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JRR, glad you're able to get groceries ! Hunker down, enjoy ! Thought of that word myself with this winter weather.
recycle, languages, how many do you speak ? My son when in Europe when he attempts to speak the native tongue, they so appreciate it. Like yourself, you probably adapt to the country you're living, visiting. Northern Spain, by the coast (El Ferrol), if you've been there, please share.
Travel adventures, here in the US, abroad, Posters, please share.
One of our favorite trips was for three weeks on the Big Island of Hawaii. I had booked us into four different B&Bs around the island and we had a minivan rental. In Kona for a week, we went to a luau, took a personal flight all around the island (just us and the pilot for almost two hours), went to the top of Mauna Kea for stargazing (and a snowball fight) and went on a boat whale watching. Then off to the Volcano Park for three days. On to Hilo for a week where we took a helicopter over the active volcano and went to the Botanical Gardens. Finished up in Kohala for four nights where we rode the three mile flume that used to carry water for the sugar plantations and went down to the Waipoa Valley.
The rest of the time we just drove around areas recommended by the people we rented from or that looked interesting. Ate a lot at restaurants off the beaten path. Like the tiny Thai restaurant in Hilo that seated maybe 20 people and was on a side street (with kids playing basketball in the street out front) that had fantastic food.
In Hilo we stayed in a home that had a downstairs suite with a lanai. Every evening the owner would ask what time we wanted breakfast the next morning. He would set up the lanai with all kinds of fresh fruit and pastries from the farmer's market, his own homemade granola, and excellent coffee. A couple of mornings he made french toast for us. So we could eat breakfast and now and then see a humpback breaching.
We always felt sorry for the people who went to the island and just stayed at a resort or a few hours from a cruise ship as they would have missed so many interesting things.
Wonderful Hawaiian adventure JRR ! Thank you for the details, one could feel we were with you !
For myself, when inquiring locals, one discovers such awesome places ! Reminds me, our family toured a new winery in the Santa Inez? valley. Young couple, in their 30's? This was almost 40 years ago ! Recommended a restaurant off a beaten path. Gentleman who owned the restaurant, raised the cattle. Steak, 3/4", one could cut it with a fork ! Vegetables, even if you didn't like them, cooked all dente !
It is a quiet day here. The cold weather has kept most of our snow intact so it will qualify as a White Christmas; our second in two years. We may even get a few flurries tonight and early tomorrow.
Christmas dinner will be pretty simple; a quarter ham, a couple sweet potatoes and some brussels sprouts. I am making some spritz cookies today; I haven't had them since I was a kid. Between the White Christmas and the cookies, I guess I am reliving my early childhood.
It's a beautiful sunny day here with temps on the upswing. There's enough snow on the ground left to qualify for a white Christmas, one I haven't seen since I was about 10 years old.
I spoke to my mother on the phone last night in CA and all is good. At 91 she still prepared cappelletti with homemade pasta for dinner tonight. My brothers and sister will be there.
I did my share of cooking and eating yesterday. I'll be glad when I don't have an excuse anymore to overeat. I have too much food in the fridge but that's far better than the alternative.
I hope everyone has a nice Christmas and are looking forward to a great 2023.
Last edited by marino760; 12-25-2022 at 10:17 AM..
It is cold here in the Toronto suburbs but a bit higher in temp than at my home in New Jersey, from what my siblings tell me.
I will cook today. Not much of a Christmas being a caregiver in a home not my own, but last Christmas I did not expect my S.O. to still be here this year, so that's something. I miss my daughter, but she has started dating someone new and won't be alone at Christmas, as she first thought. They are having dinner together and watching movies. That made me feel better.
It is finally sunny, even if freezing, so I may well bundle up and take a walk in the beautiful conservation park across the street just to get out of the house for a bit. Remembering Christmases past helps get through the day, as well as understanding that I am not to have any expectations.
Except for my roast duck and mashed potatoes. I expect them to be tasty.
Merry Christmas to everyone, but especially to those like me for whom this day is sad and difficult and are trying to make the best of the worst.
We've had a week of mild daytime and overnight temps above 40F and almost no rain. I've gone on a 2 1/2 to 3 hour bike ride five times this week, including yesterday and today. Today I rode 31 miles west to Zwickau, and took the express train back to Chemnitz (with bike), then pedaled from the train station back to my apartment. It felt more like March than December.
I got off to a late morning start because I went to a Christmas Eve party with a few dozen Venezuelan friends who live in a town 20 minutes north of here. They don't have a lot of family members here and they adopted me into their social group since I occasionally help some of them with translations from German to Spanish. We all brought food and I got to eat a Venezuelan Christmas traditional meal: hallacas (flatter version of a tamale), chicken salad, pan de jamon (bread rolled up baked with ham, olives and onions inside), pernil de cochino (tender roasted pork slices). Dinner was after 8 pm, then they put on music for entertainment and dancing - lots of fun, but I had to leave at 11:40 (late for me but early for them) to catch the midnight express train back to Chemnitz, the last train until dawn. Didn't want to miss that one. Not having a car can be a challenge, but my smartphone train and transit schedule app really helps so I know the exact schedule of how to get from A to B.
This evening I'm going to visit my upstairs apartment neighbors for a glass of wine and to chat for an hour or two. It is nice to live in a place where the neighbors are genuine good people, especially an apartment building. All of the residents (besides me) are long term residents who own their apartments. My 90 year old neighbor across the stairwell has lived in the same apartment for 62 years! Many others have been here 30+ years.
It is sunny here though cold. All of the rain we had Thursday night did not melt the snow, so we have a white Christmas. We were at my brother’s last night for dinner and drinks. They had their fireplace keeping everyone warm. Today we go to my DW’s sister’s house where my BIL is cooking a prime rib. He is an accomplished cook. The kids are now teenagers and college age, so the atmosphere has changed a bit.
Will go skiing this week in the Adirondacks and generally try to relax.
We're cooking a micro turkey. No guests, just us. The spouse is sending greetings of the season to one and all and I'm eating some of the turkey chili I made.
It was 68 here in Las Vegas yesterday. Much nicer than the freezing temps in Savannah. I think it was actually in the teens there overnight this past weekend. We picked a good week and weekend to be out of town. When we're home next weekend it will be in the low 70s.
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