Happy New Year!

Left to right:  Brent, Katie, Sophie, Steve, Alicia, Mark

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and a safe and happy New Year celebration.

We were immensely blessed to be able to host both of my local children and their families on Christmas Day. We never expected it when we made our plans to be here over the holiday, but ultimately, the circumstances in everyone's plans turned out in our favor. 

I even put together dinner for six, though in the end, Steve and Al couldn't stay. But I sent them home with pie at least. The rest of us enjoyed turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, yams, peas, corn, and homemade cranberry sauce. And, of course, pumpkin pie with whipped cream for dessert.

It was a challenge getting all those things to cook and finish at the same time in a kitchen with three small burners and an oven the size of an "Easy-Bake." But, I was more or less successful. And thanks to my trusty Instant Pot pressure cooker, I served up the juiciest turkey breast I think I've ever produced in all my years of cooking turkey in a conventional oven. I never actually used my gas oven for anything, but I did use my combination convection/microwave oven to bake the pie and heat up vegetables. I must admit the mashed potatoes were a bit odd, though. Not being fully prepared in advance, all I had on hand were a bag of purple potatoes and a couple russets. Trust me...purple mashed potatoes should probably be reserved for Halloween. They taste great, but eye appeal leaves something to be desired--especially when topped with turkey gravy.

We had a lovely visit with the kids. Sophie's favorite part of our coach seems to be the cockpit. Fortunately there's an OFF switch for the chassis power, so no harm could be done, no matter how energetically the little rascal tried. She was also quite fascinated with the Christmas tree ornaments, over which she and I oohed and awed for a good five minutes...before it was time for the wee one to go home.

Thousand Trails Soledad Canyon RV Park

Mark and I spent the week between Christmas and New Year's Day enjoying the coolish-warm, dry weather of Acton, CA. We're situated in the canyons of the San Gabriel Mountains between Los Angeles and the Antelope Valley's high desert. Daytime temps have been in the 60's and 70's; at night it's been down in the 40's. We're surrounded by dirt, but the scenery is beautiful in it's own deserty way. This particular Thousand Trails park is huge. We've been out on several walks, but haven't yet covered the whole park at once. My only disappointment is that the Jacuzzi is not quite hot enough. Nevertheless, we expect to be back here every year, since the location is ideally set just about half way between Steve and Katie. 

One of the benefits of being retired and having a loose schedule is that we can more or less change it at the drop of a hat. I love that part. And since our Christmas holiday was so rudely interrupted by coach repairs, we decided to do just that. We extended our stay here in Acton for another week so as to have more time with the kids before heading east to Arizona. We spent New Year's Day with Katie and her family, which gave me another long visit with little Sophie...and Katie, of course. Tomorrow we will spend another afternoon with Steve and Alicia. And then on Thursday, we head out.

The next stop is Palm Springs, interrupted by a short stop back at Alfateers for a re-look at the slide switch, which burned out on us as we were trying to pull in the living room slide so that we could leave their parking lot after all the work they did. We don't anticipate a long stay this time. We'll be enjoying the famous warm weather of Palm Springs for about ten days before heading to Quartzsite, Arizona, for the annual RV rallies that will be gathering there in a few weeks.

What a year it's been! Retirement, selling the house, buying a motorhome, embarking on a drastic and complete lifestyle change... and we haven't killed each other yet. Miracles! Yes, they really do happen. 

Mark and I want to wish each and every one of you a safe, happy, and prosperous 2018. And don't forget to give credit where credit is due...

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17