“Yet the best determining factor of how comfortable we are with ourselves, is our ability to laugh at ourselves.”
Wes Adamson

Well here it goes.

Remember all the trouble I’d been telling you Richard had with using his credit card during our drive down? He called his bank. They asked many times if he was using his correct pin. He affirmed he was. He was asked if he wanted them to send him his pin. He adamantly refused saying he knew his pin. That he’d been using it for years. Down here it still wasn’t working. He called his bank again. And again they asked about his pin. Yes he said. He was using the correct pin.

And then the light bulb went on. Oops. Last year he had changed his pin. He had been trying to use his old one, not his new one. Egg on his face or what. His comment, “What a dufus.”. But at least he laughed at his mistake. Hmmmm. Old age or forgetfulness? I won’t say.

All good now.

Off to a fav spot for breakfast. Sunliner Diner.

https://www.sunlinerdiner.com/gulf-shores/

Delicious as always. Restaurant only had a few customers. Probably more servers than customers. Haha. But it’s only December. January brings the big influx of snowbirds. So only a few customers was to our benefit. We got to sit in the car. Yippee 🙌

Then just a regular day. Groceries, and Target looking for special items for my grandson David. Sending emails and messages trying to arrange a rental for March. Several possibilities. Fingers crossed. Had a little time on the deck. And that’s it.

PEI. I really hope that snow forecast doesn’t come true.

Drive My Car – The Beatles

Take care and stay healthy.

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“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more”
Lord Byron

That sums it up for today.

You might remember these lyrics from the song Stuck in the Middle with You. “Clowns to the left of me. Jokers to the right.”

Well that couldn’t be said of today. No one around for miles. As Richard said “ The only footprints in the sand were our own.”

And in the house the only sounds to be heard were the pounding rain and the Nottingham Forest game. (Soccer to me-Football to Richard)

And that’s about it. Very quiet, lazy day. Some exercising, some reading, and watching a movie on tv.

Lots of songs about a rainy day were popping into my head.

Fire and Rain – James Taylor

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head – Burt Bacharach/Hal David (from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Loved that movie.)

I Think It’s Going to Rain Today – Randy Newman (Have a listen to Nina Simone’s version.)

Purple Rain – Prince

Singing in the Rain – Brown/Freed (Listen to Gene Kelly. Love it)

Here Comes the Rain Again – Lennox/Stewart (The Eurythmics)

And I could go on for much longer. But you get my drift.

Please comment with some of your favourite rain songs. I’d love to give them a listen.

But for todays musical selection I chose to go with today’s title. It’s hauntingly beautiful. Moody.

(In My) Solitude – Billie Holiday (by Duke Ellington/Eddie DeLange/Irving Mills

Take care and stay healthy.

As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.

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Yes, yes, yes. Oh yes. I should have kept my mouth shut. The last three days I’ve been talking about the great driving weather we had. Should have kept my mouth shut. Woke up today to rain. 🌧 Most of the day. Fluctuated between torrential rain and light mist. It sure was wonderful to have the breaks. It would have been dreadful if the rain had pounded the whole drive. Most of the time the traffic wasn’t heavy. Whew. Thank goodness Richard didn’t get stressed. I did enough stressing for both of us.

But when we made it to Gulf Shores the rain disappeared and it was 23C. Can’t complain about that. A little lunch. (Five Guys) A few groceries. (Publix) Books from the library. Pay gym memberships. Get post office box. All good to go. Off to Two Views. Our home for the next few months.

So most things are put away. Sitting writing this and then will tackle my suitcase. Then I’m done.

Here’s a few more things from the last few days:

* We’ve seen an eagle sitting on a scrawny branch over water, deer eating in a field, (plus a dead one on the road😢), and a hawk here in Gulf Shores. Plus the ever present pelicans.

* Richard’s charge card is still hit and miss working for purchases. Guess another call to his bank. Grrrrrr.

* Some changes to the house. New furniture. Walls all newly painted. Decor changes. New Keurig. New curtains. Hmmm. Think that means new prices next year?

* Unfortunately the keyboard I had hidden in a closet is now gone. It was just a cheap one I had purchased down here a few years ago. I was hoping it would still be here but really didn’t expect it to be. Those things happen. A cappella it is.

And this is one reason we love it here.

At The Beach – The Avett Brothers

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So we’re off again to Gulf Shores, Alabama. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Shores,_Alabama

Packed a little lighter this year making it much easier to see out the back. Yes! Guess we’re just slow learners.

A few differences this year:

* In order to create an easier trip down (previous years we did it in 3 days 2 nights, driving 16 hours the first day) we opted to take 4 days and 3 nights. Oh my. We’re getting older.

* We could only rent our lovely beach house, Two,Views, for three months. They said March wasn’t available. Boo Hoo 😢 Luckily we were able to book a condo, annoyingly a month ago we were informed it was sold and we’d have to find other accommodations. Ahhhhh So frustrating. We’ll look when we get down there.

Richard has talked for years about actually seeing wildlife i.e. bears and moose while driving through New Brunswick. Although it wasn’t in NB he finally got his wish.

I must admit it was an easier drive today. More relaxed. But it felt really weird being off the road so early. 3:00pm.

We did make a few stops. Oromocto for gas and bathroom. Starbucks in Bangor for breakfast and bathroom. A rest stop got the wildlife 😊 and bathroom. Old Orchard Beach. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Orchard_Beach,_Maine And Ogunquit, today’s final destination. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogunquit,_Maine Before going to walk the Marginal Way we stopped for the bathroom. (Notice the common thread?) We’ve walked the Marginal Way https://newengland.com/travel/maine/marginal-way-ogunquit-maine/ many times. Wish I could say we did again today but I hadn’t packed warm enough clothes so we only completed part of it. But a walk and fresh air which was much needed. And beautiful waves. We could even hear the crashing sounds. Outstanding.

So now in for the night. We’ve found it more cost effective to buy food for supper at a grocery store and then eat at the hotel. SMART

Listen to these great lyrics.

When It Comes My Turn – David Myles https://davidmyles.com/pages/biography

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The summer of 2019 I challenged myself to visit 100 beaches. Sadly I didn’t reach my goal. Hurricane Dorian squashed that. So I decided to use this current summer to finalize that quest.

This past Saturday, as we were on our way to Darnley for a birthday bonfire, we decided to hit up a beach that previously we were unable to find. Today? Yay. Success.

Branders Beach

How we missed it last time I have no idea. It’s not really difficult to find. Take Branders Pond Road and it leads you there. What confused me before was trying to find the County Line Road. I’m didn’t realize there were so many. I was only familiar with the one in Margate. When I was young my parents would drop me off on that County Line Road and I’d run across the fields and meet them at Grammie’s house. Fun times.

Now if you’re worried about getting your car dirty then choose a different beach. It’s on a dirt road. But just look at our beautiful red soil.

https://chalkboardpublishing.com/quizzes/topic-prince-edward-islands-bright-red-soil/#:~:text=Prince%20Edward%20Island%20is%20formed,white%20sand%20beaches%20there%20pink.

The beach was beautiful. Not crowded, although I heard that it had been the previous day.

We had a lovely walk and surprisingly found sea glass. Not used to finding so much at one time on the North Shore.

Here:

*Dirt road

*Have to park along the side of the road

*No washrooms

* Unsupervised beach

*Beautiful beach. Less crowded than others

Then off we went to Cabot Beach Provincial Park for a picnic. (I introduced you to this beach in 2019. PEI Beaches #36) We ate in a nicely sheltered gazebo. But there were a few bugs. 😝

https://www.tourismpei.com/what-to-do/beaches-parks/cabot-beach-provincial-park

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Beach_Provincial_Park

And ended the day at a birthday bonfire for Jared. Roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. He sure has a great spot.

What a beautiful day! And evening!

Beaches in Mind – The Beach Boys

Enjoy the beaches this summer.

Take care and stay healthy.

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There’s no place like home.

The Wizard of Oz

Started feeling that familiar pull of the heart while driving through New Brunswick towards PEI. Then even stronger while crossing Confederation Bridge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederation_Bridge

We have a system for driving to and from Alabama. First day is a very long drive but a relatively easy drive. Second day is a harder drive so don’t drive quite as long. Third day is the easiest and shortest drive.

Slept later.

Left Saco, Maine at 6:15 am

Drove to Old Orchard Beach (only 15 minute drive) for a little walk on the beach. It was cool, 2C, but nice and refreshing.

Drove to Starbucks in Bangor for breakfast, coffee for Richard and matcha tea latte for me. Bought an extra latte to put in the lovely travel mug my best friend Lynn gave me. Thanks so much.

Crossed the US/Canadian border at 12:15. Relatively easy. Seven vehicles in front of us. And no problems.

Arrived in Borden at 4:45. Sweet. Perfect driving conditions today.

Car unloaded. Will put things away tomorrow. There’s so much to do. I wanted to do it all today because that’s the way I am but instead took it easy.

Travelled 832 km through Maine, New Brunswick, and PEI today.

Scenery that awaited us.

This is My Island ~ Prince Edward Island – Eddy Quinn & Fiddler’s Sons

Take care and stay healthy.

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You feel fine, and then, when your body can’t keep fighting, you don’t.

Nicholas Sparks, A Walk to Remember

And that’s me today. Super tired. Left knee is really aching. One more day of driving and then take it easy. Eventually.

Awake at 4:30 am

On the road at 5:03

Grrrr.

Rain.

And more rain.

Positive note, it stopped at 1:00

Drove 1140 km through ten states: Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.

New York was a quicker route that what we’ve previously taken but the traffic was much heavier.

Difficult day of driving but Richard did a superb job. We always find this second day is the worst. Tomorrow will be much easier.

Drove behind this truck for a while.

Supper at a rest stop on the side of the road in Maine. Moose and flagpole on its lawn. The flag is at half staff to honour the victims of the shooting at the elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/biden-orders-flags-lowered-to-half-staff-to-honor-victims-of-nashville-school-shooting/2857164

Jackie Edwards – Lucky Old Sun

Take care and stay healthy.

As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.

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Take care of your car in the garage, and the car will take care of you on the road.

Amit Kalantri

So far so good. Car is taking care of us.

Up at 3:30 am.

On the road at 4:00

Drove 1338 km. through four states: Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Arrived in Lexington, Virginia 6:30 pm.

Ate at IHOP. Why you ask? We stopped for gas and it was pouring rain. The IHOP was a part of the Shell gas station. Eating there stopped us from getting completely soaked. That worked out well.

On to Howard Johnson for, hopefully, a good night’s sleep. 🤞🏼

Mostly a great day of driving. We made sure to stop every 2-3 hours for the washroom and a walk about. A few times there was bumper to bumper traffic but not too bad. The worst was the last two hours driving in the rain.

A few things I’ll share.

At one of the rest stops I saw a car from Ontario so went and said “Hi” to some fellow Canadians from Toronto, Ontario.

Richard has been obsessed with trying boiled peanuts. Today I saw this on the outside window at a Shell.

So bought him a dish. I tried one. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. Not my cup of tea. Richard ate about ten. Weren’t his fav either. I know many people love them but not us.

Heard an ad on the radio for a concert. My ears perked up when I heard the name Christina Bouey. https://www.christinabouey.com/biography

What? How amazing is that. She’s playing at Symphony of the Mountains in Tennessee. https://symphonyofthemountains.org/

Very tired. Bath and bed. Night.

Christina Bouey – Sibelius Violin Concerto in D Minor Op. 47

Take care and stay healthy.

As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.

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