Hola Guayabitos!

Hola from Rincon de Guayabitos, Mexico 2019

We made it back to this "laid back" Mexican Fishing Town

after 7 years!

It's changed a bit but thankfully not too much.
Here is a link to 7 years ago!

Staying at the DeCameron, Los Cocos all inclusive resort made for

a relaxed Winter Get-Away.

Walks on the beautiful beach, no cooking, reading, and eating

3 square meals a day - oye!

While there, we took a Casa Cooking class in Betty Nunez's cozy kitchen in La Penita, 

a town adjacent to Guayabitos.

She taught us and our travel mates how to make the most delicious enchiladas

served with authentic sauces of green tomatillos and red plum tomatoes.

She also made and shared a family recipe of Guacamole - what a treat!

Thanks Betty - you are amazing.

Here we are enjoying  a home-made Mexican dinner. 

Guacamole made in the traditional molcajete (mortar & pestle)

Each day our beds were made, our room was cleaned and there

was some "towel art" left on our bed!

How do the maids do this?

  

While hearing reports from home

of -20C's or more, we enjoyed +20C's here!

Bedtime came early for us most nights but we stayed awake long enough to view the lunar eclipse on January 20th.

There was a surprising extreme high tide the next morning on our beach walk,

all due to the full moon eclipse?

We had early morning walks on the beach each day, where the fishermen

sold their daily catches,

enjoyed the buffet of foods at the resort and tried to get "our" same table

and waiter every meal.

Selfie lessons needed!!!

The Monday market shopping in the town square was so much fun.

Bought some great sun dresses (Mexican made by two sisters - TY Bikinis),

 and gifts to take home. The "TY" booth was always packed with women trying on dresses

as the men stood back in the shade.

Thankfully we had lots of suitcase space to take home our treasures.

La Penita also has a fabulous market on Thursdays and there we had a good feed

of fresh made churros (deep fried long donuts rolled in sugar - oh yum).

I need to learn how to make these!

This resort and area seems to attract mostly Canadians and lots from the Western Provinces.

We visited with some friends that we met here in 2012 who hail from Saskatoon area

and now rent a bungalow for 6 weeks in town. So great to see them again.
(I missed getting a picture of them - Ev and Leonard)

Many folks come year after year to this wonderful place.

Good times were had with our "old" friends forever from home!
Gary and Anita

Our meeting place! Let's do this again some year.

Till next time ....... Adios and stay warm!

Spring was Sprung ...

Spring was Sprung in Tennessee and South Carolina!

As we travelled South, though it was still quite chilly,

we enjoyed experiencing Spring in fast forward mode ...

Who knew there was a beautiful Wildlife Sanctuary in the midst of Knoxville, TN?

We hiked the slightly muddy trails of Ijams Nature Center - so refreshing!

St. James Island County Park was a great place to camp with our

friends and travel out from there to see a plantation and

some of the historic sights in Charleston, SC.

Well worth the time to see Middleton Place.
Insights into this once rich and famous plantation which produced rice,
a wealth producing crop developed by the African Slaves,
was overgrown and neglected following the Civil War,
and now gives a wonderful historical tour of it's working farm and beautiful gardens!

Historical Charleston!

Beautiful and unique homes ... so interesting to learn about why the single homes were built
very long and narrow with beautiful verandas. This was for protection and
more efficient ventilation.

The city's Live Oak Trees are so magnificent!

Sweet Grass Baskets at Charleston's Market Square

We missed seeing Savannah this time round but are determined
to go back some day to visit that city and it's surrounding State Parks.

Jekyll Island State Park is near there and we did a windy and cool day trip to the park.

On the nearly deserted beaches, we collected hands full of the
prettiest tiny sand dollars.

There is an amazing sea turtle hospital,
Georgia Sea Turtle Center,
 and I'm so glad we got to see this.

Jekyll Island State Park is worth a revisit
and would be a great place to camp someday.













On to Crooked River State Park in Southern Georgia.
Crooked River was lovely and we enjoyed the wildlife and scenery there.
Our travel mates are amazing naturalists and we learned to really enjoy
the birds and the many surrounding nature trails.

We were thrilled to see a large flock of Cedar Wax Wings,
beautiful dragon flies, lush palmettos, and a resident gator!

Following Crooked River SP we went our separate ways for a few days
while heading further South and into Florida.

I have two brothers and sisters-in-law who winter in the New Smyrna Beach
area on the East Coast of Florida and we paid them an overnight visit.
It was so nice to see where they hang out for several months each year
and to be treated to a delicious dinner out and a lovingly made and equally as delicious
morning send-off breakfast.

Discovered that one of my brothers and I really like oysters!
The rest of the group declined - all the more for us.

Yep, those are homemade butter tarts on the breakfast buffet. Thanks Bonnie!

Excellent bacon and eggs from the grill by Floyd!

We were treated royally.
Breakfast hosted by Floyd and Pat.
Orv and Bonnie also helped to make this happen.














So thankful for my family and so glad we took this opportunity to check in on them at 
Sugar Mill Ruins Travel Park!













One more stop at Ochlockonee River State Park in Sopchoppy, Florida
That is a mouthful ... but fun to say.

We enjoyed a beautiful trail walk and captured the first photo 
of the elusive Cardinals.

The trail was right behind our camp site.
Later that evening we had torrential rain and strong winds
but stayed dry and cozy in our wee home on wheels
 at Ochlockonee (pronounced Oak-la-konee I think)!

Are you still here?

Thanks for bearing with me on this long post!

Next stop ... joining our friends at St. Andrew's State Park and

Grayton Beach State Park near Panama City and Destin

for our last two weeks of this trip.

Till next time ...... praying for Humboldt Saskatchewan during this weekend's tragic crash and loss of so many young lives! 

Rear View Mirror

So much has happened since we left for our trip to Florida

on March 1st.

Since I don't even know where to begin I'll start at the end ...

A fabulous time was spent with our friends Gary and Anita,

who travelled with us in their 5th Wheel and most times we camped

at the same State Parks and RV parks.

We have known these two dear friends since forever, are related, and have

vacationed with them many times!

On March 27th, we pulled out of our campsite at Grayton Beach

State Park after the last two weeks of our vacation - 

relaxing, walks on the amazing beach,

excursions and delicious meals.

It was time to head home ...

After four hours on the road, a traffic slowdown on I65 in Alabama,

a check in the rear view mirror to see if our friends were slowing down

behind us - the sickening sound of a crash!

It was them ........

We pulled over in a panic and ran back to find their trailer on it's side,

across 3 lanes of the interstate, their pick-up truck on it's side

and people standing around the truck.

My heart was pounding so hard as I did not know what to expect.

There they were standing in the windshield with Gary holding Anita up

as she hung there in her seatbelt.

They were alive and not hurt .............. thank you dear God.

This is all that matters!

We helped them salvage as many of their belongings from the wreck,

things like clothes, medicines, jewellery, toiletries, and whatever

we could bring back in our little trailer.

Leaving lots of "things" behind - we were just so thankful to be able to 

bring them home to their loving and worried family.

This story could have ended so much worse - did I mention how thankful we are?

Keeping them in our prayers as they struggle with the trauma
of losing their beloved home on wheels and as they work through the
frustrations of settling the insurance matters etc.

In the meantime here at home - a Spring Winter storm is raging,

I'm having warm cuddles with my sweet granddaughter,

a sewing project is underway,

laundry is mostly done and put away,

warm thoughts of meaningful Easter Services remind us of what's really important,

and memories of an otherwise lovely vacation linger ...

Till next time ..... trying to catch up on all the blog posts I've missed in the past month and putting together some pictures and thoughts of a Florida vacation to post soon.

God is Good!

Slowing Summer Days

Here we are - mid July 2017!!!!

I have been intentionally trying to slow down these summer days.

How is that working for you ... you may ask!

It's been a busy two weeks, that's for certain and it seems to have 

gone a tad too quickly for that intentional slow down - sigh.

However, we packed it full and made some wonderful memories.

Our dear friends, Debi and Larry, came for their annual visit from Lexington, KY.

This marks the 33rd yearly visit.

A fun gift exchange is always part of the visit ...

Kentucky hats, bourbon, Ale8, etc.

along with these thoughtful gifts of essential oil, oil infusible necklace,

a beautiful hand made by Debi crocheted necklace - I love it!

This year I got busy and had fun making this "quilted by machine" bag (don't zoom in too close because my quilting is still very much at the beginner stage).

Egg Gathering Apron

Since Debi has some backyard chickens, I had to come up with a fun egg gathering apron for her!

This is made from one of the farmer's old jeans leg

(stains and all).

She was such a good sport and modelled the apron for us!

A selfie of our day trip to Tobermory, Ontario where we went on a glass bottom boat tour to the Flower Pot Islands.

Our friends Dave and Jan helped make this an excellent day.

Georgian Bay's Flower Pot Islands

In the meantime, the farmer had covered my red currant bushes with mesh to protect the berries from the hungry birds.

If I wasn't going to use them I really should unveil the bushes right!?

So today, I bravely headed out, slathered with insect repellent (the mosquitos are horrid this year),

and began picking those currants.

A bumper crop this year!

I had a strong feeling that the birds were watching me closely - eek!

I got a nice batch picked and then we unveiled the bushes to let nature take it's course.

I had Red Currant Jelly on my mind and this is the recipe I adapted:

12 Cups currants - including stems

(apparently it's best to cook them unstemmed to get all the natural pectin)

2 sprigs rosemary

1 Cup water

Sugar (1 1/2 Cups for each cup of liquid)

1 package (85 mL) liquid pectin

In a large pot, bring water, currants and rosemary sprigs to a boil

stirring and pressing the currants

with a wooden spoon till soft and juicy. This took about 20 minutes.

Strain this through a fine sieve gently pressing the pulp to drain all the liquid

into a large measuring cup.

Return the measured liquid to the pot and add sugar.

I had 4 cups liquid so added 6 cups of sugar.

Boil for 10-15 minutes.

Add liquid pectin and boil for another 30 seconds.

Ladle jelly into sterilized jars and seal.

Taste Notes - I'm not sure the pectin was necessary as red currants have lots of natural pectin. The jelly turned out a bit too jelled.

Next time I would put in another sprig or two of rosemary since the taste wasn't noticeable enough to my liking.

During the week, I also had a little helper love bug.

These are the days that I especially wish would slow down!!!

Till next time - how goes your summer so far?

Glamping Breaky II

We have been enjoying our vacation in Florida!

Another great breakfast is pancakes,

especially with some fresh maple syrup we brought from home.

These cakes are so fluffy and yummy.

My sister Evelyn gave this recipe to me some time ago

and it's our favourite.

She calls it their cottage pancake recipe.

I mixed the dry ingredients at home so that only the 

egg, oil and milk needs adding to prepare.

Pancakes at the Cook’s Cottage

1¼ Cup sour milk (if no sour milk, substitute by putting a cap of vinegar into measured milk and let stand for 5 minutes).

1 Egg

2 Tbsp. oil

In separate bowl:

1 Cup Flour

1 Tbsp. Sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

Mix well – add the sour milk and beat.  Let stand till thickened.

Pour onto well oiled hot pan or griddle.   This recipe makes approx. 7 pancakes.

Our little piece of heaven here at one 

of our favourite Florida State Parks.
Morning walks before breakfast couldn't be more pleasant!

Grayton Beach State Park

More about this to come ....

Till next time .... 

Favourite "Glamping" Breaky

Last Spring when we glamped our way westward,

stopping to visit some dear friends in Iowa,

they generously gifted us a huge bag of homemade granola for the road.

It must have been several batches.

Trese and Dale

This recipe has become a favourite and a must have when we 

go on the road with our little RV.

Trese’s Granola

4 cups old fashioned oatmeal

1 cup slivered almonds

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup coconut

2/3 cup light corn syrup

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon vanilla or almond extract, as desired

¾ cup raisins

¾ cup dried cranberries

Set the oven for 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 1 jellyroll pan, (with sides).  Mix the first 4 ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. Whisk the corn syrup and vegetable oil and the vanilla or almond extract well. Add this to the oatmeal mixture and stir thoroughly with a large spoon.

Pour mixture onto greased jelly roll pan and even out the mixture on the pan.

Bake for 15 minutes for 4 cycles, stirring well between each 15 minute cycle. The granola is done when it has a medium brown color throughout. Place into a large bowl to cool. Stir in the raisins/cranberries and enjoy.

Trese says:

* I make 3 of these at a time, so I always have an extra gallon sized bag of granola to share with those I love.

So glad we received this love gift.

Strawberries are in season where we are right now and this,

with a dollop of delicious organic yogurt

is the perfect way to start every day ...

Till next time ..... hope strawberries will be in season soon where you are too!