Thanksgiving - in Borrego

The American Legion in Borrego Springs hosts an annual potluck dinner for it's members and their guests. I still have not been motivated to have the furnace repaired in Rufus, so we booked a FHU site at the Legion.  Thanksgiving we relaxed at the campsite, Fran sat out to enjoy the sun and started a jigsaw puzzle.

At $30 a night it's pretty reasonable and a bit of exercise on a 4 mile bike ride to town.

We arrived at the Legion Hall at 3:30, a half-hour after the potluck's announced time. And boy did the Legion underestimate the turnout! There were still a few rolls ... 

and a dessert table for us to enjoy!

We each enjoyed a dinner roll and a couple pieces of pie. By 4pm even the bar was becoming empty!  We then ordered a couple glasses of wine.  

We enjoyed the wine and took a couple extra pieces of pie back to Rufus.

We do have Plan B: a frozen turkey at home, which is now defrosting. Or we could just go with …

Across the corner from the American Legion is the La Casa del Zorro Resort

the resort has a 1 mile paved jogging path. Fran's waiting for me to catch-up!

The trail is called a 'jogging path'  I don't jog anymore

The resort has some really nice landscaping, lots of grass and fountains

and even its own Starbucks!

We didn't expect Friday morning Farmer's Market to be happening the day after Thanksgiving, but it was

We spent some time wandering the Borrego Mall, where there were lots of art and sculptures being offered up.

Fredrick's is a must shop to wander around. They have art from around the world on display. Currently Shipibo Pottery is available. Each piece also has a portrait of the Amazon artist that created it.

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is depicted in these exquisite ceramic pottery pieces.

When I can always stop at Font's Point where I let the wind distribute my dad's cremains.

He chose a great spot!  I may join him there, but not today.

Borrego Springs, as the name implies, has several springs and pumping stations. On one of our bike rides we stopped here to check this one out.

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I did not see any pupfish in the spring. But there were signs that some critters stop by.

And now back at home … we made a trip to Tijuana. It was a quick trip down to Washington Dental. Fran had her final check on her implants and I took advantage of the time and had a cleaning.

The cross back at PedWest is typically faster than the main border crossing at San Ysidro.  Our wait was 90 minutes compared to 3 hours.

Still on the 'Fun Side of the Wall'

But it closes at 2pm to process migrants.

Migrants that have been cleared to apply for entry.  

We are now catching up on our 'homework'. There's Fran on the rake. The little Sweet Gum twig we planted nearly 40 years ago provides a beautiful, altho messy, fall display

Fran and I have much to be thankful for. Even though the Legion's potluck was a bit of a disappointment, it makes for a fun entry in the blog!

Christmas Catchup and Happy New Year

Son Michael and his wife Lori arrived with grandson Jm to spend Christmas week in San Diego.  The 5 of us headed to Point Loma to see what could be found in the tide pools.

Fran, Michael, DIL-Lori and Jm
at Point Loma

Although it was low tide, it wasn’t low enough to really get down to tide pool level.

We did do enough hiking around to work up an appetite.  When looking for lunch on Point Loma it's hard to beat Point Loma Seafoods.

Fran, Jm, Lori, Michael

There is an area near Madison High School, along Lana Drive, that goes all out with their Christmas light displays.

Jm, Lori, Michael

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Kami and Kg came down so Jm and Kg could go ice skating.  They last skated when we were all together for Christmas in 2019.

What seemed like a good idea at home wasn’t as exciting when they saw the melted ice on top of the rink at Liberty Station.

We explored a couple museums, bought some Christmas bread and pastries and worked up a desire for an adult beverage with lunch.

Casa Guadalajara in Old Town is on the way back to our place, and has some really good lunch choices.

Michael, Kami, Kg, Jm, me Fran, Lori

Back home I took out a set of 4 wooden jigsaw puzzles.  Each puzzle is 250 tiny pieces and we all went to work.

Kg quickly completed her puzzle and then helped Kami with hers.  She didn’t offer to help me :(

All 4 puzzles were soon completed.

Another day we rented a Duffy Boat to cruise Mission Bay.

Kg, Lori, Michael, Jason, Kami, Fran, me
Photo taken by Jm

A Duffy Boat is an electric powered, 10 passenger sightseeing boat.  It has a Bluetooth sound system, bring your own playlist and enjoy your own snacks and beverages.  Michael and Lori assembled an awesome snack tray, and yes wine is permitted, where my last New Clairvaux was certainly enjoyed.

Returning home Bentley was glad to see us.

The weather was warm enough for a few hands of cribbage on the patio.

Certainly Jm’s favorite card game, and he’s pretty good at it.

We all gathered for Christmas Eve at Kami’s house.  She always puts on a fun evening.  I didn’t take any pictures of the buffet.  But at least I did get one of the gang.

Michael, Jason, Fran, me, Lori, Kami (rear)
Aj, Jm, Kg (front)

After Christmas Marty returned from Tacoma, he's on his way back to Mazatlán.

Did I mention he just might be my favorite brother?

The American Legion in Borrego Springs was hosting a New Years Eve potluck and live music.  We stayed at Holiday Homes RV.  Our furnace has yet to be fixed and we wanted to run the space heater, use the pool and have good WiFi for the bowl games.  A nice splurge.

The Legion put on a nice potluck,

The sisters who provided the music were quite good.

They even got Marty up dancing!

On New Years Day we did a quick tour of Henderson Canyon, just a few Sand Verbena in bloom, but Seley Ranch had Grapefruit.

On our last trip to Coyote Canyon many of the ocotillo and cholla were struggling, well basically all the vegetation was struggling.  Nice to see it making a comeback.

Fran gave me a jalapeño ‘coring’ tool for Christmas and stand for the peppers.  So now I’ve given up on poppers and trying to invent my own jalapeño Relleno (stuffed jalapeño).

This is a near prefect combination.

Jalapeño, jalapeño cream cheese, shredded cheese with jalapeño, green onion, pineapple and bacon.

Crushing the pineapple slice adds a bit of sweetness.

I think it’s better if the pineapple is not grilled.  It's too dry with the grilled pineapple and it does not add any smokey flavor.  I placed the assembled jalapeño relleno in the holder and baked.

and ready to enjoy!

As Fran toasts the New Year with you,

I’ll close with a picture of the last sunset of 2023 near Indian Head.

And the first sunrise of 2024

Wishing all health and happiness in this coming year!