Changeup

Wednesday morning.  Visit-The-Dentist Day.  Ugh. That’s 6 hours away, so I have plenty of time to look forward to it!  Which is why I’m thinking about other things!  (And in the end they prepped me for a crown.  It was actually the least unpleasant dentist visit I can remember — though I did remember in the process that my body metabolizes lidocaine rapidly,  VERY rapidly!)

I woke up this morning after a night of active dreams.  It seemed a good time to make some changes.  Seeing as we are here for another few months and we can’t change our locale, I decided to change my bog template.   and the decision it’s time to change things up a little — and I decided to change the template on my Blog. By the time you read this that will have happened 5 days ago! I guess that’s how far ahead I am with future blogs — still and all, it’s what’s on my mind at the moment.

I had been using the theme Pictorico.  I’m never fully happy with WordPress themes but from time to time I feel the need to change, just to change. I switched  to Twenty Fifteen a theme that I never used before (prior to Pictorico it had been Twenty Fourteen).  I would have tried Twenty Sixteen but it’s not a full width template and that’s one of my criteria.  Themes that arbitrarily decide that your screen should be only so wide are just a waste of real estate in my mind.  When I was still hosting I had a theme I really liked but that’s not available to the wordpress.com family and I don’t particularly want to pay extra for a modified theme.

All of which is brought on by the fact that change is a part of life.  And I change my blog look as I fee I am changing.  From time to time I feel as if certain aspects of life or my blog are changing.

I heard a great quote yesterday.  I really wanted to share it because it really struck me upside the head.

The true measure
of all our actions
is how long the
good in them lasts.

I found that a particularly sobering thought.  And it’s one of the drawbacks of the RV lifestyle.  It is by nature a transitory life, a migratory life,  and perhaps a little hard to find lasting meaning in it.  I know friends who have struggled with the fact that their earlier lives were spent actively engaged in family and church and civic activities which RV’ing interfered with.  It’s a emptiness or lack that I can understand and sometimes share.  But then what we have done with our our entire life is one thing and what we accomplish in retirement might be quite a separate kettle of fish.

We loaded up the larder for Kathryn’s arrival. By the time I got done in the dentist’s chair my jaw was throbbing and I wasn’t in the most let’s-go-shopping mood — but I didn’t want to make the trip back to Hudson later int he week so we just sucked it up and did that while we were so close to the grocery.  know Peg is specially looking forward to the weekend and her visit, even if it’s a short stay.  We’ll try our darnedest not to shirk off our duties on her shoulders. 🙂

speak of your joy often

While in River Falls for the dentist I wanted to get my hair cut — and had a very interesting experience at the barber.  There’s a place on Main street called, of course, “Barber Shop.”  I stopped there once — lights on, door locked, no answer.  Walked away.  Looked them up in Google and called.  Sure, we’re open.  Walked back and door unlocked, two white guys sweeping floor.

“Are you my 1:20 appointment” one asks.

“No. Can you take a walkin?” I ask?

“Sorry, can’t help you today.  Tomorrow we have room.”  says a guy sitting next to an empty barber chair and the other one is standing next to another empty chair.

I ebbed off and left.  There was another barber shop at the end of the block and around the corner.  I walked in there.  I’m greeted by a monster black guy — I mean he’s as solid as I am and about 4″-5” taller than me — with long dangly braids. I felt like a midget next to him.  He really was imposing. The place is called Gentz and that maybe should have given me a clue but undaunted I asked if he had time for a walkin.

Yup!  He walked me right over to his barber chair and we got started.

It turns out this guy is a gentle giant. He’s imposing, but the nicest, most friendly barber I’ve had in a long time.  He, his girlfriend and their two kids moved up from Chicago (her home town is nearby), he opened his shop only three months ago and he gave me a meticulous haircut.  I hope he has a good long career there in River Falls.  He deserves it.  He’s certainly more hungry for business than his competition, and he’s a lot more personable.  There is a very small black population in Northern Wisconsin to begin with.  River Falls (according to City-Data) is 92% white — so I’m sure he’s going to have a bit of an uphill battle gaining acceptance — racial lines have NOT disappeared in Wisconsin.  But this guy deserves a good long run in this town.  I’m glad I stopped.

That was our Wednesday.  The phone and Interwebs are still down — I’m using my MiFi box and no word about fixing the CORPS ethernet connection yet.  The weekenders start arriving today.  4 or 5 campers are due in today.  Bring on the Weekend!

Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll be here again tomorrow to chat!