Sullivan's Beach SC

we took one afternoon to visit the villages around our campground..... Sullivan's Island is a charming beach community just outside of Mount Pleasant.

loved this pink house with  the flock of matching flamingos 

 Good antiquing too!
 
never saw a WOVEN wall before.
 wood strips in a basket weave all along the interior . Must be a Southern thing

A damp morning in Charleston

This is a city that's beautiful in any weather!

brick walls -brick alley

               

   

Camellias were blooming

looks like Cinderella passed by here last night

  

Charleston revisited

We made a run back to Charleston, to meet RVing friends who were there for a couple weeks.   It's only 4.5 hours of driving .... but after 4 months of "settling in"  to our Florida campsite we found there was a lot to sort and pack!  The weather was mild, but overcast, but only one really wet day kept us inside!     We did visit Magnolia Plantation.

Magnolia Plantation

Smoke house

interior of one slave cabin - still occupied in 1965  by the family of former slaves

Slave cabins

Cheryl trying to capture the blooming Cherries

                            

azaleas blooming at the entrance

We were both surprised by how swampy the grounds were!  can't imagine living there in the heat of the summer! and the idea of struggling with the layers of clothing that was typical of era - Terrifying!

A NEW ADDRESS!

It's now official:

One of our projects this winter has been to wade through all the paperwork for establishing a domicile state --- when you don't own or lease real estate. ....  and the best package for folks who live full time in their RVs is SOUTH DAKOTA!  who knew???

So the vehicle registrations, insurances, and address registrations are now complete.  All that's left to do is take the SD driver's licence test when we're there in early June.

Feels very weird to "live" in a state we've never even seen.

The new, official, permanent address is:

Fred & Anita PALSGROVE
514 Americas Way #6315
Box Elder, SD  57719

email & phones are unchanged (so far),

pemaquid373@gmail.com
Fred - 207-592-5060
Anita  207-677-3337

this will continue to be the best ways to reach us. ( Please don't use the Green Cove Springs address any longer, or the older Pemaquid address.)

This mail service collects our mail - emails us for instructions, and then forwards the mail to wherever we are staying.  Works quite well!

So, now when people ask us where we're from, the answer has gotten alot more complicated!

Our winter is over - time to move west

We settled into our campsite outside of St. Augustine back in December, and have been enjoying 4-months of really wonderful weather.  Not to rub it in, Northern friends - but we're both so glad we're not in Maine this winter.

There have been visits from friends; busy Holidays ; concerts; farmers' markets, art shows, quiet walks in town, time to play with my traveling studio, Fred plays Pickleball and Bocci - and there's always maintenance; stuff breaks!  There's also been lots of time for goofing off.

Diane & Grady drove up for Lunch!

lunch at Aunt Kate's next to the campground

Breakfast at Georgie's

dinner with SARAH & her college roommate! at the Napoli in Ponte Vedra  

Jacksonville RV show

WAAAAAY TOO SMALL

WAAAAAAY TOO BIG

JUST RIGHT !

A Sewing project - with lots of help!

At the Old Gate to the City

It's been a great winter and at the end of March we move onto Phase II:  after a brief trip to Charleston, we'll be heading West   -  back to San Antonio, and then on to Santa Fe, Mesa Verde, Arches National Park, The Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and the Black Hills.... with lots of stops along the way, and time to spend with friends .

 The Spring Equinox is coming up on the 20th - and then it will be official, even if it doesn't look like spring - or feel like spring it is officially spring, if only in your heart.  Thinking of you all. Our plans are to be back in Maine by late June!

some thoughts on joining the Little House movement

The "little house" movement has been around long before we decided to downsize.  In fact I remember well when the coffee table book was first released.

The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live  

by Sarah Susanka,  (Apr 1, 2001)

I was fascinated by the concept and the design commitment - and the smallness! I marveled at the tidyness, the lack of clutter, and big impact of design over stuff.  ( At the time we were running The Briar Rose B&B - and could not imagine living without all the stuff we had collected to fill the rooms of the 3-story house....and I mean FILLED)  .

Since then the Tiny House movement has exploded with countless books, magazines and designers. the Not So Big Houses became smaller and some are unbelievably tiny.   Many "believers" live in actual houses, but a significant number live in alternative housing - like our neighbors in Pemaquid, or disaster-prepers who are ready to hunker down for the next zombie apocalypse  - or folks like us who are opting for full-time RVing - and are living in a home we can haul anywhere we want,

We shifted our life from about 2400 sq ft of space to just under 300sq ft, (plus our tiny tiny storage unit).  reducing, de-cluttering, purging and endlessly organizing.   It's really surprising what you can live without (like the iron & ironing board) - what necessary things aren't so necessary (like walls of books, or the cuisinart) and those special items that weigh more in sentimental value  than actual  physical weight or price.  

I never planned to become a part of this "movement", but feel now that we are very much at the center of it all - and liking it very much.  But...... I will confess we've started talking about a somewhat larger RV....  maybe 34 feet???  After all there are 5 of us living in here, and three cats do come with a bit of baggage of their own!  Three feet is an ocean when you live in a space this small.
Oh, and by the way, those Little House books/magazines are often in libraries (no space required) or can be read in e-book format or on-line.....  thinking small.

some thoughts on downsizing

We're at Edisto Beach SC - during a very windy & rainy stretch of weather.  Spending far too much time inside, and trying to find things that I thought were carefully stored - somewhere.

No matter what compartment I open I find myself STILL DOWNSIZING!

Too many potato peelers, too many sweaters, too many cat towels, too many cat toys, too many shoes, too many books, too many art supplies  ----- does the paring down ever end??

So in the midst of bags of stuff, destined for places that take stuff, I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on the process of downsizing...... just in case you have plans for a smaller home someday (or are considering a stretch of time in an RV)

 
*  It's never too soon to start - we've been at this for 5 years, and were astonished by how much stuff was still piled up for dispatch during the last week in the house!  Start now!

*  Be ruthless. Hand out the treasures you've been saving - and let a new generation enjoy them.

*  Visit family & friends - and leave stuff behind - books, clothes, shoes - kittens


*  Donate as much as you can, and challenge yourself to find small local charities, not just the big national ones.....especially charities that provide collection services.


*  buy an E-reader - and use it.



*  Plan on several LARGE yardsales,  and make those prices low !!  and if that doesn't work, try "FREE"

*  Make friends with a local handyman - he may be thrilled to make a home for the mountains of junk that accumulated in the workshop

* We finally decided to rent a VERY SMALL storage unit   (5x10)  for all the precious stuff that just can't be given away and couldn't be squeezed into the RV (and I tried really hard)

can this.......

equal this ????  We're still not sure..

...........plus this

the process felt a bit more like this,

 And, if it can't be given away, sold, trashed, donated, contributed or stored it may need to be released in  a bonfire - because sometimes burning something seems more respectful than just throwing it away...  and there is a great joy in watching your high school yearbooks go up in flames!

*  So take the Pledge that from now on you must make it your personal mission to avoid the occasion of sin - no matter how tempting, cute or well priced!  Or at least use the "one in- one out" rule.

and remember... Downsizing  is NEVER over!

Posted from our over-flowing and most certainly over-weight 30' RV.  with love to you all !!