WTF Wednesday: Nana Makes a Guess

WTF Wednesday is a semi-regular feature of this blog. It documents the things that have made me pause, slap my forehead and say, "What the f**k!"  Well, that and I just like saying WTF. I'm retired. I don't have to watch what I say anymore. I'm not any one's role model.

Last week the spouse and I took a break from our grueling life of retirement and headed to the coast.  It was the maiden voyage for our new trailer, Stanley.  

Here's Stanley enjoying the woods...

The great thing about a trailer is that you can leave it in camp and go explore.  Okay, we didn't do a lot of exploring but we did dig through the treasures at Aurora Architectural Salvage,

and watch for whales,  (we spotted two rolling in the surf just off shore), and visited breweries.  

We had lunch at Rogue Brewery in Newport, Oregon and that's where I found myself slapping my forehead and muttering "What the f#%k?"  

I had no trouble finding the restrooms.  There was a sign

with doors on either side....

What the f#%k?  Which one would you choose?  I made a wild guess and bolted into "barley."  Whew!  There were no urinals and there were little containers bolted inside the cubicles for sanitary disposal.  I think I made the right choice.  I still have no idea why females are barley and males are hops.

How Our New Baby Got His Name

Several weeks ago the spouse and I went to the RV show in Portland.  We just went to look, but several hours later we left as owners of a 26 foot Airstream Flying Cloud trailer.  We returned to Portland the following week with our truck to haul it home.

The trailer currently resides in the spouse's workshop.  We visit it,  and sometimes sit inside and chat while we admire all the gleaming surfaces.  Slowly we are transferring equipment from the old 5th wheel to the new trailer, and hopefully getting rid of all the miscellaneous junk that seems to accumulate when we travel.  Later this month we will take it on its maiden voyage.  I have several grant writing assignments that I have to complete before we can cut the tethers and hit the open road.

Originally we had planned to go to the Utah National Parks and the Grand Canyon.  Now the spouse says he doesn't want to tow the trailer over the mountains this late in the season, so we will be driving south along the Oregon coast.  

The Airstream draws a lot of attention.  Hauling it home from Portland people waved at us as they passed and at rest areas fellow travelers stopped to chat with the spouse as he meticulously checked all around the trailer at every stop.  Once we got it home it didn't spend much time in the open air.  The spouse had cleaned out space in his workshop and safely tucked it in under cover.

We hadn't been home long when the neighbor leaned over the fence and said, "Did I see a new trailer?"

The spouse proudly declared, "Yes, we bought an Airstream.  Want to see it?"

The neighbor didn't waste time hopping over the fence.  He was dazzled by the shiny aluminum, clean lines, and well-designed interior.

"Wow," he said, standing in the kitchen looking down the hall to the bedroom, "If I were a mouse living in a thermos, this is exactly what it would look like."

...and that's how our trailer got his name.  We call him Stanley, like the thermos!

Vashonista Celebration

Lavender Hill Farm

This is the fourth year that I have traveled to Vashon Island in October to spend a weekend with five intelligent, wise, and amusing women.  We first met through our blogs and then, with amazing trust and faith, we met in person at Lavender Hill Farm.  Six strangers brought together by the Internet and their love of writing.  Now we meet every year for several days of fun and laughter.   This year we were able to stay for five nights because finally all six of us are retired.  We are now old friends.  We call ourselves the Vashonistas.

Five nights and six days spent exploring the island, talking, laughing, and writing.  This year we decided we wanted to write together and Deb gracefully agreed to facilitate a writing circle.  

In our writing circle

On our last day of writing Deb read us the poem, "The Summer Day" by Mary Oliver and gave us the last two lines as a writing prompt:

     Tell me, what is it you plan to do
     with your one wild and precious life?

This is what I wrote:

What do I plan to do with my one precious life?

F*@k if I know!

My friend Jocelyn lost her husband two weeks ago.  In April, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  He retired July 1.  In August he was gone...the Universe reminding me that there isn't always a tomorrow.  The week after his memorial service the spouse and I went to the RV show in Portland, not to buy, but to look.  We came home with a new Airstream trailer.  Later this month we're headed to the Utah National Parks and to the Grand Canyon.  I'm not waiting for tomorrow.  The time to do what I want is now:  to spend more time with my grandchildren, to listen to my 88-year-old father's stories, to watch the sun set on the ocean.  There's no time for disagreeable people, no time to waste.  Life is good, and I want to bask in the light.

Read what my fellow Vashonistas wrote about this prompt on their blogs:
Deb
Linda
Sally
Sandi
DJan