Saturday, June 9, 2012

National “Feed Charlene” Day–June 9, 2012

What a funny or fun day this was.  I’ve been on the job high in the Rocky Mountains now for three weeks.  No one has fed me.  But today, for some reason, everyone was feeding me???

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My campsite is near the open place in the trees,
where you can see the road.

First, two campers were walking the mile back to their camp from the Lake,  had caught four rainbow trout fish.  I’ve never eaten that before… and to my surprise they invited me to lunch.  That was really really good.

Second, a young couple and their two kids were picnicking. I was busy doing something at my van and heard a small wee voice say “Do you want some corn?”  and this little girl handed up an ear of roasted corn. They had roasted corn in the husk over the fire.  Boy was that good.  I went about my work and later stopped to thank them for the corn and they offered me more, and then watermelon, then oranges (quartered), and then small Snicker candy bars.  Wow… guess it pays to be nice to people.  We chatted and joked and I asked it they needed to adopt a grandma.  They joked back, SURE!

And finally, a couple of gals camped at the other campground… with their families, came over to see my rock collection. We sat and looked at the three trays of polished rocks I finished last winter in Quartzsite, and joked and laughed… and then they invited me over for dinner.  Wow!  This day has got to end… I could gain weight here.  And what did they have??? Shrimp cocktail, one of my favorite things on earth.  And Black Eyed peas and bratwurst.  And fresh salad with most of the ingredients straight from Terri’s garden.  Terri is a very interesting gal and she even invited me to come down and stay over with them on my days off… and have a hot shower. They offered me a bedroom but I explained that I never sleep inside anymore, but then they offered me their driveway.  Perfect. 

I was so full by the time the day ended.  And I laughed to myself that this was the day of my 50th High School Class reunion back in Indiana… and I thought, NOPE, this day has been WAY BETTER than if I had gone to Indiana.  Just WAY BETTER!  (O.K., I admit it, I’m curious as to how the reunion went.)

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The other day I baked delicious cornbread in my Griswold Cast Iron skillet in my Solar Sun Oven.   Yummm.

3 comments:

  1. Such a perfect day - I am feeling very hungry now. Please keep posting about your great life.

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  2. Charlene,

    We missed you at the reunion. Thanks for all the hard work you did on tracking us down and reconnecting us. The campus is beautiful and the day was perfect. We had a good time at dinner the night before finding out who's done what in the last 50 years. No one owned up to the ambition of kayaking all 50 states, so you get that prize. Bill Cook came from Italy just for the reunion.
    Carol Safford Gralia

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  3. Nomadic... today campers gave me two more trout from the lake. I ate the smaller one for supper. Will have to make two meals of the larger one... maybe lunch and supper tomorrow.

    Carol... thanks for missing me. Not all my classmates felt that way, but I don't care. I'm having a ball... mostly. Have been enjoying photos from Linda Duncan. That was nice. I would have enjoyed sharing my story and adventures with others. Maybe I could have motivated some of them to "live" fuller lives???? Or NOT?!

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Who is Swankie?

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Anywhere, USA, Full-Time USA traveler, United States
In 2006, I was shopping for a wheelchair. By 2007, I had new knees, better health and by 2008 a kayak. In Aug 2013, I kayaked my 49th state, Alaska, at the Holgate Glacier and in May 2014, I kayaked Hawaii, my 50th state, to celebrate my 70th Birthday and the finale to the wonderful adventure of Kayaking America? Next up... Solo Hiking the Arizona Trail, 820 miles? Maybe. Still healing from shoulder and trying to decide.

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