Mastering a Fine Art

A headline on the cover of a recent Escapees magazine pretty much sums up what we've been up to. It's titled "The Fine Art of Doing Nothing." As we mark the completion of our third week here at Bella Terra, it seems we are well on our way to mastering this fine art.

We don't have a very good track record in this arena. Despite our best efforts of vowing to engage in some serious downtime as we approach an extended stay in one spot, we seem to find a way to quickly busy ourselves.

This time is different. Just as we settled into this lovely spot, we both fell victim to that big, bad bug that knocked us on our butts for a couple of weeks. The lingering cough has kept our activities limited. We're feeling better, but we're trying to keep these coughing attacks at home as much as possible. The weather has done its part in keeping our activities to a minimum, too. Steady rains, gusty winds, varying temps and humidity have made for less than ideal conditions for enjoying outdoor activities. But, the rain was much needed, and we weren't going anywhere anyway. So, we're not complaining.

In the last few days we have emerged from our fiberglass "cocoon" to go to the beach, get a little exercise, enjoy dinner out with new friends and participate in the park's Super Bowl Sunday chili cook-off. (Paul cooked up an awesome pot of chili that tied for second place!) We've spent our time inside catching up on chores that went neglected while we convalesced. We're thrilled to have the energy these days to clean the place. And, I'm proud to report that, after a cold drug-induced blogging marathon our travel blog, Bullwinkle's Travels is pretty much up to date!

Now that we're back up to speed, there's a growing list of things we're looking forward to accomplishing this week. While we tackle it, we'll do our best to maintain a healthy balance with our freshly minted skills in the fine art of doing nothing.

Wish us luck.