I’m no Martha Stewart. I consider myself a barely adequate
and unenthusiastic housewife.
I don’t like cleaning, or polishing, or dusting all the
knickknacks that one naturally collects over one’s lifetime. Putting out pretty
plants that need tending, decorating for amusement just to take it down before
the next occasion – I can do without that. I’m sure that makes me a terrible
housewife.
It’s been six years since we sold our 5 bedroom house. We
became free from house and yard responsibilities, traveled wherever we pleased,
and the only cleaning and maintenance required was confined to 34’ feet of
trailer. I am a happy trailer-wife.
This year we are experimenting with staying a full winter
season in Canada, staying in a farmhouse on the shores of Lake Ontario.
It
comes with accommodation for our Airstream, a lovely lane stretching back past
the fields, and a scenic view overlooking the lake.
It is located in a friendly rural area, which means people
drop by, often unexpected, at all times of the day. I quickly learned that I
need to have tea and baked goods at the ready. As a result, I have gained
weight. And its not that we’re eating more. At the trailer, people would often come
over for campfires and happy hour, and indulge in snack foods and alcohol with
us. I just didn’t realize how fattening tea could be.
Adapting to a temporary home does have some issues. For the first little while, our feet were
automatically searching for the pedal flush of the RV toilet. And it is
disconcerting, first thing in the morning, when one is not quite awake, to come
upon an unexpected full length mirror. Downright shocking, in fact. Especially
after a full week of that sinful tea.
In a house that has more than 10 times the living space than
we have grown accustomed to, we have a lot more storage space than we have had
for many years. As a result, we have been buying in bulk during sales, gleefully
shopping in Costco, and picking up larger sizes of supplies than we normally
would have.
This means we are more likely to lose things. Or forget we bought
them in the first place. I just hope we can use our stash up by the time we
move on again. Especially the tea. We‘d better not have too much of that left
over.
So far the experiment has gone well. Hubby is happily involved in a massive
project, located in another building on the property. He is completely gutting and renovating an old Airstream. His project keeps me happy, too.
It means he’s not underfoot all day, but he is still nearby.
And there are many
amenities at the farmhouse that we have enjoyed: a laundry room, a huge flat screen TV, and
a lovely woodstove to comfort us on cold evenings.
All this does not mean we want to stay stationary
permanently. The opposite, in fact. We miss the excitement of having new places
to explore, the comfort of being in our own little space, and the freedom to
head off on adventures. We realize that we made the right choice in our
lifestyle.
I love being a trailer-wife.
W
