Rainy Days and Mondays.....

We've had enough rain these last few days, I've had to deploy the water wings on the motorhome. Rainy days, however can be a bonus since you get to concentrate on things other than cemeteries.  I am on the fifth in my summer re-read of Nevil Shute novels and thoroughly enjoying it.  Ann is on her umpteenth mystery, White Hot by Sandra Brown.  She seems to be able to read for hours, whereas my eylids tend to droop by about the sixth page.

Our playlist on the iPhone is a rather eclectic mix of Aerosmith, The Canadian Tenors, Celtic Thunder, Keith Urban with a little Sugarland and  some Waylon and Willie thrown in for good measure. (Have I mentioned how much I love my iPhone?)

I also get a chance to update my family history with all the new information and pictures we've acquired since we've been here.

We've had a little leak in the roof, right over Ann's bed and so, just before this deluge began, she braved the ladder and applied some Flex Seal to the area in question.  These few days have given us a chance to confirm that it really does work!  High and dry!

We've also replaced all the worn out light bulbs, rearranged a bunch of cupboards - all those things you just love to do while on vacation.

Joseph Richardson

Ann has always told me that she had no close relatives except for one cousin in Ontario.  Over the past few weeks, we've been working away at building her family history.  Surprisingly, we've found almost 800 close relations and yesterday, we hit a major jackpot!

Musical Stones

It seems that her sixth great grandfather was pretty notorious in musical circles in Victorian England.  His name was Joseph Richardson and he invented an instrument called Musical Stones that resembled a big xylophone with keys made of stones from the local Cumbrian hills.  In 1848 he and his three sons gave a command performance at Buckingham Palace before Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and their court.  The concert of classical music was so well received, they were invited back three times.  What a thrilling discovery!

20 Things To Do on a Rainy Day at the Campground:

1. Put a really sticky sticker on the cat's head and watch her try to get it off.
2. Cut your toenails.
3. Play 372 straight games of Bejewelled.
4. Watch the dog people walk their animals through big puddles (no doggie litter boxes?)
5. Sample ALL the Tassimo coffee flavours (Be careful with the Esspresso - believe me,)
6. Brush cat hair off all the furniture.
7. Search for the breaker box. (Nope, we still haven't found it)
8. Make cute little pinecone crafts.
9. Re-organize the fridge and all the cupboards.
10. Watch funny You-Tube videos.
11. Check out pictures of the Royal Baby.
12. Replenish the toilet paper stash in the bathroom.
13. Eat a few too many Sweet 'n' Salty granola bars.
14. Figure out what all those gizmos on the multi-tool are for.
15. Sing off key to Rita McNeil and Jann Arden.
16. Check out the free eBooks online.
17. Clean the litter box.
18. Apply bandaids to all of Ann's "cat" injuries.
19. Say the same things at the same time.
20. Laugh.  Laugh til our sides are splitting and the tears are streaming - at nothing anyone else would get.

Looks like the rain may letting up and there is the promise of a nice sunny weekend so we'll be back on the road and finishing up photographing more cemeteries on our list.  We have nearly 2,000 tombstone images and probably another 200 or so pictures of individual family members since we arrived.  The local museums and historical societies have been a great help and so generous with their time and resources.

So, it's off for a shower and some breakfast and then busy, busy, busy!

To be continued......