I love seeing the books and magazines that get left in the ‘Take One Leave One” areas in campgrounds. I picked up a book that I had been wanting to read but hadn’t gotten around to in exchange for one I had just finished.
On this trip I have been able to read three different copies of ‘O, the Oprah Magazine’, a magazine I have never purchased. There seem to be a plethora of romance novels, although I am afraid that I don’t have anything sufficiently light to trade for them. Perhaps a ‘fair trade’ isn’t required. Better Homes and Gardens magazines seem to be common, too. After reading the magazines and tearing out the occasional recipe or appealing ad, I return them to where I found them. My husband reports that the selection in the men’s bathroom is quite different; pretty light on Better Home and Gardens, for example. Whoever came up with this idea deserves a pat on the back.
We welcome occasional rainy days. They make us slow down and relax. When it is bright and beautiful outside, we feel like we must be out and about. When it rains, we can lay abed, listen to the rain on the roof, revel in our dryness, play a game or two, and/or read. Sometimes we use the time to do inside ‘housework’ – wiping down surfaces, washing the walls, cleaning the furniture. The prospect of rain also serves to get us up and out earlier so that we get the outdoor things ‘done’ before it rains. So, rain away.
We always have flowers in the RV. 
At the beginning of this trip, we had a beautiful orchid at home, so we have been enjoying that. It is now more than 30 days on the road and it is still beautiful. Small orchids are frequently dirt cheap in grocery stores ($12 to me is dirt cheap for an orchid). If we can’t find a small orchid to carry, we buy small bouquets for $5 or $6. I have a small, plastic collapsible vase that a friend gave me. It goes flat as a pancake for storage. When you put water into it, the bottom spreads out and it is very stable.
We have a round sink with a wooden cover; the wooden cover has a half-moon piece cut out of one side. When we are traveling, we can put the vase or orchid in the sink and slide the half-moon piece next to it to keep it upright all the way down the road. Works beautifully! Once arrived, the flowers come out of the sink and onto the dinette table.
We are frequently on the road on my birthday. I am a bathtub person and for my birthday, I want a bathtub. That’s the only time we stay in a hotel. This year, a beautiful bouquet of flowers was delivered to the hotel for my birthday. It has been more of a challenge to keep upright while traveling. I solved it by putting the vase into the small trash can that we use and wedging it back next to the slideout when we are on the move. It’s been a bit hard on the lilies in the bouquet, but it is almost a week later and it is still beautiful. But now the orchid has to share the limelight. They are managing to coexist.
