My Cabin in Winter

Here is my cabin in its winter splendor, photo courtesy of my dear friend in Nova Scotia, Helene. She watches over my northern estate in my absence.

This photo and the one below of the shed on the property make me a little sad. Or maybe it's just that I'm a little sad already. I wonder if I will ever see my cabin again.



The days of stashing my possessions in a storage unit and taking off on a three-month, back-roads camping trip across the continent are gone. Even if I could be gone that long--I am obligated to be seen at my PD clinic once every 30 days at minimum--how would I ever take along all the supplies? I'd need a semi following me with dialysis bags, IV pole, tubing, cleaning supplies, surgical masks, medical tape, gynecological wipes (that are used following hand-washing to kill more germs), paper towels, clamps, anti-bacterial caps and ointment, and hydrogen peroxide. At least 50 pounds per day! For a three-month trip, that would mean hauling 4,500 pounds of supplies.

And yet this is how out of touch people are when I say I feel that everything I enjoy is being taken away from me. The dietician at the PD clinic said there was no reason why I couldn't be gone for a month. She just doesn't get it. Sure, if I were going to be in one location, I could have the supplies delivered there, but not if I'm traveling from point to point and living in my truck--which is what my plan had been up until a few months ago. I had planned on traveling in my vehicle, writing and editing from the road, like I did in the summers of 2005 and 2006. How profoundly things have changed!