Home again home again, jiggidy jog!

My first view from South Carolina of my mountains of home...the Appalachians!

Being tired from driving, I stopped to see if there were any interesting fish to bring home to add to the 3 neon tetras. Just a few. So a couple of Sunburst Wag Platties, and a couple of Glow-light Tetras have been introduced.

I then took a nap, and was awake for a while...but probably not for midnight. At 77, I can skip that.  It's just another day upon which I will be grateful to wake up.

I'll have to catch you up with my travels in reverse order this time!

Seminole Casino in Tampa

The Hard Rock Seminole Casino had a Christmas buffet, with a long line of waiting. But it was a special occasion, and nobody had to clean up their kitchen!

 Cute stanchions for the ropes keeping waiting in line somewhat organized.

 This was the 4th day of Hanukkah, though all my family who are Jewish didn't get to do much celebrating this year...mostly due to traveling.

Son, Marty Heym

 Ex-husband, Doug Heym and his wife, Millie.

 Marty and his son William Heym.

 William and me, wearing my new lilac cashmere pashmina...Christmas gift from Barb Baker and Marty Heym

Might as well take some photos while waiting over an hour to get to the next line, which also took quite a while.

 Reducing myself to a bauble selfie! See header (for a while anyway)

 And Marty was also taking photos and texting while we waited.

 My real selfie.

 Marty and his dad in Christmas suspenders!

 Our table was pretty close to the entrance, and a long way from the various food stations. To the right in background was the Mongolian Grill. To the left is the seafood station.

The buffet gives each person many choices of food...my first plate-full...I enjoyed the halibut and creamed spinach, the au gratin potatoes, and the fruits and veggies. The fried chicken was too dry. I did have a second plate-full, and that's my apple pie with a pecan tart waiting for me for dessert. There was unending champaign and mimosas for adults, but I chose ginger ale.

 Looking down the stairwell, there are hundreds of slot machines on the floor below.

But since this is an American Indian Casino, they also sell untaxed tobacco products, and the slot machine areas reeked of smoke...so I quickly headed to a door to get outside and breathe.

It was a Christmas feast to remember!

More from Christmas visits...

 It's a box, isn't it? Alice kitty just looked at it for a minute, and the next minute when I pointed the phone her way, she was gone.

 Visiting St. Petersburg on Christmas Eve, notice the beach scene above the tree!

I took a selfie with the purple tub of my pots on the dolly, ready to become presents.  I think I gave away about 30 pots...everyone just got to browse through them and choose their presents.  And now I have 1/10 less of the pottery at my house!

 Barbara Baker is the chef of the family these days! I really enjoy whatever she prepares.

 Beverly Baker and I share love of cats...she's Barb's sister.

 These little puffs of pastry have some great cheese melted over them as they bake. Thanks to Barb Baker again for gougeres which disappeared fast ! ( thanks Martha Stewart on food network app) ! 

Grandson Michael Thurston enjoyed sharing his baking prowess...which are cookies of many decadent varieties. He gave them as presents in tins...and it's really hard to eat just one.

The Dessert!

 "The vanilla bean cheesecake with ho-made cranberry jam, white chocolate cream cheese mousse and candied cranberries!"  Being presented by Marty Heym and his wife Barbara Baker, who made it. 

 The candied cranberries were pure sugar...very sweet and kind of like a life-saver.

The gingerbread crust was delicious but kind of hard to cut...Marty did the honors.

And my piece was much bigger than I needed! However I did due diligence and cleaned my plate.

 The four of us made a small dent in the beautiful cake.

And a few pieces went home to be given to other's who were interested in it...so this was all that Barbara had left when we departed.  The recipe had warned her it was about 9 hours prep time, but I think she worked on it for 3 days.

Traveling notes

It's no trouble to go visit the family for holidays.
Right.

The highways have something to say about that. Like how a few million cars can squeeze onto two lanes going one direction, and supposedly get up to a speed of 75 miles per hour.  It's been a laugh. Though many of us weren't laughing.

I was on the I-95 parking lot in South Carolina some of Monday afternoon.  In case you hadn't heard, there were rain storms all over this area.  As I went the long way through South Carolina, once I was advised by Serri (really, is it Sirrie?) to get off I-26 and try Hwy 301, and 21, and later 17.

The most fun was going through South Carolina's Dismal Swamp.  I even crossed a pretty small bridge over "Big Swamp." It was not as impressive as the 50 miles of wet lands on each side of the road, with pines squeezed together.  And one of those roads was even called "Low Country Highway."

I actually noticed a different feeling, an intimacy that happened, between being in a chain of cars that couldn't change anything as we snaked (pardon the verb) our way along almost straight roads through wetlands for miles. It was much more personal than the speedy swerves that happen on the interstates. I could read the bumper sticker of the car in front of me, who was from Asheville, NC, and was a "Crone Power" woman. When I finally passed her later on the interstate, I was sad that she wasn't anyone I knew (since I know a lot of women of power in Black Mountain and Asheville (which is 15 miles away.)

Then the TV in the motel room cut out...no cable service.  Drat. What else shall I do? Well, there's still the library books I'm reading on line. As well as movies on Netflix.  So before I'm bored, I shall have some entertainment. And get to sleep early for an early start to beat some of the traffic in the morning.

Second day (Tues.) was the opposite of Monday. Serri took me through north Florida after I zipped through Georgia...and I was in Tampa in plenty of time for a nap before my son got home from work. My grandson (who lives with him) was home earlier, and I chatted with him while he wrapped packages.

That night the 3 of us went to St. Petersburg and indulged in a fabulous feast put together by my son's wife, Barbara.

We opened some presents while waiting for dessert...a good pause for digestion!

Merry Christmas

Last Saturday I met friends for lunch at The Bistro, and had this fabulous salad (a piece of broiled halibut, apple, walnuts, blue cheese dressing...oh my!)

Gratitude

Yes...it's another time to think of all the wonderful blessings I've got right now in my life.

My health has come back. I only have the ongoing issues to monitor and give proper attention to.

My tooth has been repaired, so I can talk and smile without a broken front tooth. I may live in near-poverty, but generally pretty comfortably. But when I look like I haven't taken care of my teeth, I'm ashamed. (My early dental care was sadly lacking in my childhood, so my teeth are crooked, but healthy.) And it took me over a month to get this appointment. So now I can go back to my friends and be part of the group again.

The year end summary of my clay work was pretty easy to make, as I didn't make that much this year apparently!

Or, more likely, I just didn't take enough photos. Or even more likely, I've deleted them already.

I have a lovely home...very clean, very neat, very organized.

OK, I lied there, 3 times.

It's a lovely home, full of dust and a mess, but it's home!

I have such wonderful friends! One of them even called me last night to say she missed me. That was sweet.

My family is all spread around, but we do love one another.

I'm looking forward to a few days visiting the ones that I haven't seen since the wedding in April.

And dear blogging friends...I'm so grateful when you post about your lives, and comment about mine. It's a nice thing to share.

Thanks.