I didn’t mean to take a such a long hiatus from blogging. But after more than 10 years of blogging and 375 posts, I apparently needed a break. More than anything, I needed time to settle in to our new life in North Carolina.
To Blog…Or Not To Blog
Over the past several months, I’ve had many people reach out to make sure we’re okay. Had you asked me this in May, when we were sidelined for an entire month by an evil virus, I would have emphatically said “NO.”
But in general, yes, we are more than okay, and we’re very happy that we made the decision to buy a tiny home in this sweet community in North Carolina.
We don’t have the fabulous dock sunsets that we were blessed with in Florida…but our skies here from our tiny house porch are often spectacular
Many people have also asked if I intend to continue blogging.
Honestly, I’ve been wondering that myself. Blogging requires a significant amount of time and energy, and my time and energy have been consumed by adjusting to a new home, new surroundings, and a new lifestyle. The last several years have been a rollercoaster of far too many big life changes, and I needed to get off of that ride and regain my equilibrium.
We just celebrated our one-year anniversary of moving into our tiny home. It has taken this long to truly begin to feel like we’re home.
We’ve been nesting, just like the mockingbirds in our neighbor’s tree
We started this blog as a way of keeping in touch with friends and family when we began our full-time travels in 2013. It has evolved into so much more…a journey of grand adventures, shattering life events, and tiny precious moments. And it has opened the door to friendships that we never would have otherwise discovered.
Our dear friends Diana & Ed gifted us with raven and chickadee stained glass pieces. We met them on the road many years ago, and we see each other at least twice a year.
Looking back, I’m glad that I took the time and energy to write these pages. There is no way that I would remember a fraction of what we’ve done without this blog. But more than anything, I’m grateful for the forever friends we’ve made through our blog—many of whom we’ve met in person, and many of whom we have yet to meet.
So, my answer is yes. I’m going to continue writing as long as you’re interested in reading. Thank you, dear friends, for accompanying us through all these years of adventures and misadventures. We hope you’ll continue along with us—your company makes our journey all that much richer and way more fun.
April
After returning home in late March from our winter in Florida, we got busy in our tiny yard. We spent several weeks with a pickaxe and digging bar, trying to turn this stubborn plot of hard-packed clay into a garden.
“I thought we moved to a tiny home so that we didn’t have to deal with a yard,” said Eric. Haha. He should know me better by now, right? The community takes care of mowing and community spaces, but our garden beds are ours to maintain. Some people are content with the landscaping package that comes with their house. I, however, had more elaborate plans in mind. “It’s only a tiny garden,” I reassured Eric.
This was our yard in January
And now:
Our front garden
It’s a good thing our yard is small. Over the past few months, we’ve planted dozens of new shrubs, perennials, and trees. Everything is happy now that we’ve resolved the drainage and soil issues. But we still have plenty of bare ground, and I have plans. Maybe berries and a raised veggie bed? (Not sure yet…but don’t tell Eric. He thinks we’re done.)
We’ve planted with the birds, butterflies, and bees in mind, and our garden has been a riot of happy activity all summer long. The birdbaths and assorted feeders help attract our winged friends, too. We’ve had at least 75 bird species, 15 different butterflies, and many unidentified bees visit since we’ve been here.
The baby Eastern Bluebirds sit in the cup of mealworms when they’re eating
May
May was a blur. We were both sick with some kind of unidentified respiratory virus from hell, with all kinds of extra added attractions including three weeks of total laryngitis for me. That was annoying. And don’t you dare say, “I’ll bet Eric was happy about that!” LOL.
Thank goodness for good friends in our wonderful community, who dropped groceries and pots of homemade soup on our porch—before running away as quickly as possible.
Just before he got sick, Eric bought me this humidifier. It made me feel better. :-)
June, July, and August
We were finally well enough to enjoy the gorgeousness of Western North Carolina in summer. Along with exploring our surroundings, we’ve had visits from several long-time friends, many of whom we met during our full-time travels. We’ve also been enjoying lots of activities in our tiny home community, and are delighted with the friends we’re making here. Moving to this community was exactly the right thing for us to do at this time in life. I’ll post more about that another time.
Craggy Gardens on the Blue Ridge Parkway in early summer is a gorgeous hike, with blooming wild rhododendrons and azaleas
Click on photos for a larger image
At Sierra Nevada brewery with Ken and Shannon, good friends and fellow bloggers we met on the road many years ago (Check out their excellent blog at https://zamiaventures.com/wp/ )
You-know-who reveling in the sun
Happy almost fall, y’all! With love from North Carolina,
Laurel, Eric & Magnolia
BINGO! Every morning I check your blog to see if you’re there and today you were!
At Last! I, for one (or maybe two) am happy that you’ll continue this blog. We are so glad we met through it and hope to stay in touch, through it. These things evolve over time and with life changes, but they don’t have to end completely. I love to be able to see your faces and how your little home is evolving and what you’re up to. It makes us feel like we don’t live on opposite sides of the country!
Your landscaping looks wonderful, but I’m glad I don’t have to keep thing pruned and deadheaded and fertilized and watered! I’m sure the birds (and neighbors) love it and you for providing such a lush oasis.
Fun to sit with your morning beverage or afternoon g&t and watch the life it provides.
Sorry you were both so sick but glad you’re better now. I wonder what it was?
Looking forward to seeing you this winter.
Aww, thanks for not giving up on us, Sue! We still marvel at the “forever” friends we’ve met through our blog. I have fond memories of the first time we met in person around the campfire in the Alabama Hills in the Sierra Nevada so many years ago! And then you were our first friends to see our tiny home before we even moved into it. We love you guys and are so happy to have you in our lives. Although we will stay in touch no matter what, as you said, blogging is a really good way to keep up with each other.
Eric installed an irrigation system (yay!!) in our not-so-tiny garden, but I do spend a lot of time deadheading, haha. It’s kind of meditative. :-) It’s worth the effort…we spend a lot of time on the porch enjoying the birds and butterflies!
As for that stupid virus, the doctor didn’t (or couldn’t) identify it. But it was wicked! I hope we have super immunity now to everything.
Dear Laurel and Eric, so nice to see you have finally landed and nested. It looks like the right fit and so beautiful ❤️
Howdy from beautiful Prescott, Arizona, where Chris and I will celebrate nearly 3 years. We will miss our annual visits but look forward to your blogs whenever they come.
Big love your way and the happiest of housewarmings to you both. Thanks for all of the memories on so many levels.
With Lve Lila &Chris
How wonderful to hear from you, Lila! Thanks so much for the good wishes…we’re happy with our choice of Western North Carolina, and it feels good to land after several years of uncertainty. I know you two understand.
How fortunate we were to have met you two at the beginning of our full-time travels…your loving presence in our Oregon home made it possible for us to embark on our adventure! As you know, we always intended to return, but life is ever-evolving. We’re so glad that Prescott is working out well for you and Chris. It’s a beautiful town, and we hope to see you there in our future travels! ❤️
You’re back! YAY!!! Laurel, you could write about the color of the dirt in your garden and I would read it. SO happy to see your post pop up on my blog roll! Happy, too, to hear that you and Eric are healthy once again, that your gardening efforts delivered such beautiful results and, especially, that you know now that the North Carolina decision was the right one for both of you. The next time Alan and I even come close to your neck of the woods, we’ll give you a shout. By the way, I absolutely love the photo of you and Eric in the kitchen with your asparagus! 🥰
Haha!! Our dirt is red clay. :-(( I appreciate your positive and loving comment, Mary. Getting started blogging again after a long hiatus is tough, so thanks for the encouragement.
We count you and Alan among the friends we’ve met through blogging, and we’re hoping you’ll visit us here in North Carolina. We’re loving it here, and would love to show you some of what we’ve discovered. Meanwhile, we do want to continue traveling…your trip to Alaska has been inspiring!
I’m only a tiny bit disappointed you didn’t take my suggestion to resume blogging over the winter in Florida and pretend the intervening year didn’t happen. Mostly I’m glad to see that you’re back at it, with the usual excellent writing and photos. The before-and-after photos of the yard – WOW! What a transformation. I promise not to tell Eric you have ideas for even more projects. Personally I recommend taking the rest of the year to relax, then think about new projects in the spring. You are absolutely right that big life changes require a prolonged period of adjustment and settling in.
Shannon, you and Ken have been with us through all of our big life changes over the past several years and have been such good friends through it all. Who knew when we met on the trail in Pinnacles NP so many years ago (and recognized each other from our blogs) that our lives would take parallel paths? Without our blogs, we would never have met! We’re so glad you’re now living in North Carolina. :-)
I’m not sure if I can wait till next spring to do more in the garden, haha. I have so many ideas!
Thanks for the update🐞🐝🦋
Hope you’re doing well, Kathryn!
I too, have wondered if you would continue blogging, if only when you took shorter Airbnb trips.
I was fortunate in June to drop by for a day, and spend delicious time with the two of you.
Thank you for taking me to the Carl Sandburg park, and art galleries. It was a treat to see an Eastern Bluebird. A visit to see the “bears” in Hendersonville was inspiring in how a community raises money and support for artists.
Of course we miss you both out on the West Coast, and at the same time I’m grateful you are in a place you are thriving in. It always takes a year to settle in and feel at home after a big move.
Many hugs to you both.
Sheila, we loved having you visit, and just wish you could have stayed longer! I’m so glad you got to see us in our new tiny home—and to see that you are always with us in the beautiful crow art print that you created that’s hanging in our living room. ❤️ Our summers on Lopez Island and having so much time with you and Bruce are high on our list of favorite memories.
Now that I’ve picked up the thread of this blog, my plan is to continue, including travel posts and occasional posts about life in a tiny home and community. And whatever else crosses my mind. I hope you’ll come visit us again in NC!
Always nice seeing your post in my inbox. I can relate to all the upsides to blogging, but I wonder how long I’ll continue. Since we are very stationary these days, I find myself having writer’s block, but I certainly have plenty of photos that I still enjoy sharing.
LOVE your landscaping. What a difference there is between those before and after images. Keep enjoying your new abode!
Thanks, Ingrid! We’re loving our new home and community, and I’m really enjoying having a garden again after so many years of full-time travels.
I certainly understand the challenge of writer’s block—it took me forever to get this post together after months of not blogging. Just keep sharing your beautiful photos!
I’ve been delighted to follow you around on your travels and through life’s changes, so I’m glad you are still choosing to post about it all. Thanks for making the effort! And I hope you are done with being sick for a good long time. There are birds and trails that need documenting! The yard looks great. I know that mine rewards me deeply for the time I spend working on it. It is great to hear that you’re feeling at home both in the house and in the community. They are lucky you two landed there.
Happy autumn!
Joanne
Joanne, I’m so happy to hear from you! And I’m delighted that you’re continuing to journey with us. I would love to know more about your life, your travels, and your creative pursuits these days.
I’m loving having a garden again in a temperate four-season climate. Trying to garden in Florida was awful, LOL. I’ll bet your garden is gorgeous and artistic. I hope you’ll come to visit us in North Carolina. We have some great hikes nearby!
Happy you two are recovered from your sickness and are doing much better. The pictures are as usual spectacular! Wish we could see it in person but right now we are deep into a move and the process is not fun. Sometimes I wonder why we embarked on this at our age but we know we’ll love it once we can get organized here. As you well know moving takes a lot of patience. Anyway our best to you both from Idaho, love you both!
Penny and Tom
Thanks for taking time away from unpacking to check in on us, Penny. I know you’re right in the thick of it right now. Figuring out where to put everything in a new place is a lot of work. It took me months to get things organized, and I’m still rearranging, haha. I hope you have lots of help and are taking plenty of breaks.
You’ve moved to such a beautiful place—I’m sure the fall colors are going to be gorgeous there! Enjoy your new home, and hugs to you both.
Tiny home and expanding garden – perfect! You look and sound great. Still aging in place here in The Shire. Your blog is wonderful, even if I don’t often comment. Fall arrives here in Southern Oregon, bringing down the tension of fire risk. I love winter now!
xo
Nancy
How wonderful to hear from you, Nancy! I’m so happy to know that life continues to be good for you two in Ashland. You have such a sweet home and gorgeous garden. Enjoy the spectacular Ashland fall…it doesn’t get any better anywhere! I’m sure you breathe more easily once fire season is over for the year. I would have a new appreciation for winter, too. Big hugs to you and Bryan.
Yes, Yes, YES ….Please continue to send out a blog post when the inspiration strikes!!! Love having the photos to readjust my slide show in my head …. we have a tendency to remember our loved ones as the last time we saw them so many years ago! You guys haven’t changed in spirit just some itty-bitty changes and adjustments to color! We have added parts, accoutrements per se … hearing aids, glasses, teeth….no walkers or artificial limbs, yet!
Keep moving and avoid doctors as my friend’s son says (and he’s a doctor)! Love ❤️ to you three! Diana
So wonderful to hear from you, Laurel. Your gardens are wonderful, love all the richness of the plants you have chosen. Never too many in my opinion. Eric should love it as well, after all, he did Lithia for so many years, and those gardens were so beautiful. I, too, am a bit sad that we probably won’t get to your part of the world any time soon. We decided that crossing the country again might be a bit much for us. But who knows, things can change. I have gone around and around with the blogger thing, as you know, it has changed so much over the years. Also, you have even more followers than I do, and so few comment anymore or give any indication of reading. But I keep on, for all the reasons I have discussed ad nauseum. something I have discovered is that blogging monthly is just about right, I don’t get too far behind, I can track where we have been and for the few that follow, I give them something to see and read. It has been working rather well for the last few months. So, I will write again at the end of September, with a title something like Super September. Still trying to come up with adjectives that begin with O for October. LOL
What a relief to know y’all are healthy again and fully able to soak in the BlueRidge. Just in time fir the best season of all! Thanks for carrying on with the blog. I’m here for it!
Yay… both for the update and for the assurances that – for now, anyway – you’ll continue blogging. I get those “should I or should I nots” every once in a while but then I remember the community of bloggers that I love to connect with and I decide to carry on.
I’m so sorry your virus lasted so long, and doubly sorry that it interfered with our planned meet-up… Paul and I could have been in one of your pictures! :) Despite the missing May this year, it looks like you’ve had a marvelous time getting together with friends and settling in to your new home. Your yard looks wonderful and the picture of the bluebirds is adorable.
It’s wonderful to hear from you again Laurel. And I’m so happy that you are still going to be blogging. I thought many times about calling you to see what was up, especially when I seldom saw you in the comments of my infrequent posts but my life is still off-kilter and I thought perhaps yours was too. I love all the planting that you have done it is just beautiful and if you have a list of those native plants for attracting birds butterflies and bees I would love for you to share it with me. Hope we’ll be in better touch. I’ve missed hearing from you. Love to you both.
Jeez… about friggen time. Don’t you still owe us post from, like, 2019? Get on the ball, lady. Chop, chop.
PS: The garden looks amazing!
:)
Hmmmm, the pot calling the kettle black perhaps???
;)
Haha! Touché!
I’ll shut up now.
:)
Love hearing from you and knowing all is well in NC. Blogging is a lot of work if you take time to research what you’re sharing like you do and John did. It wore him out completely blogging almost every night for eight years. I am using fb to keep track now of our travels. I can add more details easily there. Instagram is a much shorter version of what I say on fb.
Your garden is wonderful!! Irrigation is necessary if one wants to leave for long periods of time. I’m sure the birds, bees, and butterflies love it. As do you both when enjoying your beautiful porch. Great job!!
It took me at least a year to feel fully settled in our new home. It was difficult after eight years of non-stop new adventures every day. I think we both now have the best of both worlds.
So sorry you both were sick for so long. Ugh! I’ve only had laryngitis once. My family loved it!!
Take care dear friend. Sending hugs to you both.
I was thrilled to get that email stating I had a blog post waiting from you! I have thought of you guys often wondering how you were getting along in your tiny home. Love your garden–it’s beautiful! That was an awful illness!!–glad you are both feeling better! I for one am very glad you will still be blogging!
Laurel,
After many years in the craft, I completely understand the challenges of blogging. Like you, Easin’ Along is my way of keeping track of all the fun we’ve had on the road. My life in Knoxville is not nearly as exciting. Nevertheless, I will continue so that I can stay in touch with all the “bloggy friends” I’ve made over the years. Your garden is top-drawer, and I’m sure it gives you great pleasure. Helen and I count ourselves fortunate to have spent time with you and Eric in Florida, and we hope we can get together again soon. Enjoy your day, and please stay in touch. Joe
Your yard is beautiful. We were glad we had the opportunity to meet you two in person. We headed west this week instead of going to Georgia due to the upcoming storm. I hope it avoids you.
We lived in Wake Forest briefly, getting grass to grow there was impossible. What you have done is so much better! It’s beautiful. Glad you’ve decided to keep blogging, I always enjoy seeing what you’ve been up to.
Those stacked clouds make an optical illusion — I had to expand it to see what the heck was going on there. Isn’t it nice to have gardens again? Especially smaller, more easily maintained (i.e. enjoyed!) spaces? I like being at the garden-putterer stage of my life, which makes for great enjoyment but leaves plenty of time to devote to other interests. Yours look lush and lovely. Blogging certainly connected US, and even though we connect in other ways occasionally, it makes for the best format to photo- and story-share, so though I’m not surprised you’ll continue to write and post here, I’m awfully glad of it <3
Hey, Laurel. I comment very infrequently now, but it doesn’t mean that I’m not keeping an eye on you. I love reading your blog and I also love reading the comments from so many people, many of whom I also met through blogging. You are on my mind right now because of hurricane Helene. I hope it hasn’t caused you any difficulty. Stay safe, stay healthy. Big hugs from Laurie and Odel.
So good to hear from you. Your new place looks lovely as I was sure it would. As I hear about Florida it makes me so sad and yet so relieved that you are not there… Stay well and stay in touch.
This blog is wonderful. Thank you for all the effort you have put into it. I hope the two of you and your tiny home have survived Helene’s devastating rains and winds without harm.
The impact that Helene has had on the area sounds terrible. I hope that people are ok and that the area recovers quickly.
Keep on blogging. I’ll always read what you write. Miss you guys tons!
Hi Laurel and Eric. Greetings from Lopez Island. I ran into Bruce Creps at the PO today and we were wondering how you were. My daughter lives in Asheville, her brother-in-law, wife and kids live in Swannanoa, and I have other friends in Hendersonville, Clemmons and Greensboro. All of them have been affected by Helene, but they’re ok. Still waiting for water and power to be fixed, but not much damage. I hope that’s true for you too and I wish that were true for so many others in the area!
I’m planning to fly to NC in December and maybe we can get together. Know that many people are wishing you the best outcome from this tragedy. I hope you’re new tiny home is unscathed. Take care!
Ann
I was able to find this blog for the Simple Life Community. It sounds like everyone there is safe, though I can’t tell about damage to the houses. Here’s hoping for the best possible outcome from this devastating hurricane.
https://simple-life.com/simple-life-provides-update-on-hurricane-helenes-impact/
Hi Laurel & Eric,
We’ve been wondering and praying that you are well in terms of all the devastation in your immediate area. Thanks to Janie (above comment) who shared a link she found about the Simple Life Community. Looking forward to hearing more from you in the future. I’m imagining you both to be working hard to help your new community at this time. Lots of love and support across the miles, Miriam & Andy
Another wonderful blog Laurel! You and Eric look great and your new home is beautiful. So glad to hear that you two are okay and that your home is intact. Such devastation is hard to comprehend. Hugs to you both and a cuddle for the kitty, Brenda Hammers
Well I’m certainly behind on my blog-reading! Even knowing the challenges you’re facing in the now, this post makes me so happy to see how you’ve settled into your new community. All you shared about blogging gets a big “ditto!” from me on every level. I’m personally delighted you’ll continue to write about what you do and see and feel, all things I look forward to catching up with. All three of you look so good!