Fields of Gold

We have been driving through South Dakota and North Wyoming ... the landscape is beautiful. South Dakota has miles of rolling hills and when the light is right they look like fields of gold. We have travelled around the States a lot over the years and seen quite a bit, each State can feel like a whole new country ... each State has its own unique landscape that can be quite breathtaking at times. We were taken by surprise by our drive through these two States. 

One of our early morning departure views as we we left our KOA to continue our drive to Yellow Stone Park. With these rolling hills and miles of flatlands the early morning sky looks spectacular. 

I nearly walked right past this beautiful wild flower ... the colour really grabbed me. I could not resist taking a photo ... growing wild in the grass paddocks. Sometimes I can miss what is right in front of me because I am too busy in my mind moving on to the next thing. I am glad I caught this moment.

Pete had said on several occasions that he wanted to see Bison ... so we took a diversion en route to stop at a Bison Park ... they are kind of intimidating up close. While standing here eyeballing these magnificent creatures I really felt like we were in an old Western movie waiting for Clint Eastwood to ride by on his horse.

Roxcy is a beautiful blend of bold and cautious ... this is a bold moment, skipping ahead of us with a complete sense of freedom and place. How would that be ... 

One of the great attractions of KOA is meeting friends and lots of playtime for Lars and Roxcy, they are great at playing ... hard! I am not sure what Mike and Chris will make of this photo ... probably not the kind of play they thought Lars would be doing.

We made a stop at the Minuteman Missile Visitors Centre ... in the late 60's and early 70's there were around a 1,000 missiles kept here, ready at a minutes notice to attack/defend their country, their peace and their freedom. There was a lot of info here on the 'Cold War' and the creation of the atomic and nuclear bombs. There was a section on drill procedure in case of an attack on the US. My memory of NZ in the 60's is so different ... I have no memory of safety drills in case of attack, or a bunker under our house. I do remember JFK's assassination, man walking on the moon, Vietnam, Woodstock ... and this kind of wall paper ... which I love!

We visited Mount Rushmore ... it was a hot day! We were here with the rest of the US who are on their summer vacation. Roxcy started to 'whine' about 30 minutes into our walk around the park. I used all my parental experience and compassion ... 'I know this is hot and tiring isn't it Roxcy' ... 'we won't be too long, lets enjoy the sights' ... then I moved into a more passive aggressive tone ... 'I am choosing to ignore you now Roxcy' ... then oppositional, 'the more you whine Roxcy the less I want to give you what you want'. By the time this photo was taken I was wanting to yell at her! Bad Grandma ... I hear you ... I thought I would be more evolved as a woman, Grandmother and human being ... it appears that I still have some ways to go.

The end activity of a long hot day ... swimming in the pool ... for hours.

Roxcy sleeps the way she lives ... with intention.

Yes it happened ... we broke down climbing a rather steep but study incline in North Wyoming about 90 miles out of Codie ... close to Yellow Stone Park. Our RV just stopped! We rang Mike ... google Mike ... he googled the problem and the solution. Looks like our fuel pump had heated up and stopped. We were able to pull over to the side of a rather busy road and we waited ... for about an hour. We had a couple of cars pull over to see if we needed any help. One guy said that his car had stopped as well, he 'just slapped it and it went' ... not sure that would have worked for us. 

Back in the USA

We are back in the States ... we picked up Lars, Roxcy and the RV from Mike and Chris on Saturday. They drove back to VT in their Fiesta...we stayed the night in the KOA and left Sunday morning ... driving through Ontario and onto the Black Bear camping ground. Mike, Chris, Lars, Roxcy and I had a nice day together in Montreal while Pete finished his conference. We went to the Biodome, it was originally built for the Olympics in Montreal in 1976 and has since been converted to a zoo, aquarium and planetarium ... here are some photos of our day together and our trip to Black Bear Lake, which is beautiful!

Blue again ... we saw a few different animals in this zoo as well as water life. I am not a fan of zoos but I had a lot of fun watching Lars and Roxcy get excited about the different animals they saw. These two are excited and interested in everything! They are so much fun to hang out with and so easy. Montreal is a very different city when you are looking at it through the eyes of a child.

This is what waiting looks like for an 8 year old boy who is excited to see which way the underground train is going to come from. His anticipation is wonderful to watch. Lars is growing up ... he is becoming a 'big' boy and I really notice differences in him since last year. He is a wonderful mixture of I can do it myself, independence, sensitivity and are you still there for me in case I get it wrong. He is a very thoughtful, honest, caring boy, with a curious mind. We love him and we are so glad that we get to have this time with him. I know that it is not much over a lifetime but hopefully it will be quality time that he can remember with appreciation as he gets older. Pete and I sure appreciated our Grandparents. 

Chris is great on planning and organising things. In her spare time at work she worked out a possible itinerary for us. We are so grateful, we are a little more freestyle in our travel planning ... our itinerary has made our travelling so much easier. I love the way she has put hours and miles, which ever comes first. 

Chris also went to a lot of trouble organising activities and buying crayons, scrap books, etc to help fill Lars' and Roxcy's RV time. She also made up a star chart for each of them. It is very motivating for them ... particularly the "helping" one ... when asked to do something often Roxcy will ask "Will I get a star?" The chart has helped to create a routine ... apparently routine is very important, out of routine comes meaning ... at least that is what Pete learnt at his conference. They are earning lots of stars.

My first french plait in a 100 years it feels like, not bad. I used to do them for Lucy and Alice, a skill that has come in handy. Roxcy has beautiful hair and she is really good at looking after it. She brushes it, washes it and enjoys having it tied up. She is such a joy, she is happy, confident, loves to play and loves to chat. They both have amazing imaginations ... they LOVE to swim ... if their day has swimming in it, it is a good day for them, a fun day and they get a star for having fun ... so far they have had fun every day

Black Bear Lake Ontario camping ground ... it is a National Park and it is stunning here! Very remote. Heaps of natural trees ... and heaps of mosquitoes ... heaps!! We stayed here one night, it was a very restful place to stop.

There were a few bear warnings around the park. Lars and Roxcy got scared. Roxcy ended up sleeping in bed with me and Pete went and slept near Lars. Lars was pretty sure that he saw a bear outside our RV. I am not sure ... but it was so cute. I loved having our children come into bed with us in the night. They were always so cute and cuddly ... it did mean that one of us would have to shift beds though. I am sure you know that children sleep across the bed ... one of us would end up on the edge. Wow ... that time went fast!

Lars fishing in Black Bear Lake with his new fishing rod. He is pretty good at casting. He did not catch anything but we did see a rather large fish jump out of the water near him.

A road trip is a perfect time for a knitting project. I am knitting a blanket for Chris ... I think I will have it finished by the time we get back to Vermont. I love this stitch.

We woke early in the morning and decided to leave ... we have had long days of driving so we thought while Lars and Roxcy were still asleep we would get started driving so that it was not too long a day for them. The drive was spectacular ... Last of the Mohican Country ... our distance this day was 7 hours or 393 miles. We loved driving through this part of Canada. This was our early morning view as we left Black Bear Lake.

Board games were packed ... guess what this is ... Monopoly, Star Wars Monopoly ... I don't care what sort of Monopoly it is I dislike the game intensely. When we played it with out children there always ended a fight, someone being accused of cheating or robbing the bank ... I banned the game in the end. Well guess what ... there was a disagreement between and Lars and I ... he was going to bankrupt me with hiking up rental rates, I told him that was not part of the game, we stopped playing and he ended up in tears on his bed. I felt like I was the bad Grandma and he would hate me for the rest of my life ... I suggested we buy another board game to play instead ... bam, problem solved and definitely NO more monopoly!

Remember I mentioned about the mosquitoes at Black Bear Lake ... when Roxcy woke up on the morning we were leaving her right side of her face was swollen ... she had been bitten in the night by more than one mosquito I would say.

I love our RV ... I think it is one of the best financial decisions we have made. We are having some fun adventures in it and the high point, of course, is having them with Lars and Roxcy. Yes it is small, yes it is old but it is very cool. We stopped here at Lake Michigan on our way back to cross into the States. A long day ...

We got lost trying to find our way to the Soo Locks camp ground which is on the US side of the boarder. We followed Garmin (GPS) around the block three times I think ... we were driving right past the entrance way to the bridge that took us across the boarder and into the States. We were convinced that the Garmin had it all wrong ... no, she was right and we were wrong. The camp ground we stayed at was right on a river it was very restful ... very full as well and nothing for Lars and Roxcy to do ... Lars was happy watching the boats going past the campground, Roxcy however, was dissatisfied with the arrangement. We got up early again to set of for another long day of driving ... this was our sunrise.

Lars is becoming like the other men in the Cammock family ... a car or automobile enthusiast. He really likes the airstream caravans and RVs. We came across this gathering of airstream caravans ... possibly up to 600 were expected. As we were driving around and taking a closer look Lars said "This is air stream heaven." I had to agree ... who would not want to own one of these beautiful looking pieces of machinery?

I bought another board game ... Cluedo ... I really like this game. No one gets blamed or attacked or called names. No money is involved ... no speculation, possibly some cheating, depending on who is playing. A straight forward game of 'who done it.' I remember playing this a lot with my cousins when I was young.

When we arrived at Oakdale KOA after a long day I found this cheese in their store. I had to buy it to try it ... I have never thought of putting cheese and chocolate together. Not sure I would buy it again. I am into trying something different or new with food.

I had booked us into the Rolls Royce RV pad at Oakdale, Wisconsin without realising it ... we had our very own patio, out door furniture and gas bar b q ... we ate in style that night, sausages and bacon, just before it pelted down. I love the rain storms in the States ... you can see them coming and often see lightening and hear thunder from afar. The sky gets the most amazing colour of grey ... a brooding sky I think it is called.

Here they are ... the gruesome twosome ... enjoying having a reason to use their umbrellas, which they did when we bought ice creams after dinner. One of their best family sayings is, "Be kind and don't whine" ... I find this a very helpful saying when they start to whine about what they want to do and what they have to do ... meaning what we want them to do. 

On the Road Again

Pete and I have been in Montreal, Canada, for the last few days. Pete has been attending a conference on Positive Psychology and meaning, some of the top people in this field were presenting there ...  I came up for the ride. Most of you will know that Pete has a great love of learning ... and he loves the whole positive psychology arena and how to have a life with more purpose and meaning. We stayed in the Hotel Bonaventure in central Montreal, which was walking distance to everywhere. I am a big Trip Advisor user where I found our hotel and I love doing reviews of places we stay ... in the Trip Advisor world I am famous!

Montreal is a very diverse city ... I never got sick of hearing French, it is such a beautiful sounding language. I was really wishing Lucy was with us, it is easier when there is someone that speaks the local language ... it can also be an excuse to not engage, or be a bit lazy. Montreal is really bi-lingual ... people speak French and English in the same sentence. There is something about language ... it connects people to an identity, a history, a sense of belonging. Montreal is French first and everything else second.

I took a bus tour round the city which was a great way for me to get my bearings. I seem to really lose my sense of direction when travelling, I feel completely disorientated when it comes to north and south ... I know east from west by following the sun rise and sun set. I got off the bus at one of the stops to wander along a delightful looking street and stopped of at a cafe and had a crepe, stuffed with apple and melted soft cheese and this hot chocolate. Neither were very nice ... this was one of the worst hot chocolates I have had in a while. It was mostly cream ... very milky ... and tasted like a weak Cadbury's hot chocolate ... I do not like Cadbury's hot chocolate and I hate a bad hot chocolate as many of you know.  I have found the perfect ingredient for a 'very good' hot chocolate in NZ ... Puhoi half milk and half cream, it is even delicious on porridge!  I had such high hopes for Canada ... I was very disappointed. I made the fatal mistake of asking for a bowl as well!! I gave up.

I have been trying to be very thoughtful about what I photograph this time ... it is easy to photograph lots of buildings that don't really mean anything to anyone. My photography is dreadful anyway ... I am a point and shoot photographer and if I am not wearing my glasses it is hard to know what I am taking a photo of. Having said all that about buildings here is a building that I liked. Some architecture is so beautiful, like works of art. The building materials and the construction looks so artistic. There are quite a few beautiful buildings like this in old Montreal.

I saw this tower hidden by these rather tall modern buildings surrounding it ... I wonder if this is how the Christchurch Cathedral could end up looking ... the remains of something nostalgic and historic drowned out by the modern and sometimes ugly.

I hopped of the bus at Saint-Joseph Cathedral ... I love going into old churches and looking around ... they are so beautiful and have such amazing art work ... for many nothing has been spared in their construction. I love the colours and texture in this painting that was hanging at the back of the Cathedral. Saint-Joseph was a priest that was known for his miraculous healing of people. People would come from all over the world and wait to be seen by him to be made well ... as a result of these healing's he received many substantial financial donations that he gave back to the Church and were used to build the Saint-Joseph Cathedral ... it is quite contemporary in it's interior design and art work compared to the Notre Dame. 

As I was walking around the church I saw this reflection of colour on the floor, reflecting through a beautiful stained glass window ... I thought of Marigold immediately ... Lucy showed me a painting that Marigold had painted and I am sure these are the colours she used. They are definitely Lucy colours!!

I loved this stain glass window, I love the sharpness of the figures. There were some beautiful blends of colours in these windows ... green and red ... this one red and blue. These remind me of Lucy's printmaking days at Hagley High. These are quite a modern in contrast to stain glass that I have seen in other churches of similar vintage.

I heard this yellow Lamborghini before I saw it ... it sounded thrilling!! Fast, loud and proud. It pulled up to the lights next to the white, highly modified Nissan ... then they dragged each other of at the lights. It was a fun moment.

In contrast to speed, the very next block, up pulled this beautiful blue gangster car, with loud music blaring out of it ... I felt like I was on a movie set of The Fast & Furious!

One of the tour buses I travelled round the city on ... I am embarrassed to say that it took me a while to figure out how to get on. I assumed the entrance was at the front ... dah! Of course it is at the back, everyone knows that ... right.

Notre Dame ... this Cathedral is stunning! I love how light is used with the colour blue and the beautiful effect of light and space they give when blended together. As as I walked through the front doors of the Cathedral I found this sight breathtaking.

I loved this building, it is an apartment block that was built for the Olympic Games ... it was to be the first of its kind ... it ended up being the last of its kind. It houses around 300+ people I believe ... it looks like a lego complex.

I saw these performers as I was on the bus ... Montreal is a city of festivals ... this is part of a Street Circus that is on ... we went to see it but arrived too late.

I am in love with blue at the moment ... for a long time I have loved mustard/yellow ... or marigold as it is called in India. I particularly like deep midnight blue ... I saw this painting in the art gallery and loved it. I love the colour and the illusion that there is someone inside the hood going somewhere or doing something with their life. I became very curious about the person inside the hood.

They had two really good visiting exhibitions ... Jean Paul Gautier was the first one I saw ... I loved it. I loved the fabrics ... the design... the use of colour and space. The fabrics he uses are amazing ... this one is cotton and lace, a crochet kind of style. All his pieces are hand made ... both the fabric and the garment. I love how he uses fashion and design as an artistic statement ... challenging the boundaries of what is masculine and feminine fashion. I have never really looked at his fashion design before ... I love his perfume though ... I think it smells divine!

This piece is all hand knitted ... cable and embroidery ... a lot of hours of knitting here. I love knitting cable ... I am knitting myself a cable blanket (throw) at the moment, I am pretty confident that it would not end up in a Jean Paul Gautier exhibition though.

This is my favourite ... leather and lace ... I think she looks beautiful! So graceful and feminine against the white stretched fabric back drop. He is quite a revolutionary in the fashion world. Quite the contrast to the knitted dress in the previous photo, which seems quite heavy in appearance. I came back to this woman a lot of times as I walked round the exhibition ... I loved the space and simplicity of her.

I had the best time ever at this exhibition ... I waited a long time for the person in the photo to move on and they wouldn't so I took my photo with them in it. This is set in the late 60s early 70's ... civil rights movement, feminism, man walking on the moon, the gay movement, Martin Luther King, assassination of President John F. Kennedy and WOODSTOCK! I loved the music that went along with the exhibition ... Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and so on. It was such a trip down memory lane ... a good trip.

I think Emma Peel and the Avengers ... Twiggy, the model ...  yep these were the rage at one time.

I had a psychodelic pink dress that I wore as a teenager ... fell into small pleats from the neck ... I loved it! I love this dress ... the beads ... the colour ... the fabric. The exhibition covered six revolutions ... how we look, how we think, how we change society, how we buy, how we live and how we know. I am not sure that much has changed since then ... these are still issues today in some way or other. I thought there was a lot in common with Jean Paul Gautier and Revolution ... both exhibitions were about challenging the status quo ... breaking boundaries ... creating something new.

We came across this Lotus McClaren on the way home from our night walk round the city ... Pete would really like one of these ... maybe he might trade in his Lotus for one. Suits him don't you think.

This is a photo of Pete's mother Margaret Cammock on the left and Helen Thompson on the right. Margaret and Helen were BFFs for many, many years. Helen Thompson joined the church in 1965 ... after joining she wrote to Marg sharing her conversion and a year later Marg, Rob, Pete and later Cathy Cammock joined the church. These two women have been very influential in my life. Ever since I have known Pete I have known Helen and her family ... Helen died a week ago. We will miss her presence. We will remember her as a very gracious, kind, loving, generous hearted woman who has been loved by many in her family and her community. I learnt a lot from Marg and Helen just by observing them.

Lars turned 8 just before we left for Canada ... he is our eldest grandson and only grandson. We bought him a fishing rod which he is taking on our road trip ... he is super excited by it.

Lars wanted a beach party ... we drove two hours to get here ... the Atlantic Ocean ... it is FREEZING! I went in up to my knees and tried to go in deeper but it was way too cold for me ... my feet were going numb as I came out. A very different experience to the Mediterranean and definitely a lot colder than the Pacific. Mike & Chris' friend Jason wanted to buy a unicorn to take to the beach for the children to enjoy ... and they did! Lars and his friends spent hours in the Atlantic on this Unicorn ... Lars would come running back in every so often, slightly blue round the mouth from the cold water ... stock himself up with food and then go back out again. I don't know how they did it. They had a blast!!

Roxcy has set up her sleeping spot in our RV ... Thunder Birds are Go! We are spending 4 weeks on the road with Lars and Roxcy ...