Early Christmas Visit

We had a great weekend. Pam and James came for an early Christmas celebration. It is very nice to have Christmas start in mid-December and not end until mid-January when the four of us will get together with Meg and Steve. A month of Christmas beats a day!

What did we do? Friday evening we had our traditional Christmas Tamale Dinner, fixed by Russ while the rest of us put up the tree. That was followed by our 2nd Annual Cul-de-Sac Neighbors' Christmas Party. We roasted chestnuts on an open fire pit. Actually, Ralph did all the roasting work...thank you Ralph. The rest of us ate them, and the other goodies we all brought along. It was warm enough for no jackets!

Saturday was rainy and cool, but no problem because the plan was to make pick grapefruit in the backyard and make it into marmalade, then to pickle some okra and green bean. Amazingly, the results of a day of cooking made it back to VA on the plane without breaking.

Sue using a fire log for a foot stool :)

You need this much sugar for 40 half-pints of grapefruit marmalade

Marmalade's done...on to the pickles!

Cat Island Paddle

Finally, last Tuesday, the weather gods smiled and after 4 cancelled attempts we paddled the final of the 12 trails that will be in the Friends Paddling Guide! Not only are we relived to be finished with the research, but it was a fantastic paddle. More photos are here on the Friends of Refuges website.

The Great Suwannee River Cleanup

Russ and I stayed ashore to sign -n the volunteers, and to help weigh and haul away the 1 ton of trash the volunteers brought in at Fowlers Bluff. Then we had a down-home lunch at the Treasure Camp next door to the boat ramp. About half of the 82  Fowlers Bluff volunteers stayed for lunch on the screened porch at the Camp. What a way to spend a December Saturday! More photos are posted here on the Friends website.

Teaching the Camino Courses

Our class at Santa Fe College had 14 students, all of whom are thinking of doing the Camino within a year or so. That meant we had the opportunity to talk about all the nitty-gritty fun stuff that nobody who wasn't planning to go with ever care about. We talked about clothes, walking sticks, backpack features, how much water to carry, first aid, boots, rain, accommodations, trains and buses, scallop shells and pilgrim passports. We had a grant time and they kept coming back for more. They even liked to look at guidebooks and pictures of the trails!