#113 2022 December 17-23. Nomad Diary. Family Times. Holiday Happenings. New Friends and Old.

A picture of us in June in Norway. We selected this for our Holiday cards. I used the app Touchnote to print and send cards this week. 

Cutie pie melts my heart!,Quinn (2 yrs 3 mos) with our son Jeremy on a Video call. They are at their home in Portland, Maine. They call every Saturday, if possible!

Saturday. 17.

Today we went to Glenn and Phoebe’s house in Athens to help them load up their PODS for their upcoming move to Tennessee. They have a 3900 square foot house with a lot of furniture, appliances, and a garage of tools and yard working items. About 5 men from their church came, we came and our two sons Samuel and Wes came. Darrell worked inside the pod arranging items like a huge game of tetris. Within a few hours we were all spent and we had filled 1 ½ pods, had lunch fixed by Phoebe and were saying goodbye for this day. 

Me, Darrell and grandson Owen (1 year 3 mos old) at a church singing. Picture taken by our son Eric. 

Sunday. 18. It was our first time all together with Owen at his church. He began with Darrell and then would leave him and cross by me and go to his mother then over to Eric and back again. Lol! In the morning on this Sunday Darrell and I went to church in Vinemont, Alabama. We were invited by the preacher there, Alton Bailey, who we met in an online class with the Tunbridge Wells England church we met while there in July. We have continued to participate in the online study as we can and we could go meet Alton in person today. When we went in, Alton asked Darrell if he wanted to preach, and he did! From then Alton and his wife Diana spent lunch with us beginning a new friendship.

Monday. 19. We went to a Wal-mart grocery today and I also baked cookies. A picture and a handwritten recipe are below. They turned out delicious! I added orange zest and juice to the recipe which made them spread a bit, and not be as crinkly as the original recipe, but they are so delicious and easy! No electric mixer needed!

Meeting up with fellow world travelers! Kathy met Darrell at work and followed our travels. She is days away from her retirement. She and her husband Chief have traveled extensively in Europe and plan to settle in Portugal! Wow! 

Tuesday. 20. We go by the Asian grocery in Madison, AL that I went to often when we lived here. We had a few items on our list including sesame seeds, but the prices were inflated, my favorite fresh herbs were out of stock, and we left after our assessment. We went to a big Kroger and found most of what we wanted at more reasonable prices. We met up with new friends Kathy and Chief for dinner! They treated us and we weren’t expecting that, but it was very nice! Dinner at Terranova’s Italian restaurant was delicious. We saw our friends Darrin and Mary Katherine going in as we were waiting in the parking lot. We went over and said hi, and they were close to finished by the time our dinner reservation started. 

Top picture: Frying fresh sliced okra with no flour or cornmeal coating in a little olive oil.

Picture of Owen with Darrell, his grandpa. Owen is all about his grandpa and getting a ride around to be tall and see things he can’t see on the floor.

A gift of ‘poppers’ from Janet at church in Hartselle! We had never done poppers, but she told me they do them every year as part of their family party. Makes me smile to think about the fun she plans and shared with us too! Well, we found out that these have a real pop like a kids gun in them and make a loud noise and smoke! Lol. they were cardboard tubes filled with a bandana, a balloon and candies. It was great fun!

Wednesday. 21.  We like to buy and cook fresh veggies. Our house is about a 30 minute drive to Eric and Erin’s. Also today I get my new “teeth” at a denture clinic off Hwy 565. I’ve been wearing dentures since I was 13 years old due to an inherited dental disease. Getting new teeth is an adventure and personal challenge. I’m getting it done with several office visits and more adjustments will be made at the office by the time we move on January 18th.

Erin and Owen telling us good-bye at their home.

Thursday. 22.  In the morning I go over to our son Samuel’s house to help clean for our Saturday card party at his house. I also spend some time cooking for tomorrow’s party at Marie’s (Darrell’s cousin) house.

Darrell holding Owen and visiting with Marie at her house.

Marie is an amazing cook, sharer and party-giver! Her spread for this family meal with a few contributions by others.

 

Nice christmas decorations at Marie and Jesse’s house!

Marie’s husband Jesse holding great granddaughter.

Friday. 23. Today was freezing cold! We packed up some food for our lunchtime party at Marie’s house. And took off for our 90 minute country drive to Nauvoo, Alabama. We followed the directions and made it through some very beautiful wooded drives and some roads were very narrow with the last long drive being dirt! We arrived to a beautiful two story white farmhouse that was warm and inviting inside. We got acquainted with Marie, Jesse and their daughter’s family and then their granddaughter’s family. Maries brother came too, another cousin to Darrell. And our kids Eric, Erin and Owen came as a holiday treat and introduction to family. We had a nice time with more than enough food to fill everyone! 

Delicious Cookie recipe that uses olive oil and no need for mixer.

Olive Oil Cookies. My recipe for the holidays this year!

Nomad Notes.

I returned my roller suitcase to REI this week. It made me sad to turn it in. Soon after I purchased it new earlier in the year, the pull handle casing separated from the case. It still worked but always showed a large gap between materials and components. I was never near an REI where I could get it exchanged so I kept going with it. I traveled with it all year with it’s scars. I got a refund at the store where I purchased it. They didn’t have a replacement or anything equal in stock. So I am officially living without a roller suitcase and that feels odd. I need another similar suitcase and I will get one. We looked online and decided that we will likely purchase a similar one from L.L.Bean. Since we are driving up to Maine, we are waiting to go to a big store up there and hopefully see the said suitcase in person before purchasing.

This week Darrell got an offer for a drop and go Transatlantic cruise to England in March. We discussed taking this trip. The price appeals to us. The few stops on the 14 day cruise appeal to us. Going back to England appeals to us. It just isn’t what we were expecting. It’s affordable for us and we have two locations with people we want to visit again. Our current calendar was sketched out through March with an unknown for April-June. We’ve talked about several options for these months mostly centered around places in the US. We are in the thinking phase for the possibility of this trip.