Photo by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley
Yes. You read that right. 42 years ago today, at a birthday party for my dad and my grandma, we wandered off for some privacy, as teens are wont to do. I know I don’t look like I’m old enough to know my guy that long (hahahahaha) but we were high school sweethearts.
It went down like this. First, he came to my house to hang out with my brother. And ride dirt bikes on ditch banks. With my brother.
That pretty soon turned into, “Hey, do you wanna go for a ride?” Ditch bank + dirt bike. How is that romantic? Tiny seat, two bodies, dirt and gravel roads along irrigation ditches? The dude ditched my brother for me! Sorry brother.
And yes, my arms wrapped tight around his waist, hanging on for dear life, wary of pot holes and bumps that would toss me off, riding a dirt bike with a cute guy was romantic! Thinking back, I have no idea how we both fit on that little seat. And survived. Without helmets.
Of course we saw each other in more than just the dirt bike situation. Church, high school, family get-togethers. We lived on one dirt road, my grandparents lived two dirt roads over, and his house was on the dirt road between both of us. I could literally spy on his house from my bedroom window. Not that I did. But I could have if I wanted to.
Fast forward (or is that backwards, since I’m talking about the past?) to the birthday party night. This cute, curly-haired guy asked me to be his steady girlfriend. He remembers better than I do, but apparently there was no hesitation. I immediately said yes.
And here we are. 42 years of best friends. We waited 7 years to get married (because, as I told him, if we could survive me going away to college, then we could survive anything). Got married, had two children, cats, dogs, guinea pigs, a house (houses), gardens, motorcycles, cars, an RV life . . . and plenty of fights, make-ups, adventures, disasters, learning opportunities, triumphs, and tragedies. But always, we had LOVE.
For us, it goes without saying that the Lord blessed us along the way and kept us in His care. Without His guidance and love, I doubt we would have make it this far. We are truly blessed.
I love you, boyfriend of 42 years. Hoping for many more adventures with my best friend.
armed guards in a row
glittering, fierce, and prepared
beware! ice soldiers
ice soldiers by Angie Quantrell
photos by Angie Quantrell, Yakima Valley
We are just getting ready to tuck into bed at the close of our approximate 1,594th day of RV living. $1,594 dollars does not seem like much. 1,594 days seems like much much more.
This was not the plan. But. 2020. Plus housing market. Plus bidding wars. Plus zoning laws. Plus all sorts of things.
We are happy to have a tiny home on wheels, though an RV is not exactly the same thing. We have tiny and we have wheels. We feel blessed to have shelter near our loved ones.
We are still talking to each other, the cat keeps us free from pasture mice and voles, and the electronics and utilities work.
Just in case you are considering long-term RV life, think about this.
Storage is minimal. Even utilizing the boot (under bed/outside access storage at the front of the RV), we stack items on empty window casings, counters, and floors. And still I go the store more often and buy less.
The shower is tiny. I have no idea how my 6′ 1″ husband does it. I bang elbows and knees when I shower and I’m only 5′ 1″.
The fridge is tiny. The freezer even more so. Without an extra fridge/freezer out in the shop you can kiss Costco good-bye.
The stove is tiny. No more large turkeys. As long as I purchase a small turkey breast, cooking in the RV oven is doable. If I want a full turkey, I have to use my turkey roaster.
The bed is small. Queen? Methinks not a true queen. It gets a bit crowded with both of us and the cat, who loves sleeping crosswise between our pillows.
There. Is. No. Closet. Wrinkles are our wardrobe accessories.
Humidity is an issue in the winter. Perhaps we should purchase stock in the companies that produce dehumidifiers.
On the other hand . . .
We enjoy our cozy space. COZY.
It doesn’t take much to heat such a small space. Or cool it. Though you will catch me whining when the temps are in the 90-100s.
Low utility costs, at least during spring and fall.
I have become quite tricksy at RV cooking. We regularly utilize the RV oven, stove top, and outdoor BBQ grill, depending on the season, temperature, and meal plan.
We are used to short showers.
I’ve figured out the way to work around only one stove rack. I make a foil dam and cook multiple foods at the same time! Casseroles are another way to work around the one rack.
I don’t have to clean much. We live in a pasture, so there is always dust.
We have and use what we truly need. There is no space for extras. We are working on this for my creative and work space.
We spend plenty of time outside, since that’s where the fresh air and clean living space is found in abundance. Nature is pretty wonderful. Not mice and vole heads, thank you Monet, but alive sorts of nature like hawks and bunnies and finches.
My honey is fabulous at upkeep for our tenement on wheels. At this rate, it should be good for another decade. Please.
Here’s to day 1,595 . . .
Thankful for neighbors who share.
Photo by Angie Quantrell
double take – sisters!
who is who? swoosh here, stripe there
one box, twice the fun
twinning by Angie Quantrell
Mabel and Monet, 2017
(before a dog pack got Mabel)
Prompt: monster (my monster is actually the drained fly; I prefer spiders to flies)
#Inktober52 is a weekly ink drawing challenge, one ink drawing a week for the entire year, 52 weeks a year.
I know I could never do #inktober for October, it just gets too crazy when I try to do something EVERY single day. But I am excited and challenged by the #inktober52. I think I can manage 52 weekly drawings inspired by prompts from https://inktober.com/. The part about having a week to complete a drawing helps me out.
“Jake Parker created Inktober in 2009 as a challenge to improve his inking skills and develop positive drawing habits. It has since grown into a worldwide endeavor with thousands of artists taking on the challenge every year.”
Here are my February drawings.
Prompt: dragonfly
Prompt: camping
Prompt: egg
Are you enticed to join me? It’s fun to play and use my imagination. And maybe I’ll learn a new trick along the way.
(OOPS! In my picture, I have the hash tag incorrect! Sorry! Should read #Haikufromtwo!)
How fun! I love writing haiku, though I usually pair it with one of my photos. I had so much fun writing the first #Haikufromtwo, I had to do it again! Thanks, Amanda (https://www.instagram.com/amandadavis_art/)!
ridiculous + flower
first word: ridiculous
Taken from Potato Pants! by Laurie Keller (Henry Holt and Company, 2018)
second word: flower
Taken from Jonesy Flux and the Gray Legion by James Pray (Sterling Children’s Books, 2020)
Photo by Angie Quantrell, Pacific Northwest
encyclopedia
ode
can
aid
and lead
idea
i
need
One of my favorite “substitute teacher” activities I loved to do with older students was a word game that ties right into this poetry form. I only realized this after I had difficulty coming up with a poem, and then went back to my old sub/word play game to give me a list of words from which to work.
The word play game consisted of me writing a very long word on the (back then) chalk board. Usually “supercalifragilisticexpealidocious.” I would then set a timer and instruct students to play with the word and come up with a list of words they could make using only the letters of the word on the board. True, this is a giant word, so the possibilities were nearly endless. But that made it easier for the students. If only I had gone on to use our word lists to make up fun poems!
I discovered this fun method in a poetry book I picked up at the library. It just looked enjoyable. And it is. Check out or purchase this book and play with some words yourself.
Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word
written by Bob Raczka
illustrated by Nancy Doniger
Roaring Brook Press, 2011
