Christmas 2016

 

For this year's Christmas we went over to the kids' house on Christmas Eve and spent the night so we could be up at the crack of dawn with young Everett.

 

Leigh and Brooks had really decorated the tree and it looked beautiful in the finished living room.

 

The next morning it was hard to restrain Ev as he waited to open all the gifts that Santa had left.

After reducing the pile of presents to a mound of wrapping paper and each participant playing with his or her respective present, it was time for breakfast. Below, the chefs prepare pancakes with mutual seriousness and dedication.

And then time to play. Here's Jo and Ev battling it out with the new rod hockey set just like the ones we had used as kids. He actually got pretty good with just a few sessions.

After all the celebration and concluding another wonderful Christmas event we headed back to the Flying Scotsman the next day to relax ... and Bandit agreed with us that the partying and gifting was just too much! Actually he spent the night by himself in the RV ... but what the heck, eh.

And finally on Sunday evening the view from the Blogger/BBQ master's  vantage point overlooking the lake from our patio.

 

It looks like we will head out to Arizona in the new year and so we have started to plot our course and stopping places along the way ... always with the weather at the forefront of planning.

Happy 98th Birthday Mom!

On the 22nd we all gathered at the St Jo Manor to celebrate Mom's birthday as well as Christmas for her. Her birthday is really the 23rd but the coordination to get us all there made the day before fit.

 

Rich and Kerry, Brooks and Leigh and Ev, as well as the blogger and the photographer were there to wish her a great birthday and holiday. We gave her a cd player and some CDs for her room as the music from the Manor was infrequent at best. The selection was from favorites during the WWII years from all the big bands as well as the popular singers of the time; and also a couple of Christmas CDs that we played right then.

 

She's doing great and of course has her up and down days, but when we mention some of the historical people and places she is right on top of it. She also sees and hears superbly ... probably better than some of the rest of us in the room and still has a quick wit and sense of humor.

We drove down from the Dallas area rather than take the RV and the kids drove down as well; all staying in the Home2Suites in College Station. After the birthday celebration we went to Cenare's restaurant as has become a tradition, only now Mom can't make the restaurant scene any more ... that part's kind of sad as she and Dad really loved the place.

Hot Flying Scotsman

 

I know we have posted pictures of the Freightliner Oasis repair place on I-20 in Dallas before ... well here we are again.

We have been plagued by an constant overheating of the Cummins diesel for a couple of years and it finally became too much to ignore, especially if we intend to take some new longer trips in the new year.

So on the 12th we set our alarms for 4:30 in the morning, gulped down some coffee and some cereal, and headed the 30 miles or so toward the southeast part of Dallas. We didn't even get out of the Vineyards RV park before it overheated and had to be shut down for a bit. This is the first time we have broken camp in the dark and it was certainly different ... let's see, where did we leave those flashlights?

And so went the next three hours as we slogged through morning traffic .... start again ... heat up ... turn off on some side road or shoulder ... start again, and so on; finally arriving at the garage at about 8:30.

They did their diagnosis and subsequently replaced the thermostat and coolant over the next 7 hours as we (with poor Bandit the cat) waited in the lounge, went shopping, and went to lunch; just to pass the time.

By 4:30 pm and $1400.00 later, they were done, as we were, and we went through the truck wash and then an uneventful slog through evening rush traffic to arrive back at our park at about 7 that Monday evening. Um ... now re-setting up camp in the dark ... note to self ... prominent place for flashlight!

Way too long for the older humans and felines involved, but glad it SHOULD be over. We'll see on the next longer run if the temp stays corrected, eh.

Hola Cuba

 

 

While we had eaten several times in Carrollton at Amici's Italian place we always looked out the front window and looked at this place and thought it might be good. This is the Cuban Dulceria International Bakery in Carrollton.

 



You walk into the front room of what looks just like an old home and the deli case is stocked with a wide variety of bakery meat and cheese and sweet stuff. We ordered at the counter and walked back to our table in the back room of the small place. The walls are decorated with many old photos, newspapers, and artifacts reflecting old Cuba.

As the Spanish speaking wait person brought our dishes it really reminded us of being guests in a Cuban person's home. Below are their signature Cuban sandwiches. In front of me is the Ybor Cuban and across the table Jo-Anne had the Shredded beef version both on fresh Cuban bread.

If you make the menu larger you can see the ingredients of both excellent sandwiches. Actually we could have split just one of them and been quite full. For about $10 each and a couple of hot teas, this was an excellent lunch choice. Even the parchment paper under the meals was a replica of a Cuban newspaper ... fun.

The menu was large with a lot of choices featuring many sweet and meat and cheese things all made from the freshest ingredients and baked right on the premises. They've just applied for an alcohol license and their choices of drinks might be really representative of what you might get in Cuba.

After all that food the blogger and his editorial director enjoy a nice quiet glass of single malt ... ahh.