Friday I met my friend Barbara S. at the bakery in Yarnell on my way to a memorial service for a friend. We see each other every Sunday at church but we seldom have time for much conversation. The bakery has the best goodies and coffee and a cheerful fire burning. They bring the coffee pot around often and don’t seem to mind if you sit for an hour and just chat. Of course we wouldn’t do that if there were people waiting for a table. Someday I’ll tell you about Yarnell.
Saturday my friend, Audrey, was given a surprise 9
5th birthday by her son and daughter in law. I wrote a column about visiting all of them in Colorado Springs a couple of summers ago. Audrey was a good listener when I read excerpts from revising, RVing Alaska and Canada, out loud to see how they sounded.
Sunday was exciting. I walked out toward my office about 7 a.m. and a big coyote ran out of my yard. Then I realized there were six or seven of them. I obviously startled them and they took off toward the basin. They were moving so fast in the dim light, they looked like ghosts. We
often hear gangs of them howling in the early morning but seldom see them.
I drove from the bottom of the curvy mountain all the way to church in Yarnell in the snow. Not much, maybe two or three inches, but fresh and slippery, maybe the “all wheel” Astrovan kept me from sliding. The parking lot was a snowy mess but nobody got stuck or fell. I think the last time I drove through snow was in Alaska!
Sunday night I joined the campground and local throng for the Ice Cream Social we have every week. People were there from all over the country, from all walks of life, and various levels of RVing, as they are every week. Friends requested I bring my “RVing Alaska and Canada” book for them to buy as they are leaving for Alaska in the spring. This is to be a cruise. Within a couple of years, they will RV their way north to Alaska. That prompted a long discussion on Alaska. I always hate that but somebody has to sacrifice!
Friends John and Marie came home to visit with me for an hour or so and as usual, we had a good time jawing and laughing. Pretty soon it was Monday and time to connect with the computer again.
In hunting for something on the Internet, I ran across this question, “Who do you write like? Ah, this could be fun…C. S. Lewis…Elizabeth Barrett Browning…Mark Twain. After putting an example of my writing into this site, it sent me a note that I write like Chuck Palahniuk who wrote, “Who Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Hmmm. That’s not a bad thing; it was made into a movie. However, I’ve been accused of living “in one” more often than “flying over one.” Ah well. Hope your week went well. God Bless until next week.
Minshall’s RVing Alaska and Canada and RVing Adventures with the Silver Gypsy books are available thru Amazon & P.O. Box 1040, Congress, AZ 85332.
At 45, Widow Minshall began 20 years of solo full-time RVing throughout Alaska, Mexico, and Canada. Sharlene canoed the Yukon, mushed sled dogs, worked a dude ranch, visited Hudson Bay polar bears, and lived six months on a Mexican beach. She lectured at Life on Wheels, published six RV-related books and wrote a novel, “Winter in the Wilderness.”
Leave a Reply