For the last month, Mark, Maya, and I stayed with my in-laws in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where we have a comfortable room above their garage. The summer is the time for us to deal with doctor’s visits, catch up with friends and family, and get work done. Here are a few glimpses of our recent “sedentary” life.
Maya feels right at home on the porch
Maya meeting other dogs in an off leash area
Sunset along the boardwalk
Mark, Maya, and I are back in our camper van Zesty, heading to the Eastern seaboard of Canada. My internet will be unreliable and infrequent as we won’t have a data plan north of the border. This will be reflected in my ability to post, read, and comment to blogs. I’ll try to upload photos on Instagram and Facebook once in a while, if nothing else.
This blog post is my contribution to (Almost) Wordless Wednesday.
Enjoy the rest of summer!!
August 14, 2019 at 06:57
Will you get to Newfoundland? One of our favorites.
August 14, 2019 at 07:06
Not sure, Leslie. I’d like to, but the summer is ending soon, it’s a long way up there, and the ferries are expensive. So, we will see. I don’t think we will have time as we’d like to take it slow and we are meeting my parents in Quebec City mid-September, before heading back into the US.
August 14, 2019 at 07:10
Have a safe trip! I’ve never been to that part of Canada so I look forward to reading about your adventures.
August 15, 2019 at 09:19
Thanks, Janis. Hopefully we luck out with the weather and the lack of mosquitoes. 🙂
August 14, 2019 at 07:35
Have a wonderful trip Liesbet…
August 15, 2019 at 09:20
Thank you, Nancy.
August 14, 2019 at 07:44
Have a safe and fun trip, Liesbet! Quebec City and Eastern Canada are beautiful.
August 15, 2019 at 09:20
I’ll take your word for it, Natalie! 🙂 We will visit Quebec City with my parents and then all head back to Massachusetts together.
August 14, 2019 at 08:32
I agree, Maya does look right at home. Safe travels, Liesbet!
August 15, 2019 at 09:21
Thank you, Jill. Maya loves an air conditioned room. But, she loves her home on wheels as well. Every time we walked by it, she sat down and wanted to go inside. 🙂 Back in the van now and she’s totally relaxed.
August 14, 2019 at 10:01
Maya does look like she had a great time. Not sure about the pink bow though…
Safe travels!
August 15, 2019 at 09:22
Haha. I don’t think she liked the pink bow either, Alex. No more goofyness now! 🙂
August 14, 2019 at 15:18
What a fabulous visit you had with your Newburyport family! Hope your new travels lead you to more (but this time all FUN) adventures.
August 15, 2019 at 09:27
Cheers to ALL fun adventures, Pam. Although, we all know that this is impossible. Life’s full of ups and downs, wherever we go and whatever lifestyle we prefer.
August 14, 2019 at 15:46
Looks like you had some good time with your family and got things done, Liesbet. Enjoy your next adventure and we eagerly await your next set of photos!
August 15, 2019 at 09:28
Happy to know you’re anxiously waiting for the next set of photos, Terri! That makes me smile. And, keeps me taking photos. 🙂
August 14, 2019 at 15:47
Happy travels!
August 15, 2019 at 09:28
Thank you, Anabel. Happy to have you come along. 🙂
August 14, 2019 at 16:17
Safe travels! Looks like a lovely visit with family.
August 15, 2019 at 09:29
It was nice, Lexie. Busy and frustrating at times (the work stress), but the family and friends concepts and the comfort of our own room beat it all. 🙂
August 15, 2019 at 09:08
Looks like you had a grand time. And Maya seems to be very comfortable staying in one spot for a while… Enjoy your next stop.
Peta
August 15, 2019 at 09:30
Thank you, Peta. Maya seems happiest whenever we are around, whether that’s in a cool room or in a moving camper. 🙂 Heading across the border in a few minutes.
August 15, 2019 at 10:28
Maya looks so sweet!
I hope you had a good rest and got lots of chores taken care of.
Enjoy Canada!
August 24, 2019 at 08:30
/thanks, Duwan. As you probably can relate to: some of the chores have been taken care of, others have been postponed for when we are back in October. Maya is having the time of her life. 🙂
August 16, 2019 at 19:19
Enjoy Eastern Canada. I’ll be sure to check your Facebook posts.
August 24, 2019 at 08:33
Thanks, Donna. With only a little bit of internet here and there, I’ll have to create priorities as to what to take care of and attend to first. 🙂 Creating Instagram posts that automatically post on Facebook is easier than writing a blog post.
Although… anyone would laugh at this, but, because I don’t have a phone, my Instagram process is as follows: take photos with my camera, transfer them onto my computer, create a folder with suitable photos for Instagram, resize those photos, send them in an email to myself, open that email on my iPad, download those photos on my iPad, create Instagram posts with those photos. Yeah…
August 19, 2019 at 15:52
Happy trails my friend. Thanks for the wonderful photo share. Yes, Maya looks right at home! Safe travels! <3
August 24, 2019 at 08:37
Thank you, Debby. Maya is a pretty happy pup! She loves the comfort of a home – whether it’s the “room above the garage” or our camper – and thoroughly enjoys roaming around the woods with us. 🙂
August 22, 2019 at 14:45
Thanks for showing a glimpse of small-town New England; even Maya seems to like the scenery. Your snapshots are great: photos of Mark’s parents, the round table for meals, a different pace. Maybe your August expenses will reflect some lower numbers – ha!
August 24, 2019 at 08:42
Family time is so important and we are happy to spend a few weeks every year with our parents. I sometimes feel bad about spending much more time with my in-law family (as they live in the US and we need to return there for health care) than with my own, Belgian, family. That being said, because I didn’t make it back there this year, my parents will join us in a month or so for 2.5 weeks. 🙂
We will have to see about those August expenses… Usually, they’re not too bad when we are in Newburyport, but being with friends and family always means gift and treat time and eating out more. Plus, we hit the road again two weeks ago and Canada ain’t cheap. 🙂
September 4, 2019 at 13:51
Hi Liesbet. I have recently read all your posts back to the beginning of June, but haven’t commented on them as comments are closed for your posts that are more than a month old. I have had an activity filled summer and got way behind on my blog reading and writing.
It’s interesting to me that you find things in Canada expensive. I always find travelling in the USA expensive because of our dollar exchange rate. It costs about $1.35 CAN to buy $1 US.
By the way, thanks for having the “save my name” checkbox on your blog. So many WordPress blogs don’t have that which makes it really challenging to comment on them.
Jude
September 6, 2019 at 06:13
Thanks for letting me know about the comment problem for older blogs, Jude. I guess that problem persists. I really need to look into that, as I’ve never closed any comments down. As a matter of fact, I don’t even know how to do this as I’ve played with the idea of closing them down in the past when just making a statement about a blogging break. For some reason WordPress takes things in its own hands. I need some extra time and unlimited internet to look into this matter, though. Right now, all I got online is quick spurts to send emails or grab blogs. Or, I plan a few hours at a library to work.
The “save my name” checkbox is also not my doing, but I’m happy about that one. Like you, I find it cumbersome to keep filling out all my info every time I comment to certain blogs. Or, even when I did check the box in the past, it doesn’t work. Again, WordPress gives me trouble elsewhere as well, but only on certain blogs. For that kind of stuff, Blogger is much more straightforward.
You’re right that the US dollar is stronger than the Canadian one. But… fuel and alcohol is extremely expensive to us, compared to the US, way more than the 25% “savings” we get with our currency. For example, at Trader Joe’s the cheapest wine is US$3, while in a Nova Scotian liquor store, the cheapest one we could find was CAN$10.
Also, the produce and about everything else in the stores has a much higher price than in the US. Some products – because of the exchange rate – are similar to the US, but most are still more expensive. Hence my statement. So, we’re a tad more careful about what we buy now. Of course, we need the diesel to drive! 🙂