Camping in my uncle's house

I was so excited to have a weekend off for camping up in the Santa Cruz area. The weather had been great all week.

Then the weather reports came in...RAIN predicted for Saturday and Sunday. NOOOOO!

I persisted and went anyway, irregardless of the threat of rain. After all, it seemed sunny enough.

And it was very lovely upon arriving in Santa Cruz. With bright skies with few clouds above.

Alas, it would not remain. Thankfully I thought to call my aunt. I recall hearing that my uncle was down spending time at his house (sorting through his "collections" no less). I thought I would check in to see if he was still in town.

Unfortunately he was back in Oregon, but the good news was that the house was available. My aunt had to check with the tenant, but the upstairs was available.

I passed the next couple of hours waiting for a call back at Costco (looking for dried black currants, but finding towels, Maranatha almond butter, trail mix and Jodi Picoult novels).

I was hungry, so I wandered over to Planet Fresh for a tasty burrito. I chose the Thai chicken with black beans and white rice wrapped in an onion/garlic tortilla. As I was eating it, the rain began. There went my beautiful day.

Thankfully the tenant called me to let me know where I could find the house key as she would be leaving town for the weekend. Rock on! Now I just had to get directions. I knew where the house was but just couldn't recall how to get from point A to point B.

Since I was in the vicinity of the public library, I decided to drop in on the internet section to see if I could Google the address. Unfortunately, their computers required library cards and a password. I didn't have my old library card with me and certainly didn't want to pay for a replacement. All I needed was a phonebook. Where to find a map?

I scoured the entrance area for any kind of map or public phone to no avail. Finally I walked back into the library to ask where they kept their phone books.

As I was searching for phone book map, my aunt called me back. I was not talking loudly and even moved towards the main entrance to find something to write down the directions. It wasn't good enough because one of the librarians was pointing and mouthing to me that there was no talking on phones. Oops!

But there was NO sign saying this.

All's well that ends well. I got the directions and then I was off to the house.

It had been awhile since I had last been in the house, and I had never been upstairs before. The last time I was there it was completely full of my uncle's collections. Now it was mostly cleaned out with only a couple of rooms full.

Because it's such an old, rundown house, it has the old house musty smell. But staying there was like a little discovery adventure since it still has a lot of the old fixtures.

I spent the evening relaxing and reading one of the newly purchased books by my new favorite auther, Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult. Listening to the rain splattering the roof and dripping from the eaves is so calming.

The only downside was trying to sleep amidst the sounds of rodents scurrying about overhead in the rafters. It was a reminder of my nights in Cambodia when I was fighting the small plague of rats in my ceiling and kitchen. At least the stray cats were happy.

By morning, the rain was gone and sun was peeking through the windows. I had no hurry to go anywhere and enjoyed sleeping in late reading my book.

Now that's a relaxing weekend getaway!

I only got up to go visit Vintage Faith Church for the 11 o'clock service. It would be my first time to attend since it changed from Graceland four or so years ago. What a treat it was as Dan Kimball spoke on being missional. I could have sworn that he kept looking at me throughout the service, but maybe that was because I was the only one wearing a fuzzy, sky blue knit hat.

I can't wait to go back to spend another time at my uncle's big old red falling down musty house.