Simply, Lesa

A small group of us got a jump on the RTR campsites and are setting up a Klean Air site mostly for health reasons (some breathing n athsma related).  We are asking others to respect our no smoking, gentle use of campfire, and please leash dogs one of our friends has severe allergies. I happen to be fairly social and love cooking on a small fire so my van is kind of the wind break for our sitting or gathering area.  You will see our "entrance" of sorts by the solar lighted palm tree... The first weekend of the month, Saturday the 6th of Jan., as is my habit, I will put on big pot of coffee to share.  Feel free to join me and bring some breakfast item if you feel so inclined.  I dont usually know what breakfast will be until it happens - last month we had a kind of overly toasted (sorry folks) cobbler. The pictures that follow are the great view and starter campsite

Years ago, while recovering from a nervous breakdown and re-building my lifestyle, I was challenged with the idea of traditions.  Having been raised in the Worldwide Church of God, our view of holidays was rather different from mainstream religons.  As I worked with the subject of traditions, I realized that the holidays of Thanksgiving and Sader dinner (NTBMO to those in the WWCG) were most important to me and I continue to celebrate those in a thoughtful way, even if alone.  After that I realized that traditionscould be many different things, some people have birthday traditions or family vacation traditions so I began developing my own Personal Traditions that I would like to share with my children and others....so I made up my First Weekend per month dinner or breakfast that I would make special and share with others (even by phone or skype); and my Girlie Time on Wednesday..... What is Girlie Time you may ask...a time for women or girls to share pampering in lighthearted, play...

Its raining so much we just had to come inside...how kewl!

I have so much to catch you up on here on the blog. its amazing how much can happen in 1 week. One short week ago I arrived in Quartzsite Arizona and met Bob and the other RTR campers. I had driven 1250ish miles in 3 days and 2 nites. After hardly driving for a number of years and getting through a very slim financial month of November. I was surprisingly comfortable with the van and even slept well my two nites in Walmart parking lots along the journey. I think I am adjusting pretty well, I have never been in the desert before. My skin gets dried out, and everything and I mean everything is dirty. On Monday myself, Bob and "crew" moved about 20 miles to Ehrenberg, AZ only a few miles from Blythe, CA. I dont prefer it here as it is more barren and more wide open. It has been windy, especially today as we wonder if the 40-60 percent chance of rain will affect us. There is a lot of dust blowing around. I am attaching as many photos of my last few weeks...Quartzsite, ...

What a week! Good, satisfying, worrysome and well..just another adventure. Monday I cleaned and washed dog beds.  I made a natural tick repellant which helped some.  The dogs love to run n play and there are plenty of bugs in the country. I have been toying with the positive statements and I am statements this week.  That and the idea that we all are one and how does that fit in when we are faced with people who are manipulative or untrustworthy or just unpredictable?  I learned at a rather young age, that arguing or fighting weren't acceptable.  If someone believes something, no one will change thier mind, maybe the Great One will allow them an experiance that might result in a change. But no struggle is worth trying to do the Big Guys job.  I have learned, at the expense even of a physical scar, to relax into times of conflict.  To sit with them and through them.  To take what resonates from the event and to leave the rest.  I try and r...

What lovely surprises this morning, hopefully you can see the pictures. After a stinky nites visit of a skunk waddling through! Thank God the dogs didnt get sprayed. lol. We woke to the beauty of new blossoms and lots of buds...rainy season here will sprout all kinds of interesting things. Anyway the big sprawly plant hanging at the dining area though artistically beautiful in form with its arms and tenicles kinda stumped me as to why it was chosen to decorate a house - you know nice enough but why, and this morning I learned why! The delecate white blossom and 3 other buds to open soon - simply lovely. Okay it was worth watering. (smile) I noticed many buds about ready to bloom this morning, should be interesting to see what surprises of beauty visit next. I also want to share one of my favorite chuckle-blogs...Sunday is my cappachino day, with or without milk (homemade nut mylk or raw neighbors animal milk), my Sunday morning brew gets cinnamon (sometimes fresh picked-gee I am ...

This week housesitting life has improved - well clarifying agreements through email do help calm the nerves and I havent seen anymore snakes or unwelcomed critters since Saturday. Monday I totally forgot was Labor Day until I tried to call my credit union in the states, so I changed plans, fiddled with my SIM cards and internet connections, talked with my son about his new van woohoo and washed my hair! Tuesday the farm worker came extra early, his ride wasnt available so he had to walk the entire distance and didnt want to be late. A neighbor brought me fresh cows milk so I made comfort food tomato bisque soup for my lunch. I shared lunch catching up with friends online. Then read most of the rainy afternoon. Wednesday the farm worker arrived at his more normal time. I made a torte of fresh eggs and herbs and shared pejibyes with the dogs for breakfast. Then after taking care of some long overdue business, the table started moving. I felt the earthquake pretty strongly although I...

KISS - or Keep It Simple Silly (okay i changed it from stupid because why call anyone that really). I remind myself all the time to K.I.S.S. everything...problems, relationships, emergencies, lunch, emails, blogging... you get the idea. This past weeks recap: I am housesitting in San Vito, Costa Rica. Anxiously awaiting my turn to travel to the USA and my next adventure - full-time rving, im so excited about exploring the US. At times it is challenging to arrange details from a distance altho with android phones and internet SIM cards nearly anything is possible. Some of you have friended me on Facebook and are able to view pictures and posts. I am not a huge fan of public media although it does help us stay somewhat connected even if only in a driveby sort of way. This past week I dealt with a scorpion, a poisonous snake, mice or rats, bats, and a hurricane induced lightening storm! As well as trying to get my travel plans finalized. Needless to say I was simply exhausted yeste...

It is a beautiful and sunny morning here in Rio Claro.  Robert, Adam, the dogs and I are chillin today.  Robert calls Sunday his "chinese laundry" day and he has his clothes all washed and hanging on the line.  He also takes the Big Dogs for a walk out in the jungle of the farm.  When I visit the farm, Sunday morning is my turn to fix breakfast.  I made French Toast and New England Poor Folks Syrup for breakfast which we all enjoyed. I am working on some computer projects today and testing them as well as preparing for my housesitting assignment in San Vito.  I think I be going to San Vito on Wednesday and staying about 3 weeks.  During which time I will be working out the details of my plans to become a full-time RVer in the United States.

I have been in Granada, Nicaragua for almost a month now.  I came here to improve my Spanish and get away by myself for a little while.  I thought I would combine this trip with checking out a location for possibly getting residency and buying a small piece of land to live on.   I gave up.  I am tired.  Tired of people taking advantage of other people.  Tired of the rules and regulations.  Tired of being viewed as the Rich Gringa when I am dirt poor and seen as a second class citizen in my own country.  I am tired of living such a hard life.  It seems each time I help someone I am expected to keep helping or to be something or someone that I am not.  I do not want to do this any longer.  Last year I wanted to become a full-time rver though I had some unpleasant experiences that cost me my savings and a chunk of my heart and left me deflated and running back to the familiarity of Costa Rica.  I never settled in in this past y...

Well I am finally getting caught up on my to do list! I have been learning how to operate my new cellphone. On the list was to find an easier way to blog using my phone. This morning I think that I finally got it...so this is the official test post

I find it is so much easier to make a decision when I have more information... of course a lot of the information most of us need in life is information about ourselves.  You know stuff like what we really want, where we really want to go, or who we really want to be this time, this week or today.... once we have that information we can make better fitting decisions more quickly because we know what we want.  Try negotiating without knowing - guess who wins --- yup the other guy! I happen to love pens and paper, especially unlined thick or handmade paper and good dark black pens or sharpies... call me wierd if you like, I just happen to like them.  The swirl of a pen stroke on paper is exciting.   When I find myself in those times of indecision, I just mark up paper like its going out of style.  I write lots of stuff down, ideas, little sketches, doodles and the like and rambling thoughts...I keep at it until I am finished.  Yes, there comes a time when I...

A long time ago, during a life transition, I was staying in a challenging household situation.  I began walking an hour every single morning, rain or shine in order to make this situation work for me, because changing the situation was not immediately possible.  After perhaps 6 months of walking in the dark, the cold and even the rain a car stopped, the window rolled down and the woman inside spoke to me.  She told me that she had been watching me every morning for those 6 months and that she thought I was a very courageous person.  The encouragement of her viewpoint kept me going another 6 or 8 months longer.  I looked up the word courage in the dictionary.Websters defines courage as:  mental or moral strength to  venture , persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.   At that time, I did not consider myself very courageous.  I had just left my exhusband which resulted in my loosing contact with my 2 young children.  I felt be...

So I tried to type a blog post with my newer Android phone a few days ago, typed it twice and lost it twice.... I gave up.  Sorry to disappoint you. So I came to Granada, Nicaragua a couple weeks ago.  I wanted to explore Nicaragua again as a possible place to set up residency because I live and travel on a limited budget from the United States.  I am disabled though it is not physically obvious.  I found a hostel that has a month long package deal for a private room, 2 meals a day and spanish lessons 5 days a week.  My adult son wanted to tag along, so we bought the package and traveled by bus from the southern pacific coast of Costa Rica to Granada.  Not a bad trip, with comfortable air conditioned buses, movies and dinner and the driver helps with the passport process at the border crossing. I had been to Granada 3 times before and remember liking it alright.  IT IS HOT here! OMGosh HOT! and there are sooooo many more tourists than I remember. ...

What is lurking in the shadows?  I was chatting with another woman this morning and we mentioned that often the stuff in the shadows is the stuff we are scared of.  Of course when we have the courage to get the flashlight and get closer and take an actual look at the 'monster', it might actually be something good --- I was told an indigenous story about a shaman's training which involved a morphing into an animal spirit to investigate other realities.  During his training a young shaman was frightened by the flapping winged, clawed, and fanged monsters that were trying to kill him.  Later the elderly shaman teacher encourged the student to take another look while in his human form.  The terrified student needed much support and encouragement before finally pulling up the emotional strength and armed with a torch of light, he timidly investigated.  Returning with smiles and stories of wonder and joy at finding that the 'monsters' were actually beautiful butt...

I have been in a wandering mode for a number of years.  Mentally wandering, attempting to discover either my mistakes or a new goal in life or looking for something and not really knowing what that something was.  Physically wandering because nothing has felt like home, or felt safe enough to relax or be completely myself.  Physically trying on new locations, new situations to see if a 6 month house sit fit - nope too long a time alone, without communication, with robberies it just wasn´t safe.  Physically re-connecting with my parents to find out that I didn´t know them nor did they know me.  I had a good time with them until one of them got ill and a lot of things changed, I tried to find a solution to what they told me where their needs. Unfortunately something wasn´t satisfactory on some level and they changed plans.  I got a lovely goodbye hug and even a kiss on the cheek as they left my life for the final time.  I physically changed locations aga...