This isn’t what I thought it would.  No not at all. But there you have it.  We, in our little home on the east coast in the province that everyone was calling the ‘safest place’ in North America (if not the whole world…although I think New Zealand can claim that title), are now in a province-wide lock down.  It’s all for the best though. We were never promised a quick resolution and with science evolving in real time we should never have expected it to be anything other that what it is. People from away are entering and not self-isolating as required and there are a few just generally not behaving.

F and I now have our first dose of vaccine , with the second scheduled a bit down the road… which doesn’t really change much for us.  Our first reserved camping trip is coming up soon…but I’m not sure that will happen when expected.  We’ll see.  But hey! it’s spring and what beautiful weather we have been having!  Usually the boat would have been in the water at this point so definitely time to de-winterize RED II, our little land trawler.

Several days ago, my daughter asked if they could visit this weekend…a family sleep-over. They (2 adults/2 monkeys) are presently living in a one-bedroom 750 sq ft apartment  while they wait for their house to be built…because, as she said…she wants really nice appliances for their home so some sacrifices are necessary.  But then the lock-down struck.  We’ve come up with what I feel is a reasonable solution.  They will take over our house for the weekend and we will move into RED II and get acquainted.  It didn’t take F much convincing

Room with a View

Friday night was move-in time.  We dined on camper pizza, sipped a little red wine and watched the stars come out.  Honestly, we could have been a hundred miles from home or a hundred feet…it really didn’t matter.  It all felt very luxurious compared to our times on R.E.D.  Even if we ignored having running water and a real flush toilet it seemed so fancy. An oven for the pizza.  Ice cubes for our happy hour cocktails with a lovely view of Duck Pond.

Camper Dining

During this latest lock-down we are allowed a bubble of two consistent social encounters. We have our Hooligan cohorts but they each have there own bubbles and cross contaminating (couldn’t think of another term) is not encouraged.  My daughter, her husband and two kids have been our consistent family bubble since last year so we chose the two monkeys to be our ‘plus two’.  Two parents working from home since last year  and two little ones  now ‘enjoying’ online schooling, so we thought this would be the least of the worst case risks.  The kidlings are allowed to visit us in the camper and when things go sideways we can happily send them back to Mom and Dad.

Breakfast with the Monkeys

We haven’t quite come to terms with having ‘guest’ sleepovers but dropping the couch into a bed as a demonstration of what could be, brought squeals of delight.

Super Cool Bed

So that’s it folks.  Camping without having gone anywhere was a complete and absolute success.  As my little family packed up to vacate RED by the SEA, amazingly leaving it cleaner then when they had arrived, my son-in-law asked if I have a new list of ‘wants’ or ‘needs’ after this weekend. Nope, we are deemed complete.  Nothing more needed.

Update as of this writing: numbers of COVID cases continue to creep up so I expect our first scheduled away camping trip might be postponed yet again with an extension of the current two-week locked down a possibility.  We enjoyed this weekend so much in our cosy little cabin on wheels that it’s doubtful it will matter much.

During our weekend of isolation, F continued to ‘work’ in the Crow’s Nest caring for his special plants. We did some outdoor gardening and even took a walk to Gramma Beach…all to keep within Public Health protocol.  Life goes on as usual.  We remain safe and don’t feel cheated at all.  F even suggested moving RED II to another spot in our yard so maybe our next camp-out will come with a new view.

Thanks for stopping by.  Sending virtual hugs to you all. Be safe and well.

Peace and love!