Friends, Food and Travel Preparations

V and J, long time friends, are moving to Arizona. We've been seeing them for a dinner out about once a month for years, and V and I walked together weekly for a while after I retired and she was between jobs. I find it difficult to keep in touch with people after they have moved some distance away. I have been working to keep in touch and to reconnect with friends that are distant, but it feels harder than staying close with friends that live nearby. Even so, I am impelled to continue my efforts; staying close to friends is rewarding and makes my life richer. I'm glad that I seem to make friends easily and keep them for a long time. We do go out to eat a lot as a way to stay connected and spend time with our friends. Every now and then I'll get inspired to invite people over for food at our house instead.

Safe travels and see you when we visit.

Mom, Dad and Z at our favorite: The Red Hot

Friends we met at work (two jobs back) that we keep close.

A new friend for Sharon. I met T in my Pilates class.

I do still cook at home, of course. The farmers market will be switching back to an every week schedule soon. Once the spring foods become available, our diet will change. I like seasonal cooking; the food just tastes better when I use local ingredients that are in season near where we live. One of the things that I do when we are preparing to leave on a trip is to stop buying fresh food so that I won't waste anything that we can't eat before we go. It does make for some weird meals as our departure date gets close, though.

We tested out Cedar at his temporary home for when we are gone. He'll stay with Z. They have three cats already, so we wanted to give him a chance to explore and feel comfortable before we drop him off. He did really well. It's nice to have a cat that is not so timid as our last two cats. We could never have left them at someone else's house while we travel, but Cedar will not have any trouble in an unfamiliar situation.

Fake chicken arepas with avocado.

Green chile rellenos (baked) and beans.

Blueberry pancakes.

Mixed mushroom quiche.

Cajun crab and crawfish boil. Leftovers from a local restaurant.

Green chile hominy casserole and a green salad.

Panko salmon with kale, cabbage, potatoes and sourdough.

His new favorite toy.

One final fun thing: We went through a Dutch Brothers Coffee drive-thru and I think this is so funny.

Barista vs. Broista.

I still have a ton of chores to finish before we are ready to go, and now there are only a few days left to finish them. I'm also trying to spend extra time getting my Spanish more fluent. It will be exciting to be somewhere where it is spoken as the primary language. Italki sessions twice per week have been really helpful. I'm glad to be busy and glad to have so many wonderful things in my life. When I initially retired, one reason why was so that I could say YES! to all the things that came my way. Not just YES, but HELL YES!