Holiday

My absolute favourite place in the world is my backyard.  When I need a vacation, I go to the back yard, usually to the gazebo to read.  This weekend it was so hot that I decided to move my vacation spot slightly to the south-west to read my book and dream away the day.

I camped here:

I read this book:

This series is a MUST read.  It's the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.  The first one is called One for the Money.  I'm up to Smokin' Seventeen.  These books make me laugh, sometimes snort, outloud.  Also, I have a massive crush on Ranger, a character you meet around book #4.  Stephanie Plum is an inept, but lovable bounty hunter who gets into the most ridiculous, but somehow believable situations.  When I get an Evanovich book, I don't put it down until it's done.  I finished this one Sunday afternoon.

I refreshed myself with this:

Brisk lemonade.  Yummy.












I was occasionally distracted by the likes of this:

This is DH after a cannonball.  Sometimes I got lucky and the splash reached me.










This was a perfect holiday weekend. 


PS.  The Great-Granny-Real-Food Thing update: 
Tuesday's attempts:
Breakfast -- banana, oj, raw almonds
Snack -- piece of cheese, dried apricots
Lunch -- cheese on a bun, broiled (I dipped in ketchup though, so I slipped there), carrot sticks, water
Snack -- Yesterday I was famished in the afternoon.  Well, not really famished but I really, really wanted my usual granola bar.  Instead I had about 3 handfuls of cashews.  I think a single serving is about 12.  Oops.
Supper -- chicken and veggie stirfry with basmati rice.  I only used olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and ginger on it.  Girl declared it the best rice dish ever!  So I know MY great granny likely wouldn't have had rice and a stir fry in Northern Ireland, but somebody's great granny likely did.
Bed time snack -- popcorn (with butter).

It's March Break. I had all kinds of illusions about how I would spend my week at home. I told everyone I wasn't doing anything -- just staying at home and vegging out. Well, that lasted one day. I spent yesterday following my plan. I laid around on the lazy boy chair. I watch soaps I haven't seen in years, I finished my book, I accomplished nothing -- exactly according to plan....and I was pretty miserable, uncomfortable even. I went to bed completely bewildered by my lack of joy. How could this be? How could I not be thrilled; I wasn't even remotely tired?
And then it dawned on my early this morning...I am not a "do-nothing girl." That is a foreign state of being. Idle nothingness is a great idea, but it doesn't sit well with me. I am most comfortable being busy, accomplishing something. I blame my parents. Even reading, the closest I come to just sitting, is about doing something, learning something, finishing something. I know, it's sick. Who wouldn't give anything to be able to just relax and do nothing? Well me, I guess. I did that yesterday and now I have a long to-do list and I am thrilled....

I don't do spontaneous. I am a planner. I need time to process and think. I make no apologies for not EVER being a last minute fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kinda girl.
So imagine my panic when DH appeared home on Wednesday afternoon and said "can we (meaning me) be ready to take the kids to Niagara Falls/Marineland in about 1/2 an hour. And I'd like to surprise them!"
Yikes! My packing lists, my carefully co ordinated outfits, my multiple shoes, my household chores, my suitcase(s).... But I said "sure, just keep them busy, and you stay out of my way..." Well we were packed and on the road and kept up the surprise until we reached the Falls themselves. I tried really hard to keep my shoulders from tensing to my ears and my voice from squeaking like a too-wound watch.

The other things to consider here are that I really am uncomfortable with 401 driving, with large crowds and with not having a PLAN! No room booked? "No worries" says DH we'll find something. Something? Something (voice shrill and sqeaky!) 'cause I am not doing motel-with-someone-else's-hair-in-the-sink -- you already know about my camping issues...

The vacation was wonderful. We got a great room at a Best Western. The kids were thrilled with the surprise. I really enjoyed the whales at Marineland and Magic Mountain roller coaster. We had a great day as a family today.

I'd like to be able to say I conquered my fears and am much more flexible-see-how-it-goes after this experience. But this is not a novel -- I am still the planner, will still be uncomfortable in 4 lanes of traffic and large crowds. But once again I have reminded myself that I can do anything...(well, almost anything -- no way could I do Roach Motel!)

I don't get it. Camping, that is. Most of my friends disappear to a campground of some sort for a few days or weekends each summer. It's not that I'm anti-camping, I just truly fail to see the attraction.
We'll start with tenting. Can't see the fun in sleeping on the ground (or air mattress) in a mosquito (bear?) filled bush, peeing in a hole/latrine/public washroom, cooking my own food and fending off blackflies (bears?). I don't get it.
Even RV or trailer-type camping is beyond my comprehension (though certainly more within my realm of possibility than a tent). Still have to cook my own food, still have to clean up after everyone, still mosquitos (bears?). I don't get it. If I need a holiday it better not be spent living in the same conditions as someone struggling in a third world country (only they don't have to consider bears!)
So I don't camp. I do, however, long for a 5-star with a spa 'cause my holiday DOES include a massage and pedicure!