Bogaert and McLees, Living RV Poetry » A Glimpse at Lives

Online Acquaintances and Friends

Marcia — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:17:55 +0000

It used to be the only friends we had, the only variety we had in people, was limited to those in near vicinity. Depending on where you lived, played, or worked – “limited” was indeed limiting. The internet has changed that more than a simple pen pal or summer romance or camp experience. It brings us together, if only via written words, with people both similar and so totally different than we are.

Some people we meet turn into long term emails or phone calls, gradually shifting to friendship. Then there is the joy of finding their ‘in person’ personae is really no different than their ‘email’ one. I’m sure that doesn’t happen all the time, but in the case of C, a woman I first met many years ago in a Barnes and Noble Internet writing class, it did.

RVing allowed us to finally meet this fall. I am so glad we did! C was just as amusing and personable she appeared to be in writing. Leon had already taken to her via my ‘stories’, his opinion remained firm when they met.

Leon and I also got to meet Barbara and her husband Earl in AZ. I had been reading Barbara’s blogs off and on for years (I do everything off and on — well except run at the mouth, that is always in the ON position.) Another fun event. They were the perfect hosts and none of us were at a loss for words – or smiles.

Both Leon and I can’t wait to go back to visit them – and our former neighbors and good friends.

Between the internet classes and blogs – and our new to us RV, Panoply… my world has expanded. I am so grateful.

Speaking of grateful. I am grateful that Barbara chose to write a blog post about Leon and I. It is here. While you are there, check out her blog – all her blogs. Worth a visit for sure!

Now, if I could only talk C into blogging!

The Afghan, Share A Square

Marcia — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:59:13 +0000

The Afghan

Tucked gently
it brings warmth -
and timeless safety
from the cold reality
(of the moment).

They may need safety a bit longer

but,

watch them wear afghan capes in battle,
fly afghan flags of victory,

or

huddle beneath afghan tents
and shine flashlights
toward the ceiling
in awe at their created patterns
that rival stars dancing above
a dark country road

and

tomorrow they may just toss it aside

though first, I’d bet,

they will wear a crooked grin
and drape it over someone’s BIG cold feet
for what better way can one child thank so many people
than simply to spread the warmth.

Marcia McLees Bogaert
04/10/08

This poem was originally posted on my poetry blog, MeeAugraphie, in 2008, inspired by This Eclectic Life (Shelly’s) orchestrated drive to gather squares from crafters for her first Share A Square project to provide special afghans for children battling diseases who were attending camp.

Why am I sharing it with you on this blog, two years plus later?

Because so many of us (myself included to a point) may overlook that an afghan can be more than just something to keep cold from chilling bones… There is more to this project than just a simple afghan. These are special, the sheer number of people involved in EACH afghan alone is special, the tags, and the children’s delight in just those are enough in and of themselves… combined.

Those involved could get goosebumps…. the good kind.

If you are not familiar with it or this year’s drive to provide those afghans for children in three cancer camps, just click here for the FAQ – or look for her project on Facebook, Share a Square!

You will be so happy you did. And so will the children.

Note: updated to add link to Facebook!

First RV trip!

Marcia — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 03:36:02 +0000

We are home, back at work, but kicking and screaming, so to speak. This may have been our first overnight in our RV, but we made it a L O N G overnight as we had prepared quite well. That is not to say we did not learn a bit as we went.

September 12, 2010 through November 5, 2010

I have not looked at odometer yet, but we traveled from Southeast Florida to Northwest Washington via two routes, a diagonal one going, South and East coming home.

Not only did Panoply, our 2006 Lazy Daze 26.5′ Mid Bath prove herself as the perfect RV for us, the trip proved we are RVers at heart.

We may live in a really nice rental house with perfect landlords, but Panoply replaced it as home in our hearts.

Did I say we laughed a lot?

More on our trip – and the changes we made to Panoply – to come.

- Posted using BlogPress/iPad which does not like to post my pictures correctly? OR? It was correct when it first posted…. Hmmmm.

Dona Nobis Pacem

Marcia — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 01:53:03 +0000

My other feelings on peace were best expressed in these two posts and the acrostic below:

Peace begins with personal battles – fighting to not ignore ourselves, our needs. With that self strength we can make a difference.

And then we must head toward peace, one step at a time.

Click on the Globe to be taken to the Official Site of Blogblast for Peace.. Peace is spreading – but it needs you, too.

Perpetual
Enduring
Ascending
Commitment
Encompassing

Marcia McLees Bogaert
11/04/09

I will return

Marcia — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 17:21:11 +0000

Time got away from me, time and work. Panoply is still a work in progress, but we did take her on her first extended trip! yay! We are now RVers, part time, but who knows what next year will bring.

Pics of the changes we made, the safety items we have installed, and of our long trip to follow soon.

Have a safe day filled with smiles!

Roller Coaster

Marcia — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 01:48:20 +0000

My brother and his girlfriend just had a ball making this video in 2008. This is one of his original songs. The roller coaster was shot at Busch Gardens – Leon is up there in one of those. This video is the only Roller Coaster I want to ride – other than the one I have been on with Leon – the roller coaster of marriage.

Months Long Sink Search – Ended

Marcia — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:50:49 +0000

We gave up on an exact fit. I found a sink I could live with after literally looking at thousands online. (Most of that time was spent trying to find a close fit to the opening.)

The original sink was white acrylic, double bowled, so each side was too small. I wanted a single bowl. Guess what?

I found one big enough for my large pasta pan to fit in with room to spare! And the sink is nearly three inches deeper than the RV sink was. (I know, I probably won’t even take the pan with me, but….)

Yes, we are giving up height beneath the sink, but are, also, gaining space by removing the plumbing for the second sink drain.

The existing sink opening is 14.75 x 23, too big for our new sink. Leon dreamed up two possible solutions for solving the obvious, the cut out is too big. Will he be successful? Yes. Will it look good?

Function over beauty is my choice, but you never know, if either of his ideas are successful, I’ll be thrilled with it! I’ll post the brand and store name with pictures when he is finished….

Now to see if I win the faucet battle or not. Leon and the salesperson ganged up against me. They both refused to give an inch that I could/should try to make my favorite faucet work. I need ONE measurement from a manufacturer to be what I am hoping to win. And if I am wrong, it’s going to cost him (us) a lot more to get my second, third, or fourth choices! Because I will not settle for another “style” faucet.

Keep searching for what you need. You will either find it or find something better.

Schedules

Marcia — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 01:45:30 +0000

Schedules rule most. I think the lure of RVing for some is not so much the travel – as the lack of a restrictive schedule. There is something to say for schedules though. I have taken the lack of a schedule to the extreme since I retired early years ago. Even now, having gone back to work for/with/beside Leon, I find it hard to make my schedule less flexible. I’ve made some attempts to incorporate a schedule in my personal life, but it always becomes just another list – something I thoroughly enjoy writing, but rarely look at again. You know, like the schedule I’ve attempted several times for my blogs.

My lists may as well be blank, but then I wouldn’t have the joy in writing them.

UNSCHEDULED

Uneven
Nuances,
Spontaneous
Chaos,
Heralded
Excitement,
Dulled
Urgency,
Lazy
Excuses,
Delightful!

Hey, Honey, We’re Home

Marcia — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:23:20 +0000

Home…

I know home is where the heart is.

I know we can make a home from a house.

But, those past 2.5 years in the apartment and condos – just weren’t home. That is so obvious now that we are in our rental house. I have seen a change in both of us. Doesn’t say too much that we let our environment get to us so much, does it?

That said we did have good times in all locations, they just never felt like home – and the last condo, though “cool”, was just too dark.

I can feel a change in my attitude, see a change in his. We have settled in, thinking of it as home rather than our son’s rental home. I’m even becoming more domestic….

Hey, Honey. We’re home!

100 Years – Would have been

Marcia — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:26:41 +0000

Daddy, before me:

Daddy, with my cousin, before me. I’m pretty sure that is a grandfather of mine in background, but I didn’t remember my cousin being that much older than me that he was still alive…. (I know, to most of you that is pathetic, but they all died before I was born.) I love this picture ’cause I loved Daddy in that hat and it is looking toward the lot next to our home in NC at the time, all those trees. No, I don’t remember living there – other than one or two things – but it was a beautiful brick house with all those trees scattered around.

Today, my dad, William L. McLees, Sr., would have been ONE HUNDRED years old – but vicious Alzheimers took him in the mid 90s. Sucked for everyone, but mostly for him. No sugar coating that.

However, that doesn’t stop me from being in awe at the words “one hundred”, not sure why, but today I am emotional over it. For years, I have not been. I have remembered my dad with smiles not tears. (Don’t read into this, there were moments…. scattered along the years.)

We did not have the “daddy’ relationship a few people have, nor did we have a horrible relationship. I think it was a good relationship. I never felt like – and still don’t feel like – I missed anything. He was who he was, I was, and am, who I am – and he was always there when I needed him – without fail. And, I love this picture of the three of us holding hands on the ferry from St. Petersburg to Bahia Beach. I love his shades, grin. And obviously, the pelicans managed not to drop anything that day.

He HATED movie theaters, LOVED golf, liked taking us to the beach, tolerated yard work. I always thought of him as shy, yet, I think that may not have been accurate, a bit introverted (true meaning) may be more like it. I saw how he enjoyed talking to people at the hotel he worked for, the few people he played golf with when he got the chance.

Daddy seemed to have two primary focuses in life – other than Mom, I mean.

One was working to provide for us – ’cause he did NOT believe in a mother working. He was very old school, after all, he was born in 1910. He worked for years after he retired at a menial job to continue providing.

The other was to raise my brother and I – in the way he saw fit – to be decent people. He/they succeeded in the decent people mission, though, Daddy never completely won the battle to do it his way, lol. Mom spoiled us rotten all those years he was working hard – by deed, not by showering us in material goods. From the time we were around 8 and 9, they had barely enough money for any more than true needs, not even a car. But trust me, she would have!

My letter to Daddy last year.

I filed this under “Made a Difference? Yes!” because my dad did!

Happy Birthday, Daddy. Wow, 1910 seems so very long ago. Oh, it was. Say hi to Mom, please. Hope y’all’s vision of heaven was what it turned out to be.