Reptiles Seen on our Last Long Training Hike

We saw an otter, deer, and lots of  birds, including abundant red-headed woodpeckers on our morning walk, but we only managed to grab photos of reptiles. We were disappointed not to have seen tortoises, as we often have in the past.

An eastern fence lizard (Sceloporus undulatus)

This was one of many seen during our morning walk.

A black racer (Coluber constrictor)

This mid-sized racer seemed almost as intent looking over us as we were interested in him.

A broad-headed skink (Eumeces laticeps)

These skinks grow larger than most other kinds of local lizards, and the adult males develop a red-coloration on the head, and particularly on the enlarged jaws.

A Week Before We Leave

Before

After

Today will probably be our final long training walk. We did 8 miles at San Felasco Hammock with full backpacks. You may recall that we have previously posted a photo of a tree that looked liked it might fall down any minute. It looked like that for years...but it finally fell. It didn't break at the narrow spot, but collapsed right at ground level. Happily, we weren't there when it happened.

In addition to fallen gtrees, today we saw a deer, some fence lizards, an otter, red-headed woodpeckers, and a black racer. I saw the otter way up ahead on a straight section of the trail. I thought it was a turtle, but it didn't walk right for a turtle. Then I thought it was a little black pig, until it turned and I saw its tail. Too long for a pig, so I guessed possum. Eventually it got close enough so it noticed us and ran off into the woods. Definitely an otter.

We have reservations for most of our nights on the trail. In France, reservations are needed and I decided not to try to make them while on the trail. It is perfectly possible to do that, but takes time that I'd rather be taking photos, or eating French cheese, or just enjoying the wherever I am at the moment. So I have been booking ahead by internet.

We'll stay in guest houses and hostels, and a few hotels. We'll try to post along the way using our new i-phones and the blogger app that I tried out last night with okay success.

This is the logistics and training phase and we are glad it is almost at an end. Now, we look forward to getting on the trail.

Trying out my iPhone blogger app

We got new iPhones for the Camino. We'd like to leave most other electronics behind and save about a pound. This is the first attempt to use the blogger app. The photo is the Barry Farm where we plan to stay one night in a hostel.

The Camino Calls Us Back Yet Again

We have our plane tickets and our new Pilgrim Passports. Jake's favorite dog and house sitter has agreed to take care of him. He is wagging and barking for joy. So we are off again, leaving Sunday May 20 for about 3 weeks on "The Way." We expect to see more Americans this year, in the aftermath of the Martin Sheen-Emilio Estevez movie about it.

This will be our 4th Camino walk. We have walked the full distance across Spain to Santiago. This time, we return to France and the first segment of the route, from Le Puy en Velay to Figeac.

We hope to complete 150 rigorous and scenic miles. That would leave us 'only' about 200 miles unwalked on the 1,000-mile trail.

We bought new backpacks and a few new items of gear and clothing. We selected a few items we will leave behind to lighten the load...no razor this year, fewer shirts, apps on our phones instead of flashlights, a compass, and Kindles. I'm even going to try a blogger app, although thumb typing a post seems not too practical.

We have maintained our training schedule of about 100 miles of walking a month since the first of the year. A few weeks ago, probably not enough weeks ago, we added our packs to our walking. Today we did a bit over 8 miles with fully loaded packs. I decided I'm not as ready as I wish I were.

But it is amazing to have the chance to try another section of this magnificent route. We will keep on blogging about how we're doing and what we're seeing and experiencing.

Garlic Chicken "Noil"

This image shows a recipe of Garlic Chicken "Noil" this evening, just as the burner was about to be turned on and cooking was to begin. You may notice chicken thighs, crushed garlic, and snipped rosemary. The concoction is slowly sauteed over very low heat, then browned briefly, and at the last minute the well-cooked chicken absorbs a small glass of red wine.

Thanks for the recipe to our longtime friend Arnold G., who based it on a remembered family recipe (note that I used 'longtime friend' instead of 'old friend').  'Noil' is the rendering of  'Arnold' by our daughter, then (more than 40 years ago) just learning to talk.

Easter Bunnies

The damn bunnies are on the mantel where they belong. See their story here.

Hospitalero Training

We attended the annual Gathering of the American Pilgrims on the Camino organization, which was held in Winter Park, Florida in late March. We arrived two days early so we we could participate in hospitalero training. Having completed the training qualifies us to volunteer in pilgrim hostels throughout Spain, providing food and shelter to walkers in donativo albergues. These are inns that usually have only the most basic creature comforts, subsist on the donations of travelers, and often excel in promoting informal camaraderie. We shared the fun of the training with a great group of interesting and likable people.

Will we volunteer in one of the refuges? We haven't settled on our plans yet, but are thinking we might take this year to scope out some opportunities with an eye toward volunteering in 2013.

Athos View Farm

When our friends Arnold and Ismini returned to Greece after our cheese-making adventures, he started a blog. Arnold has been making great wine for years and will be blogging about it, as well as gardening and traveling in Greece and the US. Check out the Athos View Farm blog.

Friends and Cheese Curds

Arnold and Ismini visited last week. It had been much too long since we had all been together. We talked and laughed. We hiked at the Lower Suwannee Refuge, strolled all around Cedar Key, had Edie's fantastic crab bisque for brunch at Kona Joe's, walked Jake the noble Golden Retriever through Cemetery Point Park each day, and best of all...made cheese curd!

Random Ferments

In 2010 we started a blog about Cheese and Random Ferments to record new cheese discoveries after The Summer of a Thousand Cheeses went to press. We have found that many other discoveries are fermenting in our heads along with cheese. So we changed the name of the blog to simply Random Ferments. All the posts from the original are merged into this one and along with cheese stories you will find us fermenting other puzzles and stories.

Rest in Peace Sheriff Joe

When we moved to Gainesville we lucked into having great next-door neighbors. The day we signed for the house I would have much rather been in Rochester with my Rooney cousins. My Aunt Pauline had died and we closed for the house on the day of her funeral. I called the florist recommended by the hotel where we were staying, Crevasse's, ordered flowers and told my story. It turned out that I was talking to my new next-door neighbor, Peggy, and we have been friends ever since.

She and her daughter, and her retired Dad lived there. He had served longer than anyone else ever has as our Sheriff. He was a flower enthusiast. My yard and several other neighbors' yards are filled with the day lilies, shrubs and trees he shared. It is so nice to have good neighbors.

He died this week at 96 and the funeral was a Gainesville event. The church was standing room only. The procession of officers cars leading us from the church to the cemetery was too long to count. He lived long and will be well remembered.

Late Christmas Visit

Christmas lasted a whole month this year. Lucky for us! Meg, Pam and James came last weekend to continue our holiday celebration, now that the holidays are over for Meg's Cheese to You customers. We spent a whole day making cheese curds. It would be hard to beat that for fiesta-style entertainment in our family. Hours together in the kitchen, followed by days of feasting on our own handmade cheese.

2 gallons of fresh goat milk

Adding the culture

Checking the recipe

Letting it rest after adding the rennet

Just the right consistency. The slit stays after the spatula is inserted.

Cutting the curds, horizontally, vertically, diagonally.

Separating the curds and whey.

James stirs the curds gently for 45 minutes.

Ready to press by hand

Pam pressing the curds

Russ and Meg drain the curds

Cheddaring the curds

Cut, salted, squeaky as can be, ready to eat!

We also took down the tree, enjoying again at all the mementos we hang every year. And James treated us to dinner at Ichiban...a favorite for all of us. Now we need to start planning birthday visits :)

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!