Wednesday, October 13, 2010

A GRAY DAY LEADS ME TO A WALK ON THE BEACH

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GRAND BEND MARINA

Morning's graying sky & cooler air whispered an early warning through the pine trees.  Soon the warmer orange & gold early October days will give way to the encroaching stormy & colder Witches of November.  Wind & rain will strip the trees of their leaves leaving them stark & barren.  A gloomy foreboding grayness will settle over the land & the great & heavy white trodden boots of Old Man Winter will soon come marching themselves across the countryside.

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The mobility van kept me busy this morning in & around the towns of Exeter & Grand Bend.  Even managed to have myself a short walk on a now deserted teen beach.  The bikinis are all long gone as are the Volleyball players, couples strolling hand & hand along the boardwalk & the kids with their sand shovels & shrieks of beach delight.

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Not all the people I transport with the mobility van are elderly folks & it always hits home for me when I'm helping someone my own age or younger.  Whether it be stroke victims, car accident injuries, or those born with physical difficulties, it is always a stark reminder for me how lucky I am to still have all my faculties. (I'm sure some of you would argue with that:)  At any time, that could be me or any one of us, confined to a wheelchair just like the people I transport.  When I drove a mobility school bus years ago & Kelly was the aide on the bus it always made me think about the fairness of life.  One of the small children on our bus was blind, another small boy was twisted & bent so badly he would never be free of his wheelchair.  Others had mental difficulties.  These little people never had a chance right from day one.  It was a bus of broken children.

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Tomorrow is another fairly full day on the road & once again I look forward to being out & about.  Maybe, with a bit of luck, I might get put a wee smile on somebody's face:)) 

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And just a reminder that photos from all our RV travels plus photos from our summers at home can be found at our Picasa Web Album site which is located here...PICASA WEB ALBUMS.  Bryce, Zion & The Grand Canyon,  City of Rocks State Park NM, Ghost Towns, Canyon Hikes, California Boondocking, Borrego Springs, Quartzsite, etc. etc. etc.  Lots of photos of lots of places travelled.  I also have another photo site at SMUG MUG.  Because of the countless thousands of photos I have it has been extremely difficult for me to get them all organized but every once & awhile I go back to my Smug Mug site & try to render some semblance of order out of everything.  For any RV’ers with a camera just starting the lifestyle whether it be Snow Birding or Fulltiming, I strongly suggest right from the beginning you come up with some sort of organization system for all the photos you are about to gather otherwise you will quickly become overwhelmed.  If you are a daily camera person like me, once you fall behind it is almost impossible to get yourself caught up again.  Had I been set up & organized from day one I would not have the huge photo disorganization that I now have!!  Oh well, it's not like I ever go back & really look at any of the photos anyway.  Guess it's just knowing the pics are there if I ever have a need to reference them. 

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AND, JUST TO FINISH THE GRAY DAY OFF WITH A TOUCH OF COLOR......(we live a few hundred yards in from those trees on the left)

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A Special Poem For Older Folks....author unknown. 

SPECIAL POEM FOR OLDER FOLKS
A row of bottles on my shelf
Caused me to analyze myself.
One yellow pill I have to pop
Goes to my heart so it won't stop.

A little white one that I take
Goes to my hands so they won't shake.
The blue ones that I use a lot
Tell me I'm happy when I'm not.
The purple pill goes to my brain
And tells me that I have no pain.

The capsules tell me not to wheeze
Or cough or choke or even sneeze..
The red ones, smallest of them all
Go to my blood so I won't fall.
The orange ones, very big and bright
Prevent my leg cramps in the night.

Such an array of brilliant pills
Helping to cure all kinds of ills.
But what I'd really like to know...........
Is what tells each one where to go!

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

Until one has loved an Animal, part of their soul remains un-awakened.

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS

http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

5 comments:

  1. Your work in the mobility van must be very rewarding to you. Being able to give help to so many folks in need of transportation seems like a wonderful job.

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  2. Those trees are truly gorgeous~! Thanks for the reminders about orgainzing photos. I am learning to handle them immediately as well. I do wish Picasa would let us group photos into albums or collections. I keep asking. Have you tried as well?

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  3. I totally understand about the people younger than us who have "issues"..Our nephew is confined to a wheelchair, cannot walk...cannot eat...can hardly talk...and he is only 46 years old....How blessed we are....and life is good!

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  4. Your touching story about the 'broken kids' on the bus makes me realize how very lucky we all are to have made it this far in life and to be able to enjoy the fun and excitement of RV'ing.

    It really puts into perspective all of our common trivial concerns and complaints (serious health problems excluded).

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  5. That is quite a story Al of you and Kelly helping the kids on the bus... an instant reality check for sure! Is that how you and Kelly met?

    Love the picture of the light house at Grand Bend!

    John
    RVlifeonwheels

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