The last eight posts have been sitting in my laptop for months! The pictures still need to be attached. When I finish that, Greg will be tasked with posting those and this, for now, final post. I am putting Kathleen's Window on hiatus. I don't know if I will come back to it later, or eventually start a new blog as our focus changes.
We are still on the road, and plan to be nomads for the foreseeable future. Home and hearth, though at times tempting, are not calling to us. Of, course not having a sticks and bricks home, would make that a huge decision, should we choose to make it. We still desire our nomadic life. Our first two years we were immersed in wide ranging explorations all over North America. After completing our two-year sabbatical, we chose to continue this lifestyle, but that required changes due to a baby granddaughter, elderly parents, and finances. We became official Florida residents with a legal address provided by our mail forwarding company. Then we settled into East Coast life and workcamping jobs that would allow us to rotate back to Maryland on a regular basis. That first summer after our granddaughter's March birth, we took our first paid workcamping job at Geneva Point Center on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. In two weeks we will be completing our third summer here in the Big North Woods.
My posts were much more prolific when we were constantly traveling and exploring new places our first two years The first year of workcamping we still had new experiences to share. Since then, my posts have become fewer and fewer as we settled into the routine of familiar places, people, and jobs. The past year was one of loss, stress, and routine, interspersed with the spirit lifting joy of our lively, beautiful granddaughter. Both of our Dads passed away within a few months of each other and our work schedules left us little time to grieve those losses as well as assimilate all the other smaller changes and losses this year. I feel older, less fit, more fragile, and stuck in routines that we took up the nomadic life to break out of.
The pleasure I felt in writing and sharing on this blog went away. It began to feel like a chore. As evidenced by my posts sitting and waiting in my laptop, a chore that didn't get done. So, after these posts are published I will stop. At least for now. I have loved sharing with family, friends, new found friends, and strangers who stumbled upon my literary ramblings and photos. I hope that I have entertained, informed, and perhaps inspired others to take up the nomadic quest. I pray that my words and photos have done justice to the beauty and sometimes quirkiness of the continent we call home.
What's next? November 12, 2017 marks the five year anniversary of our launching out into RV full-timing after selling our home. My life has always seemed to naturally break down into five year segments. It's time for a change. While continuing to live as nomads, Greg and I are seeking a shift in emphasis to periods of volunteering in places and with organizations where we feel we can make a substantial difference, and periods of overseas travel. Both will allow us to continue to rotate back to Maryland to see family. I think it will be a good fit between travel, with its new experiences, and volunteering with the opportunity to give back. So, adios for now. I anticipate that I will be moved to start blogging again, but, start fresh as we start fresh travels and experiences. I will be sure to link any new blog addresses on this blog, and for those who I am Facebook friends with, you'll be the first to know!
October 28, 2017
Well, the posts are finally going up on the blog. We finished out our time at Geneva Point Center, spent three weeks back in Maryland with family and have now completed a week in Kentucky at Amazon. Our plans for the future are starting to fall into place, and our biggest change was trading in our too small View for an Airstream trailer! Our towed vehicle, the little silver egg, had to be traded in for a pickup truck to tow the trailer. We are exhausted from picking up the trailer at the dealer in New Jersey and transferring all our belongings from the View and then heading straight to Kentucky. We arrived Saturday afternoon and started work on Monday. In our “spare” time we are getting settled into the trailer. We are so happy with our choice. The Airstream is perfect for us! The view from Kathleen's Window will continue to change, as it has for almost five years. The new windows are larger, the interior newer, but the residents are the same, and we are still loving the nomadic life the blog began chronicling on November 12, 2012. Goodbye for now. We are heading out for more adventures!
Enjoy some photos from our beautiful summer in New Hampshire on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee