Home Again: Florida Memories

60 this morning, and will warm up to about 80. I think we brought Florida weather home on our bumper.

We had a great time traveling to Florida to visit our son Tommy and his family in Miami, and Larry's sister Jeanie in Orlando. I'll write more later but here's a few photo memories of our week.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Thanksgiving

Busy times around this place!

First, a drive to Pittsburgh to pick up our youngest son and his family on Thursday--that was Thanksgiving Day for the US but for us it was a much better thing, seeing our son whom we have not seen since last year. And seeing his wife and daughter again too. What a treat. Lorena and Natasha had never been in cold weather before, being from Venezuela and currently living in Miami, so the sight of a car with real snow on it at the airport was an exciting event!

We took a longer road home from the airport so Tommy could show them the campus of Fairmont State, where he went to college.

The next day we took them around our little town of Ripley, then to the local moonshine distillery and on to the State Capitol. It was a beautiful day, perfect for sight-seeing.

We got home in time to make pies, cranberry sauce and a few other things, because our Thanksgiving dinner would be the next day. We had lots of family coming too, many of them wanting to meet Lorena and Natasha for the first time. We got our little Christmas tree decorated, and that evening we spent time by the firepit, the perfect end to a lovely day.

Then Saturday morning, we were back to cooking and company began arriving. By dinnertime we were 22 strong, exactly the number of places we'd set at the table. Whew.

It was so good to have so many of my sons and their families here again--it has been some time since we've had so many at one time. Sunday we fixed a big country breakfast and then were back on the road to the airport. The time went so fast, and I was so very sad to see them leave. Ah well. We will be Florida-bound in the spring, and they will be back again in the fall.


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Back to Something Like Normal

One tired man, after so much driving
and stress. But back home!

Hurricane Irma passed, did her damage and is now part of weather history. My son and his family returned home, a grueling 15 hour drive with a lot of time in there searching for gas. But they are home, and all is well at their condo. So praises be! They saw much damage along the way, more than he has ever seen in his life, he said. He is going back to work today. What a week.

Sorry for the blurry photo!

 Here at home, we stayed busy. We cleaned up the cellar top, getting rid of a lot of junk in the process. I continue to sort out totes that are stored in the garage and taking a lot of things to the thrifts.I also went through the canned food in the cellar, tossing anything too old and moving older stuff to the front to be used first. Come spring, I will do it again; any green beans left over from any year except this one will be fed to the chickens. I love those little recyclers!

Larry managed an "Appalachian repair" on his riding mower--the steering shaft broke but he was able to modify one on the parts mower he keeps for replacement parts, and now the mower is fine again. He also finished rebuilding a motor for it so he will have a replacement when the current one gives out.

I finally got around to making some jam from the berries we froze over the summer when I had no time to use them. So we have 16 pints of Cherry Berry in the cellar now. Larry made cider and continues to give the old cider to his honeybees--more recycling at work.

Yesterday we worked on our Marietta booth, adding new items and doing a little rearranging. Sales are slowing down again unfortunately, but still the booth pays its way and then some. I think the hurricanes have impacted some buying as people are giving to charities and helping family. Even eBay has slowed to a complete stop for me right now. Part of that was because I had no computer so I put my store on vacation; but since I restarted the store sales have been zero. Which is okay in a way since I am covered up with other work.

And storytelling--I have a full weekend coming up that I need to prepare for, Celtic, German and American stories at the Mountain State Art and Craft Fair this weekend. So my head is in the books, researching and planning what to tell. I've also added several performances in October, two that happen almost as soon as we get off the plane from Ireland.

We have been making time each evening, though, for the firepit. That is our relax time, time to hang out with the pets and enjoy this beautiful fall weather. The calendar might not say it's fall yet, but tell that to our trees and temperatures! It's been cool and low humidity for quite a while and I am loving it.

That's a little bit of what's going on here. How about you? Were you or your family/friends impacted by the hurricanes? What have you been up to?



Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Out of the Kitchen, Down to Florida and Home Again

Yes, Quinn, I did get out of the kitchen last week, although it was what filled my days for the first three days of the week!

Monday I canned (pasta sauce, peach jam); Tuesday I canned and cooked (canned beans, cooked beans and potatoes, made beet salad) and froze (corn); Wednesday I canned and then restocked our Ravenswood booth. Then Thursday, we headed out, Florida-bound! It was time to go see our youngest son and his new family.

Tommy was married in March, a simple ceremony and we were not able to be there, unfortunately. His new wife has a daughter who is ten, and we've been getting to know them online. We'd met Lorena before and loved her, laughing over our language differences (she is Spanish-speaking); this time we got to know her daughter. What a beautiful child she is! Lorena's English is great now, and we were able to communicate much more easily. While I know some Spanish words, I am by no means conversant in the language, and Larry, well...not so much.

We had a great time. We left a day early so we could take the slow way to Cincinnati for our flight, and enjoyed seeing parts of the Ohio River we'd never seen before. More about that in future posts, I promise.

 We arrived in Fort Lauderdale on Friday and Tommy met us at the airport. That day was laid back, just enjoying being there and spending time with them. Saturday we ventured out to find Venezuelan food, the food of Lorena's home. All I can say about that is yum! we had arepas, I think they were called, and Lorena bought me some of the kind of flour used to make them so I can try it at home.

We came back to their place to celebrate Tommy's birthday with cake and ice cream. As a body builder, he rarely allows himself such treats, but for his birthday? Well, what's a birthday without it!

Saturday was another day of new food, for us--this time we went looking for Russian cuisine, and we found it. My goodness, it erased all the pre-conceived notions I had about Russian food! The choice was so wide I could not decide what to try, but we settled on a couple salad dishes, one a cucumber-cabbage salad and the other a beet salad--I am determined to find new ways to use beets. Both were delicious. I found recipes that look and sound like what we ate. I am definitely going to try to replicate them and will post here how they came out.

The food displays in the Russian places were gorgeous and inviting, and everything looked so fresh.

Our time went too quickly and all too soon we were back at the airport saying good-bye. We've been able to find low-cost airfare, a blessing, so we hope to continue to visit a couple times a year.

We took the slow road home from Cincinnati too, so it was late when we got in. Today is catch-up day--unpacking, laundry, and getting the exhaust on the van fixed as it decided to come apart on the way home. Then, time to prepare for this weekend's Inland Waterways Festival in Marietta, Ohio. And I have lots of ideas for new stories for that!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Florida Memories, Part 1

We are home is chilly West Virginia where snow still lingers on the hills in places. We had such a fine time in Florida, with many memories of fun times to hold us until we can go back to see our son again.

At Bayside on Tuesday. It was pretty windy, with a little spray in the air--and on the camera lens apparently.

A nice tourist took a photo for us. The sun was beginning to break through, and although there were a few showers, they lasted only minutes and didn't affect our fun in the least.

 Cindhy and I went on a tour boat that took us around Miami's bay, where many movie stars and celebrities have homes. Lots here (small ones at that) sell for about 5 million dollars.

I don't know who this man was, but he was so happy to have his photo taken with our flag.

 Monument Island in the bay is a public park; anyone can go there. Imagine the value of that piece of real estate.

I can't remember who owned which of the houses we saw on the bay, but I do remember this one: the angular modern white one on the left of the photo below is George Clooney's. I like his movies, but can't say I like his house.

Pretty, pretty, pretty--and so pricey! This is certainly one of the playgrounds of the rich and famous.

I had a fine time exploring Bayside with Cindhy. I am not much of a shopping mall person, but it was fun to look in shop windows, and people-watch. We had a fantastic lunch sitting beside the bay, a perfect finish to our day.

The next morning found us on our way to Key West. I still can't get over the color of the water! It was windy again--note to self, take hair ties with me next time. I think we were on Key Largo here, but I am not sure, as the road goes from one island to another so quickly it's hard to know where you are. I thought a lot about the movie and about Humphrey Bogart while we were passing through. I need to watch that film again now that I've been there.

 With two of my favorite men:

Tom with Cindhy:

Greens, blues, aqua...seaside colors really are so restful.

A small key (island) all by its lonesome. There are about 80 islands in the Florida Keys.

This is a railroad bridge that borders the seven-mile bridge along the route to Key West. The railroad bridge was completed in 1913 by Henry Flagler who wanted a way to facilitate development of Florida and the Keys.

The old bridge that was replaced by the new seven mile bridge is still standing in places and is used as a walking/biking trail.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Off on a New Adventure

Where am I right now? I am feeling warm tropical breezes under palm trees while cold rain and snow, I hear, are pummeling the homeplace. I am in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, visiting my youngest son. It has been a heavenly day. Here are a few photos, taken while my son's girlfriend treated me to a day at Bayside in Miami:

The view from the air, coming into Miami. Cities are so beautiful at night.

The tour boat was passed by this pirate boat. Actually, of course, it was just another tour.

Looking back at the city from the bay.

The color of the water changed quickly depending on the sun and clouds.

The cargo ships unloading fascinated me. I wonder if I will be using something that was being unloaded as I passed by today.

More pics coming!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.