed from there?  But even more basic, how do I make a cloud, or a tree, or a rock, or ripples in the water?  So, what am I going to paint next?

Clouds!!!  I’m going to learn how to paint the sky and make clouds.  Then I’ll move onto trees, evergreens and colorful hardwoods.  From there, we’ll just need to see what comes next.  In any event, I need to learn to walk first and then I’ll need to walk for a little while before I start running.

Take Care Until Next Time - - - - -

The 2010 Quilting Project

Gary and Millie Small’s (our managers) son-in-law works for a Christian organization out of Minneapolis, Minnesota that acquires medical equipment and sets up hospitals throughout Africa.  The equipment is generally donated by doctor’s and hospitals around the country as they upgrade their own facilities.

The donated equipment is loaded into shipping containers.  Once the containers are full they get loaded onto a freighter for delivery to African countries.  Along with medical equipment their is a need for medical supplies as well.  One of the needs is for receiving blankets for new born infants.  That’s where Rainbow Plantation comes into the picture.

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow the “Quilting” ladies, along with other volunteers from around the park (about 50 people in all), will make around a hundred and fifty 36” by 36” quilts that will accompany the donated medical equipment to Africa.  Also, several other ladies are knitting or crocheting bonnets that will be included along with the blankets.

   

Yesterday’s “production line” produced 67 quilts and 27 bonnets were donated, a pretty darned good start.  If you happen to visit the clubhouse it will look like an ant hill of activity with fabric flowing from the “Ironing Department” into the “Cutting Department” and onto the “Sewing Department” with the finished quilts stacking up.  A great big “thumbs up” to all those who are participating in this project.

Take Care Until Next Time - - - - -