Virtual No More

This weekend I will be in Jefferson City, attending a statewide business meeting of a group I belong to. As I was driving west on interstate 70 on a beautiful sunny spring afternoon it occurred to me I would be driving right by the Kan-Do Campground, home of Kathy of Kathy's Kampground Kapers.

I can't remember when I found Kathy's blog, but I really enjoy reading about her adventures as a campground owner. When Son Brian lived in Columbia Missouri and we visited him on a regular basis I often thought about stopping by to meet Kathy, but we were always in a hurry to get to his house or get home. Today I had plenty of time, I was by myself, and I could set my own schedule. No one would be inconvenienced if I detoured off the highway to meet her.

Borrowed from the kampground website-I forgot to take a photo.

The kampground was easy to find. I followed the signage to the lot, parked in front of the office, then walked in and asked the woman inside if she was Kathy. She was. I introduced myself. 

We had a nice chat about campers, road trips, and dogs. At the end of the conversation I met HeWho (Kathy's husband, and the focus of many of her stories). All in all, it was a wonderful visit.

Who Doesn't Like Stickers?

And as a nice bonus, it came with a shot. 

Five years ago today: Rootbound No More

April Showers Bring Puddles

Early this morning a front came through, bringing rain with it. It was lightly drizzling when I left the house this morning. In the car, I heard the radio meteorologist say the pace of the rain was going to pick up. Based on his forecast I put my umbrella in my purse and carried it into my first stop. When I came out an hour later it was raining cats and dogs. I opened my umbrella and hustled across the parking lot but I was still pretty wet by the time I got into my car, and my tennis shoes were soaked from stepping in a puddle.

At home I put both my umbrella and shoes by the door to dry, and went about my day. Hours later I was trying to figure out how I was going to get my steps in and realized the rain had stopped. A quick check of the weather app on my phone told me it wouldn't start again for a couple of hours. That would be more than enough time for a walk.

My shoes were still wet, but it was warm enough I could wear sandals. Hubby Tony decided to walk with me. We rambled around the neighborhood streets and had a nice talk along the way. On this route there are a couple of places where the sidewalk is crooked and the low areas have puddles after any type of precipitation. Today was no exception. I tried to skirt around the edge of the first puddle. I misjudged, and the toes on my left foot ended up getting wet. The water was warm, and it felt good!

From that point on I actively searched out puddles to walk through. By the time I got home there were pieces of grass, tree catkins, and a little mud stuck to my toes and sandals. Nothing that a little soap (and a little more water) couldn't take care of.

Five years ago today: Oops!

Another Day, Another Adventure

The other day I noticed that our supply of balsamic vinegar was getting low. Two of the three 375 milliliter bottles were down to dregs, and the third wasn't far behind.  It was time to go on a road trip to get more. A couple of years ago Hubby Tony and I stumbled onto a store called Olive Oil Marketplace, and tasted their flavored balsamic vinegar. It was the best we've ever had, and we became complete vinegar snobs. 

The store has two Illinois locations. One is in Alton (at the northern end of the metropolitan area) and the other is in Belleville (almost directly across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis). Both are approximately the same distance from us, but in my opinion Alton has more places to explore. That's where we headed today.

The store didn't open until 11 am, and Tony asked if we could leave early to stop at a museum called The National Great Rivers Museum, run by the Army Corps of Engineers. I agreed.

The building is right next to the Melvin Price Locks and Dam on the Mississippi River. When we pulled into the parking lot there were no other cars. Inside, we found out that a tour was going to start in five minutes. The tour ended up being just the two of us and a knowledgeable docent. She highlighted some of the museum displays, then we walked outside. Although we were unable to take the elevator up to the top of the lock (it's been discontinued due to COVID restrictions), we got to see group of barges go through the lock. It was fascinating to see the dozen barges tied together and being guided by the channel by the tugboat at the rear.

At the vinegar store we sampled seven or eight varieties, and ended up buying bottles of garlic cilantro, black walnut and white balsamic peach. Based on past experience those should last us about a year, although we left the store with a lot of new ideas for using our purchase.

It was time to get some steps in. We've walked through the small downtown Alton area enough to know we wanted to see something else this time. From the store we went west, turned right at the end of the road, then turned left at the first residential street. We ended up in an area on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River called the Christian Hill Historic District, filled with large Victorian houses.  

Tony and I sauntered around for about a half hour, then decided to head back to the car. Just before we got there I saw a statue of the musician Miles Davis, who I fond out was born in Alton in 1926, (but moved with his family to East St. Louis the next year.)

Young Man with a Horn

Five years ago today: Radiant And Red-Faced

A Belated Earth Day Bargain

The large closet just outside the hall bathroom is filled with a collection of linens, extra toiletries, bathroom supplies, first aid items, and medicines. When we moved in I quickly tried to arrange things in a logical order, then moved on to the next project. The arrangement wasn't that great to start with, and after more than a year things were a mess.

I decided to tackle organizing the two shelves that held the non-linen items, thinking that shoebox-sized plastic containers would be good for holding different categories of items. I looked in the storage unit for something the correct size and came up empty handed. I'm trying to limit the amount of plastic I bring into the house, so I started looking for containers at thrift stores. That way I would be recycling instead of buying new.

For a couple of weeks I popped into stores when I had time, but always walked out empty handed. Yesterday I drove by a place that's going out of business. There was a sign by the door that indicated they were only going to be open one more week and everything was 75% off. I figured there wouldn't be much left.

The clothing racks were pretty empty, but in the back of the store I struck pay dirt. There was an entire shelf of plastic storage containers, and four of them were the size and shape I was looking for. None matched exactly, but that was alright by me. The cashier rang up my purchases, then applied the discount code. My total was a whopping 55 cents...a win for both the environment and my budget.

 Five years ago today: Undoing

Jefferson Barracks

Yesterday was cloudy and cold. Tomorrow and Saturday there's a good chance of rain. Today was forecast to be chilly but sunny, and Hubby Tony and I decided to spend it outside. Tony was in charge of finding a trail. He threw out a couple of ideas, and we settled on Jefferson Barracks Park. Last summer we had ridden bikes in the park, but we ran out of time to explore the museums and said we'd go back.Today would be the day.

Wikipedia says: 

The Jefferson Barracks Military Post was an important and active U.S. Army installation from 1826 through 1946. It is the oldest operating U.S. military installation west of the Mississippi River, and it is now used as a base for the Army and Air National Guard. 

We entered the park through the north entrance, parked in the Visitor's Center parking lot, and started walking. The park has a paved trail, which is divided into a north and a south portion. Together they're a little over 2.5 miles. (A third trail is a Greenway that runs along the Mississippi River.)  There were very few people, and at points it looked like we were far from civilization.

At the south end of the park we walked past the historical buildings and stopped to read the historical markers. The active National Guard section was behind a tall fence. When I walked over that way to look at a World War Sherman tank I was pretty sure the people in the guard booth were checking me out. 

At this point Tony and I decided we were hungry. We left the park and walked to a restaurant five minutes away, where we enjoyed great bar food. The owner's father came by to ask us how our food was. When he learned that it was our first time there he asked if he could sit with us for a few minutes. He told us all about the history of the building.

After lunch we returned to the park, where we found out that all of the museums are still closed due to COVID. That was probably just as well, because we agreed we were getting tired...and we still had to get back to the other end of the park.

So we're now 0 for 2 in seeing the inside of the buildings at Jefferson Barracks. There's also a National Cemetery section, which will be a whole other day's adventure.  

Five years ago today: Don't Criticize The Competition!

A Happy Coincidence

 Four weeks ago Hubby Tony had some oral surgery done, and today he went back for a follow up appointment. The office is on the second floor of a strip mall building, right above a branch of the gym we belong to. Last night Tony realized he could use the Nautilus exercise machines there and asked if I wanted to go with him. Having nothing else pressing to do I said yes.

However, this morning time got away from me. When I realized I would really have to hustle to leave the house to fit Tony's schedule I almost backed out, but one look out the window at the sleety mixture that was falling from the sky was enough to convince me that using a treadmill in a warm gym would be way better than taking a walk outside. I sped through the last of the paperwork I was doing, changed my clothes, and was ready when Tony got his car keys.

In the mall parking lot Tony and I plotted out our time but when I checked in at the front desk they had a flyer listing the group classes. I noticed there was a yoga class starting in less than five minutes and my plans changed. As a bonus, I was familiar with the instructor from a different branch of the gym six years ago, and knew that I would get a great stretch.

Of course I hadn't brought my yoga mat, but one of the group exercise mats worked well enough. The large room only had a handful of people in it, and I was able to put my mat in a place that was far away from everyone and I could still see the instructor. When the class started I realized that some of the instructor's pose combinations hadn't changed and I felt right at home.

Even back before the pandemic shut everything down my yoga classes had decreased, and today it showed. My flexibility wasn't near what it used to be, and my balance was horrible. This class turned out to be a good fit. It was gentle, with a lot of stretches, and the sun salutations weren't too vigorous. Due to enhanced room cleaning between group classes they've reduced the length from an hour to 45 minutes. Before I knew it the instructor was calling for Shavasana, meaning the time was almost over.

Five years ago today: Spring Clean Your Life

It's A Wrap

Hubby Tony had a dinner meeting, so I decided it would be a nice night to treat myself to a meal out.

Mid-afternoon, after I fed Jackson the cat and enjoyed my coffee and crossword puzzle time I left the house to run several errands. After popping into three stores I ended up at a large ethnic grocery, where the goal was to replenish my supply of herbal tea. (Based on my experience, ethnic markets tend to have better selections and prices than the conventional groceries.)

Although it was only 4 pm, as I walked into the grocery store I realized I was hungry. That's a bad idea in a place that has aisles dedicated to all different parts of the world, but I decided to grin and bear it. The tea selection is right across from the produce section, to the right after you enter the store. Sure enough, I found a Polish brand that sounded good and bought two boxes - multifruit and  rose hip.

Picking out the tea only took five minutes, but by now my stomach was starting to growl. My plan to go out to dinner morphed into buying something at the store and cooking it when I got home. I walked up one frozen food aisle and down the other. In the Indian section I saw some interesting-looking wraps. I compared the different varieties and settled on this one

The packaging described the contents as a 'Mildly spiced lentil patty along with mint chutney wrapped in wholesome flat bread'. Its size and shape led me to believe it would be similar to a frozen burrito. At $2.49 the price was right and I tossed it into my bag. With the main dish decided, I walked back to the produce section and found a small head of leaf lettuce to make a salad. All of a sudden had the start of a meal.

It was still too early for dinner when I got home. I took chickpeas out of the freezer, thawed them in the microwave, and made a batch of hummus. Most of it went into the refrigerator, but I spooned some into a bowl and scarfed it down to take the edge off my hunger. I finished some paperwork, then washed and chopped the lettuce, dressed it, and nuked the kebab.  The whole production took less than five minutes.

My Indian burrito prediction was pretty on the money, but the lentil patty had a nice spice to it. Between my before-meal snack, the wrap, the salad, and a large handful of grapes for dessert I was full enough.

Go Away!

The forecast for tomorrow is pretty spring-like. But jump ahead until Tuesday, when it's back to a winter chill. Some portions of the metropolitan area even have a freeze watch for late Tuesday through Wednesday morning.

I don't car how cold it gets....even if I have to wear multiple layers when I leave the house I refuse to get out my heavy coat again!

Five years ago: In Fashion? Me?

Sitting Tight

It's been 15 months since Hubby Tony and I moved into our condo. (Time sure does fly.) 

When we downsized from our large house we got rid of a lot of furniture, but our comfortable, three-cushion La-Z-Boy couch with a recliner on each end came with us. We've had the couch for almost 20 years. It's structurally sound, but has a few cosmetic issues. The foam in the cushions is breaking down a little, and the padded footrests have dips in the middle. In addition, the couch is really too big for our new place. 

Our plan was to get situated, figure out what we wanted, and buy new seating. Just about the time we had the figuring out part done, Covid shut things shut down. Even after the stores opened back up we made do, figuring that a new couch was a want and not a need. 

Now that Tony has a lot of time on his hands we decided weekdays would be a good time to go furniture shopping, because there would be less foot traffic. A couple of weeks ago we visited some stores and sat on furniture. We came home, measured the room, and checked a couple of websites. After discussion we figured out the room would look nice with a pair of love seats arranged in an L-shape. Rather than relying on an ottoman for our feet we decided to stick with something that reclined.  

Today we went back to a store with a list of three specific love seats that we wanted to take a last look at. We sat on all of them, figured out which one we liked the best, and placed an order. That's the good news. The bad news is that Covid shutdowns in the factory caused a backlog of orders, and  it will take approximately 20 weeks for our new furniture to be delivered. We'll be using the old couch for quite some time.

Five years ago: Pop Goes The Egg