There's More to Quitting Drinking than Quitting Drinking

I am again enjoying Dr. Paul O's book, "There's More to Quitting Drinking than Quitting Drinking" Capizon Publishing, 1995.  I love Paul O's take on "Problems".  To quote just some:

"All my problems today are thinking problems. I don't even have a problem unless I think I do. If I think I have a problem. I have a problem. If I don't think I have a problem. I don't have a problem.  Never have I thought I had a problem and been wrong."

"Not only do I alone decide whether or not I have a problem: I alone determine the size of my problems.  I don't have many little problems; I don't bother with them. Like resentments, I stick to the "justifiable" variety. When I do have a little problem, all I have to do to make it a big problem is to think about it."

"As a boy, I read in Reader's Digest that you can judge a man by what makes him angry. From then on I searched from problems worthy of my anger. As a physician, I dedicated my life to working on problems, my own or anyone else's.  I became a problem magnet.  When I couldn't find enough of my own, I borrowed yours.  "My, that's an interesting problem you have here,; may I have it for a while? Meanwhile, I exaggerated, inflated, and manufactured problems while remaining on the lookout for more. And I always found them."

"Problems have always enjoyed a position of exaggerated importance in my life. Early on, I came to the conclusion that people with the most problems get the most attention.  People don't want to hear how easy your life is, they want to hear about problems. The TV evening news stresses nothing else. Facing problems is the stuff of which heroes are made.  Without problems you wouldn't have an identity. How can people think of you as being heroic if they don't know you're surviving in spite of it all? So tell them. Whine a little."

"I grew up thinking all men of intelligence and stamina worked on their problems by thinking about them until they came up with an answer.  I've discovered this approach works the opposite for me. Problems I think about grow bigger and bigger. Even non-problems. At first I'll think, "Well, that's certainly not a problem."  But in a short time I can see where, "It could be sort of a problem."  In no time I'm telling myself, "By golly, it's a good thing I'm looking at this.  Everyone else is missing it."

"One of the problems with problems is their high infant mortality rate. Ignored, they, like delicate plants, wither and die. Problems need a continuous flow of conversation, plus lots of water and fertilizer - especially fertilizer. They demand constant attention.  Problems need to feel important."

 

Pierre's Point Campground and RV, Salmon Arm, BC

This is a lovely campground and RV park. it's run by the local First Nations Band, situated on their land.  Approximately $40 a night with all the facilities, sewage, electricity and water. There are a lot of more basic sites. Further there are sites where people are obviously staying the season or year round.  It's right on the lake with the beach just the next lane over from us. We can hear the water lapping .  Dogs aren't allowed on the beach but there's a dog beach further down.  There's also a concession with hotdogs, pies and such plus a store.  The downside is the train tracks are next to the campgrounds.  We're 8 km from Salmon Arms with celluar and wifi coverage.  We're here for the Sturgis North Motorcycle and Rock Concert.  It starts tomorrow.  Eric Burden and the Animals, Steppenwolf, Doctor Hook. A young pretty girl talked to Laura and I when we were walking Gilbert around the park. She said she was really looking forward to hearing Nazareth.  I'm here for Eric Burden and just don't know whether to torch my 'Depends' or just wave them.  I don't think the Nazareth crowd would applaud if one of the performers smashed a walker on stage. 

Charcoal Creek Recreational Site

Gilbert was growling out the side window towards the creek.  He was one ferocious dog.  I told him to knock it off.  Then the neighbours came by and asked if we'd seen the black bear walk by our trailer.  "Good dog, Gilbert. Good dog."

There are two trucks with campers nearby further up the stream deeper in the woods.  I've parked the truck and trailer near the bridge and road at the first picnic table in the Charcoal Creek Recreational Site. I didn't know if I could turn around if I went any further.  This turning around business with a trailer is quite a piece of work.  I've had to walk up ahead and check out places to see if I can get out.  At such times I feel like the settlers with covered wagons going ahead on foot to see if the road is okay for them.  There's a long history of moving houses and I'm smack dab in the center of the gypsey caravanville.

This site though is supreme.  No facilities except the outhouse that from the outside doesn't invite one to go inside.  I was on a paved road at Falkland off Hwy 97 then this Falkland Chase Road turned to gravel.  I didn't have any choice about continuing. There's simply nowhere to turn around.  I passed two recreational sites because they weren't suitable for my rig.  The young talk about their 'junk', the old talk about their 'rigs'.

Laura is in having a bath in luxury.  It's like having a 5 star hotel room perched on the side of nowhere deep in the wilderness.  I took Gilbert for a walk across the road along trails that might see passage by humans a few times a year.  It's not that isolated but it's out there.  Deep in the heart of beautiful BC back country.  I've backpacked and bicycled and canoed into isolated places with tents but this hauling a house with a truck and motorcycle and bicycles, generator, solar panels, gasoline and such for a week of luxury seems it's own kind of adventure. I've been fiddling all week with pumps and freezers and batteries just like I do on my offshore sailing boat.  A special sense of accomplishment comes with solving a 20th century problem in a pre historic setting.

A mosquito somehow got in last night and bit my ass.  A tell tale itchy little lump I must resist scratching sits on a left buttock just below the belt line.  The 'yard' is full of daisies outside the window.  I enjoyed the sound of the creek before falling asleep last night. There was a thunderstorm with lightning galore.

Sunshine this morning.  The clouds came by and sprinkled a little but then the sun came back out to glisten on the fresh washed leaves of trees I can see out the other window.  Gilbert and I had a great walk along the creek.  Then i came in and made Laura and I stovetop expresso.  Gilbert went back to sleep.  He was a tired dog after all his running. about.  He does that. Gets me up at 6 or 7 then we walk and he comes back and has another nap.  I've had some yoghurt,  cold out of the fridge.  The Starbucks dark roast with honey and cream tastes good out of the stovetop expresso maker.  Theres  purple flowers interspersed with the daisies on the lawn out the window.

I read the Bible this morning.  The old testament verses were about David and Saul and Saul's daughter.  The new testament was about Romans and Paul condemning lesbianism and homosexuality.  He reminds me of the old Baptist minister where I grew up who used to use Sunday morning to harangue his audience condemming just about everything about modern society.  Paul wouldn't be happy in the 21st century.  In contrast I truly believe Jesus could be happy everywhere.  Jesus never talked about sex but he sure condemned the bad lawyers and the nasty money lenders.  Jesus had a real bee in his bonnet about people not caring for each other.  He was a 'generalist' whereas Paul certainly was a 'detail' man.  It's always appeared to me that the Bible is very clear that 'covetousness', 'greed', 'lying', 'hoarding' are all far worse crimes than anything sexual.  Even regarding 'adultery' Jesus was clear saying essentially what man or woman has not broken that commandment mentally. Importantly Jesus teaches that it is what we 'think' as much as what we 'do' that decides our fate.  I see many people, some church people, living what Henry Thoreau called 'lives of quiet desperation' because they won't live life out of fear.  Jesus celebrated the children and living life to the fullest.  He drew the line at addictions though and it is clear that he differentiated sensuality and spirituality.  More importantly he was against the 'self willed' man which indeed our society celebrates.

I was alone at sea a thousand miles from shore in a storm proud of my ability to handle my sails and keep my course in these most trying of times.  Yet even as I was enjoying my 'contribution' I was aware that the work of hundreds of others had gone into that journey. The myriad numbers of sailors before me, boat builders, sail makers, explorers had all taken a part in my little sail. As had my mother and father, grandparents, and brother. So many friends and teachers had contributed as had employers who had given me work to pay the enormous cost of expedition.  Even now as I sit in this RV I 'm appreciative of all the workmanship and invention that came together just to create this moving house.  I love the combustion motors, the generator and the truck.  I'm just a part of creation.  God is the great Creator but together we are a highly interconnected 'creation'.  I know that the Bible teaches me that I have to realize 'humility'.  I am a servant and must serve God and my fellows as others do with me.  The homosexuals and the heterosexuals caught up in the 'dirty' are as amusing at times as the century long monastic debate about which way a monk's haircut should be.  This is the time of the great 'ecclesiastical' wars of the "tonsure" in first few hundred years of Christianity.  If we didn't have sex to fight about we'd probably slip back to fighting about hair cuts.  Coiffed Christians, unite!

That said I'm pleased to invest in the ideas and genius that goes to making moving homes.  The technology of the standard home is very little changed in thousands of years.  Studying archeology I found indoor plumbing in the time of the Cretes.  City planning has certainly come a long way especially in the last hundreds of years but mobile homes whether the yacht or the RV are truly cutting edge technology.  I just love the chemistry of holding tank deodorants.  The stuff I'm using is a light year beyond anything we had a couple of decades ago.  Even the flushing mechanism is state of the art.  I'm sure that NASA's advances have contributed to the design of even this simple motorhome.  I picked up a solar panel at Canadian Tire and can't wait to set it up outside the RV.  Energy from the sun. I remember when I put my first ones on my sailboat how excited I was. These ones are a couple of hundred dollars, a fraction of the price of my first ones and much more powerful and simple.

There's some reason the a/c doesn't run with the generator plug into the wall. I have to check this out for sure the next time I've actually city electricity tonight in Salmon Arm.  I checked the fuses.  Everything works but the wall sockets though the bathroom one does. So it seems that some sockets may only work when I'm connected to actual city electricity though I thought when I plugged a 2500 generator into the RV it would be the same.  No problem I just ran an extension chord last night out the window to the generator and watched a DVD movie that way.

When Laura is ready the plan is to shoot cans out the back.  She's got her new firearms certificate and her pink 22 rifle while I've got the 30-30 I had into the gunsmith for cleaning and stopping the 'sticky' loading problem.

Given that this is the first time I'v e had this rig off the grid I'm really pleased.  I started out staying at the fabulous Cariboo Burnaby RV Site with all the facilities including pool and hot tub. Then we were up Canyon RV near Boston Bar in a site with water, electricity, cable, internet, and sewage at site.  The provincial park had showers and running water but this is really the first time we've been dependent on our own resources.  There is an outhouse but I'd rather use the tree, thank you.

The guys and I are planning a moose hunt this fall and I'm really pleased to think that this RV will make that trip all the more comfortable.  Part of the joy of aging is thinking up ways of doing the old things with more comfort and pleasure.  I'll never regret all those years of sleeping on the ground in tents but right now I can honestly say I really appreciated my luxurious bed last night.  Also, I know Laura preferred being in the RV  to being in the tent after the bear walked through the campsite

.

Okanagan Lake Provincial Campground Day 2

In the middle of the night Gilbert barked and I woke up to loud Shambala drum music and country western singing. I didn't blame Gilbert for barking.  Laura was woken and muttering about drunks. I was looking for pants and a flashlight. Gilbert and I made it outside. That's when Aliens appeared hovering over the campsite and whisked away the individual  who had made this 3 am "noise'. He was suitably anally  probed and had medical experiments done on him so he  will be unable to breed.  Perhaps the park patrol who has a trailer on site had something to do with it too. The music stopped and didn't resume. Gilbert and I had a pee.  Laura stopped muttering about drunks and hooligans and went back to sleep.
In the morning, Gilbert licked my face to let me know it was an hour past our normal 'walk time'. Just in case I'd forgotten.  We hiked together down the trail to the dog beach.  Lovely Douglas Fir, Ponderosa Pine and Cottonwoods along the way. I know because the nature signs said so.  Gilbert was ecstatic romping about without a leash at the dog beach.  When I threw wood into the cold water he said fetch.  Neither of us was much into that game so instead we climbed the ravine.  I meditated on a park bench for a bit. The view of the lake and surroundings was spectacular.  I even jogged some.  Amazing the ideas that one gets on holidays.
Back at the trailer Laura was up and had coffee made.  I collapsed in a lawn chair.  Since then I've read. Laura made egg and bacon sandwiches.  I actually got it into my head to go swimming. The water was really cold. "You're back really soon," said Laura. I had a hot shower in the RV and washed nature out of my hair with a suitable soap and conditioner.
I didn't like the sound of the neighbours.  A couple actually were shouting at each other for a trailer trash moment.  But mostly it was other people's kids.  One little princess wailed for an hour or two.  I'm sure she was saying, "I don't want to tent. If you're not going to put me up in a 5 star hotel in Hollywood I'd rather be home."  The neighbour's dog barks too. Gilbert can't understand why we discipline him so he's the nicest dog in the neighbourhood while this mutt attached to an obvious pot smoker was allowed to mouth off about being tied up and not allowed to attack the birds.
The birds were my buddies. I really like them.  Their voices are sweet.  I imagine them saying, "Look at those idiot humans. Remember when we were like them.."  "Yes now we have wings and voices like flutes.  We're better looking too. Listen to that awful baby and that obnoxious dog." I like the marmots and the chipmunks too. I can watch all this from the lawn chair.  Beats the office view.
The neighbours across the way are a lot better sort of neighbour than the ones nearest me. I think that neighbours improve the further away they are.  The kid beside me had a high pitched scream that did something to it's brain.  At a certain pitch the brain splattered all over their campsite. The birds thought this was a great idea too.  They only eat seeds and bugs until better alternatives appear. 
I took pictures and ate some cheese and crackers.  I'm really enjoying reading "Never Surrender - A solider's journey to the crossroads of faith and freedom" by LTG William G. Boykin, former commander of army special forces and founding member of Delta Force.
It's sunny. There's blue sky. The green around here is spectacular. The lake views are terrific.  I've tried my best to think like a CBC correspondent. The most I can criticize is one  idiot, a trailer trash couple,  one child and one dog out of hundreds in my immediate neighbourhood   I'm not even sure I could get myself worked up for a road rage moment. I think I'll take my motorcycle out for a cruise later.  Holidays are really affecting  my equilibrium.  It's so peaceful here I can understand why people go to war.

I am a Christian

I am a Christian. I am not the enemy.  I am concerned that I am portrayed as such by people whose animosity, intolerance and arrogance frankly concern me.  I was raised Christian in a Christian community, in a Christian country.  I believe in a loving God. I believe God cares for all of us as the sun shines on all.  I believe that Jesus was the son of God.  I believe 'son' of God doesn't mean God, the father, Hugh Heffner'd Mary Angelina Oprah Jolie Kidnman.  I believe that the Bible is a Holy Book with many layers of understanding. I believe that Jesus as son of God describes the relationship of transcendent God and imminent God.  I believe that Jesus taught us to Love God and Love Our Neighbour as Ourself. I believe that much of the teaching of Jesus Christ has been interpreted by man but that the Holy Spirit, the unseen hand of God guides these interpretations.  I believe that the work of God is unfolding in history.
I believe that the world of religion is evolving. Child sacrifice was a part of Jewish religion at the time of Abraham. It is still a part of many religions and acceptable to much of the secular world though this is often not admitted, just as slavery is often a part of other religions and the secular world but it goes under another name.  Child sacrifice in the Bible story of Abraham was rejected  though self sacrifice and the choice of a spiritual end instead of an immediate material end is something believers don't themselves see as 'sacrifice' per se.  I believe that doing one's duty and fullfilling one's obligations and being the best person one can be are more important than bestial temporal pleasure.  I like bestial temporal pleasure but I know that a one night stand sexually is not the in the ball park compared to a loving sexual relationship with time to explore in safety and security the great potential of relationship personally and sexually between consenting adults.  I believe that there is a scale and that much of greatest value comes at greatest cost while so much of value is found in utter simplicity.  Poverty of a monk is a blessing whereas poverty of a refugee is a curse.
I believe that the Bible is the history of God's unfolding plan to Jews and Gentile.  I believe that God is first and I'm second.  I believe that I am a creature and that God is Creator.  I believe that much of the law of the old testament and more importantly the new testament are laws for mankind that serve best because they represent the learning and revelation of generations.  I believe that much of the teaching of the old testament is historic and that it can only be understood today as metaphoric. The terrible teachings of Deuteronomy were kind in their day. The teaching of an 'eye for an eye' was 'merciful' when I could in the day enact a slaughter of your family and community for you hurting my pig.  Early laws limitted the 'retaliation' often of the powerful. The new testament and teaching of Jesus was a lesson of love that went beyond the local and embraced the divine. Much of the teaching of Jesus can be found in disparate religions, obviously, the love lessons of the Moslem, but also in the teaching of the Buddhists and the Hindus..
I believe that Jesus's teaching was universal but that he was speaking locally and that his teachings were understood by fine men, but limitted men, like Peter and Paul who themselves disagreed on what Jesus and therefore God wanted. Jesus was God's mouthpiece and I believe God acts through humans. I believe also, in the celtic, and scientific wisdom that God's manifestation is not only through the Bible, through religious tradtion and the history of man but also through nature and the revelation of science. I believe that DNA tells us of God. I believe that String Theory speaks of God. I believe that holographs speak of God.  I believe Fractuals speak of God. I believe that the whole of creation sings God's existence.  I believe that pseudoscience is not science. Much that has been presented as 'science' by media is not 'science' but 'scientism'. I believe 'scientism' is a very silly religion.
I believe in 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you'. I believe this is the golden law and it's found in Christianity but also in almost all religions of of the world.
I believe that some religions and some people still believe that they can 'win' for themselves without consideration of others."  This was considered 'gnosticism', a secret religion only for the special initiates who gained power over others by their arcane knowlege. I believe that the teaching of Jesus was exactly opposite to this idea of gaining power over others.   I believe that Jesus taught that we are to serve and that the 'big baby' or the 'bullies' aren't closest to God because they don't grasp that they have their 'reward' in the external world and that rewards in the internal world are of a different kind than the 'consumer mind' can grasp.
I am saddened that some idiots are chosen by media for media's purposes to 'represent' Christianity.  Christianity is millions of people with as many individual ideas about what it is to be Christian. The Creeds are the way to understanding what Christians have agreed is Christianity. These ideas are developing over time just as 'papal declarations have changed through the ages." Our understanding is growing.  Individuals and individual churches are often not representative of the whole. This isn't a bad reflection on them but media commonly likes to 'quote' individuals and churches out of context for it's own religion of 'sensationalism'.  The mainstream is as liberal and inclusive as the requirements of most nations in the world. Nations today war and there is much that is required of 'citizens' of nations that is not appealing when separated out from the whole. There are many 'laws' on the books and judges make horrendous errors as have Kings and Queens and Presidents and Prime Ministers. The errors of the media can be seen easily in a quick glance at the men and women they have celebrated over the years.  Jesus never said that Hitler was a good man but much of the world's media and most of the secular authorities supported him as they have most tyrants.  Human's are prone to error.  It's work not to.  We are easily lead astray , easily duped, and are often unprepared for the facts of life.
Being a Christian is being a member of a community that seeks to know God and God's will for us.  As Christians we believe that individually and collectively we are moving forward with a direction from what we call 'old Jerusalem' to a 'new Jerusalem".  There are many ideas about this. To date there has never been agreement in the Christian community at large as to the exact meaning of Revelations.
I have said that Christianity is too important to leave to fools.  I have said that we all must participate in our institutions. The idea that 'voting only encourages them' is false.  We lose if we let fools and bullies rule our political world and our religious world.  The church as changed often over the years but the essence of Christianity has flourished for thousands of years.
As a Christian I pray.  I read my Bible. I attend a church and talk with other Christians about  ideas, beliefs and behaviour.  I like the song by Crosby, Stills, Nash and young, that goes 'those who are on the road, must have a code, that they can live by.' I believe Christianity is that code.  I believe that there are many codes and that together we much compare and correlate our different codes. I am highly suspicious of people who claim not to have a code and especially those who would question my 'code' while claiming they don't have one.  I believe we all have codes and that we need to understand what our own code is.   I am a Christian but while I know the laws I personally may only be as good at following the laws as the average judge or lawyer is at being a 'law abiding citizen'.
I am very concerned that there are those who claim to be 'liberal' and claim to 'represent free speech' and 'freedom of religion' but only pay lip service to these ideas.  It is within the Christian community that 'freedom of religion' and 'freedom of speech' came to fullest light.  I see them and many core values of community and caring for others, especially those not like ourselves, and those less fortunate being lost with the concerted attack on Christianity and God and the very idea of an inner world joined and collectively calling for better conduct in the external world of manifestation.
I am a Christian.

Okanagan Lake Provincial Campground

The mighty Rockwood Mini Lite made it from Vancouver to Oliver without plummetting over canyons and down into bottomless ravines.  At Dessert Gem we stayed in what was a parking lot with excellent facilities though the water supply was weak. It was downtown. We had a pull through, water on site, sewage on site, cable and internet.  Laura and I enjoyed having steak and potatoes while watching tv.  In the morning I walked Gilbert back of the Oliver airport.  Breakfast and readying the trailer we made our getaway in record time.
Now to find a nice place in the heat and sunshine of the Okanagan to stay a few days. We wanted more trees  and a little bit of wilderness after downtown RV living.  We wanted to 'rough it'. We drove by quite a few signs for RV camping.  Most spots now are reserved but we thought we'd just see where the road took us.
That's how we lucked out at Okanagan Lake Provincial Campground. Normally reserved and full, they had two spots vacant. We took one.  It was an experience backing up for the second time.  Mostly I can't see little Laura and I certainly can't hear her.  We've never discussed this, so her hand movements don't make much sense. Just a whole lot of flapping and pointing. I find she sprints over to my window screaming something when she really wants me to stop.  I get out alot.  We discuss where the trailer is supposed to go. I get back in the cab of truck and back the trailer up where it wants to go.  Laura waves her arms frantically and then sprints up to the side window.  I stop. We get out and discuss where the trailer is supposed to go.
There are an amazing number of trees, bushes, and signs that are planted where they could obviously get hit. Laura was especially concerned when the picnic table looked like it was in jeopardy. I was losing patience with this whole backing up business about then when she said, "You don't want the picnic table to damage the back of the trailer."  I'd been thinking about how big I was and all this other stuff being irrelevant so I re thook things. After that moment of revelation I parked the trailer just fine.  You just do the opposite of what you think you should.
That's when we found that the batteries seemed hooped, the refridgerator and water pump weren't working, but the lights were on.  So I followed the electrical through then decided to ride my motorcycle into Summerland to get a new battery. I hadn't been able to use the generator because I didn't have the proper connector either.
I got a connector  and a battery charger. We'd never been roughing it in the trailer.  I didn't know a whole lot of stuff about how the RV works without city electrical and city water supply.  I even found a 25 gallon portable honey pot in the RV store just past Summerland (great folk!)  to extend the black water capacity of the backwoods RV experience.  It was an exciting ride back with this big tank behind me and the wind off the lake nearly making me airborn.
Back at the RV I changed the battery (I needed another one for the electric outboard motor for the canoe) anyway.  That didn't change things. Still no water and the refridgerator didn't work even though I'd got the pilot light going. I'd gonethrough the whole propane system too. Laura phoned the Travelhome folk and she told us that sometimes even if the fuse looked good it was best to change it. I'd looked at all the fuses.  We're still on warranty and I notified the folk who we are insured for roadside service. (They phone in the morning after we'd solved the problem. I'd forgotten we had this option.) I didn't have any more fuses. I took the truck this time Back into Summerland. I got a slew of fuses from Lordo Auto parts.
Now back at the RV I found Laura still roughing it. I walked 30 feet to fill up the blue 5 gallon jug so we had some water. There was a clean communal toilet house with showers but Laura was dreading the thought of waiting in line. I really like having my own loo handy. I don't mind peeing in the woods but this place had too many nearby families with small children.  I couldn't just pee against the tree outside the RV door without risk of major charges.
I changed all the fuses.  Relit the pilot lights.  Kept playing with the water pump and lines.  Amazingly the fridge first worked and then the water pump came on. Laura sounded and looked for a moment like the woman in the IKEA ad. It was that kind of moment.
There it was 7 pm and we had barbecued pork chops, boiled potatoes and water to wash.  Even the ice cream was saved.  To think how close we came to devolving backwards to our earliers days of tenting when we'd thought we'd crossed that threshold only to feel it all slipping away.
I actually used the communal shower this morning after walking Gilbert around this lovely campground. Most people are tenting but there are quite a few RVers like us.  We don't have cable tv or wifi. The cell phones work though.
There's no on site sewage so I've told Laura to ration her bowel movements that way I don't have to.  Worse comes to worse I'll get to try out my new hard plastic honey pot on wheels.  I've taken the 5 gallon jug of water I got in desperation yesterday and added it to the RV tank so we could 'haul' more water if the 35 gals isn't enough. The tap is across the lane from us, beside the garbage bins.  Laura had her bath in the RV.  She was in there most of the day. I ran the generator for 2 hours this morning charging up the batteries.  With the connector I can actually run the whole RV.   There's a rule you can only have the generator on 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours around dinner time here and I wanted to be sure the batteries were fine.  I tested them and they're full so I now have a new battery for the electric canoe motor.
Laura and I think our generator sounds better than the neighbours kids.  Gilbert has spent the day on a rope watching all the goings on of other dogs on ropes and the marmots that run across the lawn to taunt them.  I saw some quail too.
It was a struggle but after lunch I actually got on the bicycle and toured the park. I'd seen the 5 year olds on their bicycles so figured it was right up my alley.  Otherwise it's been alot of reading books and nodding off in the sun in lawn chairs.
On my big bike tour I saw other people in the water swimming.  One pink bikini was memorable. I noticed another fat grey haired old guy on a bicycle had stopped to admire the rustic lake view too.
Swimming seemed like a novel idea.    After i do some more lawn chair time and snacking I might consider that. I made a big bonfire last night. That was really in the spirit of things.  Maybe I'll swim tomorrow.  These decisions are sometimes so overwhelming that I find it best to take a nap.
I feel sorry for the poor tenters.  I know I once was one and there wasn't any room for a refridgerator. I saw this poor woman washing her dishes under the water tap and thought I had been there.  Today I  preferred watching Laura wash our dishes in the RV.  

Summer Sunshine

Waking with the sun, cat purring then growling for her breakfast, dog expectant, does circles when I crawl from bed, pull on sweats, he's bouncing, cat now standing by her bowl suspicious, I feed her, he's done more circle, open door, exit, his energy explodes down the dock, fresh air, it's so pretty in the sunshine, seagull calls overhead, mountains white capped, sound of city in the distance, Canada geese glide across the creek, water like oil, reflecting blue sky above.  Somewhere ahead I catch up with ecstatic dog, we walk carefully along the paths of the industrial shipyard, men arriving early, sounds of heavy machinery, power tools waking the morning, scents of industry, dog peeing on tall flower, somewhere he does his business.  I don't need to scoop.  Train passing ahead. Sounds louder as day older. We walk back, sun brighter, coffee calling, work ahead.  I don't have a bon mot or special saying for the day. I'll read my Bible and pray. I've already prayed on wakening, and again and again.  A prayer of protection.  Afraid. The gratitude coming through the aches and pain and fears and sorrows.  Thank you. Thank you.  The sunshine is a blessing. It's warmth was what I wanted beyond a shadow of doubt yet when it came I took it for granted, walked slouched shoulders, smiling a little at the antics of the dog and cat.  Spirits raised a little by the glory of clear sky.  Here it is, sunshine, warmth. What more can you want and when you have that will you not want more. Glory in the blessing of this day. Give thanks and celebrate the answer to prayers. Sunshine, warmth.  The rain and cold is gone this day.  Laugh , rejoice, give thanks.  Have another cup of coffee. Get with it. Rejoice. Give thanks. Celebrate. The sun shines down on all, even sinners and saints.  Be unto others as the sun to you.  Love and forgive your enemies.  Be honest, with your self as much as others.  The cat and dog have gone back to sleep.  Would you could.  Shower, shave, move along.  The sun is shining. It's what you asked. Celebrate. Thank you, Lord of Creation.