Simply, Lesa

Refrigeration or coolers or ice or don't ice or dry ice or 12 volt coolers or way expensive 12 volt refrigerators or low-tech zeer pots or .... This was a simpler decision once - living off grid with no electricity and minimal at best solar or battery operated stuff.  Living as a raw vegan - growing my own food in a land of year round growing seasons.  Add to this my love of all things natural and home made...and 2 years spent living with NO plastic (there is another story for another day) So now, living in my Simply Van - I have chosen not only a mobile lifestyle but also a life inside a dark colored passively solar heated (when you want it or not) small metal box with windows!  I live inside an oven.  Yes, I can, thankfully, open all of my windows.  Unfortunately not every van can do that.  I have chosen not to install a rooftop vent or an air conditioner.  I haven't added Freon to the air conditioner system that came with the van and I don't us...

Ive been busy and ive been sick÷well, actually I have asthma.  my asthma can be brought on by excertion/excersize, food alergies, cold air temps or mold n mildew.  ive been helping a dear friend clean up thier stored stuff that had been thier life in a 31ft motorhome.  shortly after their live in and elderly mother passed, the troublesome motorhome died as well.  it has been nearly three years that my friend has kept the old life in storage.  it was time to dig out and bring her inportant things back to life.  we have been handling the project in stages.  some items were stored at friends homes, some at a storage facility and some in a utility trailer.  we began this project by going after the utility trailer which was stored a couple hours away.   i recall my exhusband and I having a travel trailer at one time. i dont, however, recall if I ever drove with it...so, i pulled up my proverbial bootstraps and off we went into utility tra...

I just found these kewl playing cards.  They would make a good gift as well as teaching aid for all you like minded naturalists out there! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/permaculture-playing-cards

I'm back in Simply Van and traveling! It seems like its been so long.   New York State is filled with lovely and friendly small towns.  I was glad to have the opportunity to meet and make some lovely and hopefully lifelong friendships while I was visiting and having work done to my van.  Cindy and her grandchildren, Rashaun and Davian were lots of fun to hang out with. We shared healthy food preparation ideas, organic and local food gathering from farms and farmers markets, and even

Hey take a look at this!  My friend Cindy's Etsy store is offering Simply Lesa blog readers a 20% discount on all purchases during August!  Cindy talks about her creative process on her blog - check it out here: http://bellycrochet.weebly. com/blog.html Cindy has some lovely jewelry, belly dancing costumes, clothes, assesories that are all handmade unique works of art!  And her prices are truely reasonable.  Check out the Belly Dance costumes and more... Help support cottage industries and all things handmade! To get your discount, simply type "SimplyLesa" into the coupon code at check out!  You can find her store here:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/ BellyCrochet?ref=search_shop_ redirect Simply, Lesa

EDIT: Fri Aug 8 to reflect requested change, delete double cut and paste error and spelling error. (Sorry and darn I'm starting to think blogging from a tablet is harder than a laptop) Over this past weekend, a 2013 Winter RTR and Vannin buddy came to visit with me.  Yes, I am still in Upstate New York.  It seems that God wants me here a little longer, things just keep coming up - and incredible things at that.  But then I am not the only person who has these kinds of things happen.  Many people seem to understand about coincidences that aren't really coincidences. Anyway, as I was thinking over my upcoming travels, my son called to ask me a favor--to please have my brakes checked before I leave this area. Good thing too, because I needed rear brakes!  I am so glad that I had found a local mechanic shop that I feel is fair and reliable and I scheduled an appointment with John at Swift Automotive. He fit me into his schedule and

I'm not a stupid person.  I even know a thing or two about computers and electronic gadgets --- geez I was a subcontractor for IBM even!.... I built databases before Access was user friendly.....  I KILLED off the Big Blue F (Facebook) from my online life - and geez now the Big Red G+ is trying to take over ----- seriously!

Tomorrow will be pay day for me.  I will see a counselor again today - perhaps I will talk more about that soon...I'm not sure yet how much of that info I want to keep private.  I learned last night that I will be getting a visit from a northern RTRer on Saturday.  I will try to find some touristy and interesting as well as budget friendly (preferably FREE) thing to do while she is here.