Thanksgiving With Friends

On Thanksgiving we gathered with neighbors for a great pot-luck meal.  Usually these get-togethers are held on someone's patio but the day was cold(by Arizona standards) so we crowded into one of the homes.

I won't try to name everyone present but the group included people who live in our resort and some who left us for larger homes nearby but are still friends.

Everyone brings their own cutlery and beverage and a dish to share.  There was plenty of food to go around and lots of smiles laughter and sharing.

We will be having another gathering on Christmas.  Many of our neighbors go home for these holidays but those of us who stay are never lonely.

Food and Wine in California

After leaving Nevada, we drove into California and spent a little over a week driving from the  south end of this huge state to the north end and on into Oregon.  On  the  way, we were impressed with the variety of crops grown in the San Jauquin and central valleys.

From a past visit, we had learned that California provides much of the fresh produce for the rest our country.  In fact, Califoria is the world's 5th largest supplier  of food, cotton fiber and other agricultural comodities.  It is the lrgest producer of food in the US but has less than 4% of the farms in the country.  The climate allows the cultivation of over 450 different crops.

Californis the the 4th largest wine producer in the world and produces over 90% of the wine in the US.

We saw vineyards,

orchards of just-planted trees,

young fruit or nut trees,

corn fields,

and huge haystacks.

Several times we saw large numbers of what we nornally would call grain elevators.  We weren't sure what they held here--seeds? nuts?

I believe this is a field of newly planted trees.

Possibly new grape vines, with stakes.

I had no idea rice was grown here.  These are numerous fields filled with water and rice plants.

I believe this was a newly mown hay field.

There was a massive wildfire in 2018.  This may have been destruction from the Camp fire.  If I remember correctly, that is the fire that was blamed on the electric company and lines that sparked and started a fire.

Sometimes white plastic sheeting covers newly planted seeds or sprouts to keep out weeds.  Here they appear to be spraying something on the plants.

It was a really interesting trip.

Diplomas and honors

What a time we had visiting our son Eric and his family in Littleton. Two diplomas, two honors and awards ceremonies, a band concert, and great food. First we listened to the end-of-the-year band concert at Goddard Middle School where Eric teaches and grandson John is a drummer in the 7th grade band. It was the first time we heard John perform.

Two days later, Eric received a master's degree in education, emphasizing administration, from Argosy University. It is his second master's degree. Granddaughter Kylie wasn't able to attend Eric's graduation because it was her last day in high school.

The same evening we celebrated Kylie's last day at Heritage High School and Eric's graduation with Champaign and a great cooking and a fruit pizza.

But wait, there were more events to come. On Monday Kylie was honored as the outstanding female athlete at Heritage for 2017-18. Here she is listening to her coach tell why she was the recipient of this award.

She was also given the chords to be worn at graduation indicating she was graduating with honors.

The next morning we arrived at Goddard before 8 am for the awards ceremony where John was named as a member of the National Junior Honor Society. He received an award for good citizenship because he is one of two students who raise the flag in front of the school each day. He was also one of 10 boys and (I think) 10 girls nominated for Viking of the Year at Goddard. These candidates are nominated by the faculty, interviewed, and assigned to write an essay which was evaluated by faculty and staff. He was not the Viking of the year but what an honor to be nominated.

Wednesday was Kylie's high school graduation. She is the first girl in a red gown in this photo. She is waiting to walk across the state to receive her diploma.

The mascot for Heritage is the eagle and as we sang the Star Spangled Banner to begin the ceremony, this magnificent American bald eagle spred his wings.

As the graduating seniors left the field at the end of graduation ceremonies, the faculty and staff, including district administrators, formed an honor guard for the recessing graduates. Quite impressive.

We left Littleton as very proud parents and grandparents!

Well, It works

The food isn't the most tasty we've ever eaten. But, we have been eating the food and we have been losing the weight. As I posted on January 12, we have been on the Nutrisystem diet since January 7. In the past almost 6 weeks, John has lost almost 17 pounds and I have lost almost 13 pounds. We feel really good about that.

We have not really been hungry. We eat 3 meals and 3 snacks a day. But the food we eat, especially the dinner entrees, is either like cardboard or has a spicy or peppery taste I'm not crazy about. But, again, I'm not hungry and I am losing weight.

These two boxes arrived on Valentine's Day.

Here is the contents of the top layer of food in the two boxes.

The bottom layer includes dinners and some snacks. For this second month, we ordered food for 5 days of the week, leaving 2 days each week to eat what they call flex meals, the proper combination of protein, carbs, vegetables and miscellaneous to provide a low-calorie, balanced diet. I am supposed to eat about 1200 calories a day, John up to 1500 calories. We also received guidelines for a maintenance diet. That will allow me somewhere between 1500 and 2000 calories daily, John 1800 to 2300. Both of those seem a little high, but we will begin at the lower level and only add more if we continue to loose weight.

Over the years, we have tried many different diets because weight has been an issue for both of us for more than 20 years. Weight Watchers worked the best in the past. In fact, I have been cooking Weight Watchers meals for years--but the portions kept getting bigger and bigger. Portion size, not the foods we eat, is really the issue, isn't it? With this delivery of food, we received a number of small plastic containers with different colored lids. These will be used for maintenance to control the quantity of fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy, grains and starchy vegetables, and healthy fats we eat each day. More on that when we get there.

Horse and Buggy Territory

We are in northern Indiana, specifically in Shipshewana. This is the RV capital of the country where many RV manufacturers are located. As we neared the area we saw an increasing number of trailers and motorhomes on the roads and we weren't surprised. Our 5th-wheel trailers were all made in the neighborhood. We aren't far from Ohio where our Airstream was manufactured. But we came here to appreciate the Amish culture and workmanship, so we are seeing lots of horses and buggies. Bicycles are also frequently the mode of travel.

Today we walked a block to E and S Bulk Sales, a nearby Amish market. This was one row of the parking lot. The other day we saw both buggies and trucks at the grain mill.

I didn't realize that buggies needed to be licensed until I really looked at the license plate on them.

Amish farms are well-kept and beautiful. And they don't have electrical lines running to them.

We arrived here Wednesday and when I looked through the events in the area I learned the flea market was only open Tuesday and Wednesday. Those days are shopping days, I read. We visited E and S Sales that day and it was packed. On Thursday we were driving around the area and I decided that was laundry day. Clothes lines in backyards were full of drying laundry. (Sorry about the Colorado State Parks pass in the lower left. I couldn't take the photo without it in the corner.)

We went shopping but we didn't do much buying, except for food. We ate both breakfast and lunch at the Blue Gate Restaurant. Believe me, we didn't need to eat much else on either day.

The people who operate our RV park obviously love birds. Two sites are blocked off with cones. The only reason we can figure out must be that a killdeer has a nest in each site. Look at this little bird.

The shopping area in Shipshewana is beautifully landscaped with lots of flowers.

Good Eats

A must stop every time we spend time in Gallup in Genaro's Cafe, where we always get good Mexican food.

First,they brought a basket of nicely salted chips with salsa.

John had the beef burrito plate.

I ordered the stuffed sopapilla.

We were asked if we wanted red or green chili with our meals. We both said, "mild." The waitress responded, "red, on the side." I was glad that is how it was served. I found it too hot and used very little; John enjoyed it and used almost all of his.

When we paid our check as we left the restaurant, the young cashier asked if we like the chili sauce. I said it was too hot, John said it was great. She said, "I don't eat it. It's all too hot for me."

Only in Gallup, self-proclaimed Indian Capital of the World, there is a sign at the front door, "No vendors on Saturday." We were in the restaurant Tuesday and several Indians came by offer to sell jewelry. I imagine the restaurant is so busy on Saturday, they can't handle the vendors, too. We had shopped at Walmart on the previous Saturday and it was packed with folks who had come in from the nearby Navajo and Zuni reservations to shop. The store was much less crowded on Wednesday.

Shipshewana

We enjoyed our time in Shipshewana. But it was time to leave. We had to get away from all the good food--many, many kinds of cheese, lots of different sausages, specialty breads, kettle corn and fried pies. We will need to diet for a month to make up for our time in northern Indiana.

As we walked around the Shipshewana South Campground, we enjoyed horses in the fields on both sides of the campground.





There was a Crossroads RV Rally in the campground over the weekend. They seemed to have a good time and they had several presentations that sounded really interesting. If we had tried, we could have heard the presentations because the covered picnic area was right next door. We had already been to an RV rally this summer, however, so we weren't interested in eavesdropping.

We saw horses in the campground twice. A local Amish caterer served breakfast and dinner  to the rally participants yesterday.



Yes, that is our truck we are looking across to see the horses and buggies. You can see the pavilion on the right side of the photo. We really didn't mind having the rally events so close to our site. Even when they used a microphone, it wasn't very loud. And each evening we overlooked the community fire pit, but the gatherings were quiet and broke up by about 10 pm.

We did have one issue with the group, however. Those RV owners were incredibly rude and lazy and unaware of campground etiquette. Some walked through our site several times. If you look at the above photo, you will see a motor home right across the street. The majority of the Crossroads owners walked through that campsite to get to the gatherings, even when neighboring site was empty. Doesn't anyone have the energy or consideration to walk down one road, around the corner and back up the next road?