My sister writes that she is tired of looking at July 5. She wonders where the hell I've been. Well, I think July 5 was a very nice day and deserves more respect. Real life (as opposed to blog life) has been overly full. I last left my readers with a tale of woe about my 1989 Toyota Corolla that was having problems staying running. The final word was that the little car was terminal. It would just cost too much to fix. Another car had to be found. Since I always seem to be carting things around and since I've always been partial to vans I looked for a small van. When looking for a small van it is hard to ignore the Chrylser mini-vans and I didn't.

I found this lovely 1995 Dodge Caravan on Vashon Island thanks to the miracle of Craig's List. I had not actually ever driven one before. Now I understand why they are so popular. This is the last year of the original boxy body. It's the second generation and most of the problems had been ironed out. It has the 3 liter Mitsubishi V6 and three rows of seats for 7. I have the middle seat out and the back seat moved foward to provide more cargo room. Quite a versatile package and about 2 feet shorter than Zoe's 1995 Toyota Camry albeit wider and taller. I've owned a number of vans over the years and this has to be my favorite.

Another time sucker has been Gordy's Camera Straps. Sales keep going up. Who knew! This is turning out to be the best job I've ever had.

Hopefully regular programming will ensue. Now I have to go make some camera straps. Links later.