Today is the first day of winter break for all the schoolchildren here. They get two and a half weeks off from school and do not have to report back until January 4. That is a very long time to be out of school.
I don’t remember ever having longer than a week off for Christmas, If I had kids with that much time off I would plan a nice long vacation out of town. That is long enough to go someplace warm for several days and then also head north and spend Christmas with the family in Maryland and Virginia without having to dash back home so the kids don’t miss any school. When I was a kid we did go to Florida for Disneyworld and visiting grandparents, but it was always a very long drive home, straight through for 20 hours on a Sunday, so we could be home in time for school again on a Monday.
A friend of mine is married to a man who was born and raised in Portugal. He came to the U.S. to attend college, got an engineering degree and was hired by an American company to work on aeronautics. He must be very good at what he does. When the company offered him a promotion, they paid for his family to move, paid for their lodging while they looked for a house and paid the down payment required for his new mortgage. I was very impressed.
At Christmas, his family in Portugal sends boxes and boxes of gifts for him and his family. Their special gifts include foods, like Portuguese sausage and special candies that you cannot buy here in the States.
I am going to be learning a lot more about Portugal as our friendship grows. It sounds like a lovely country with great people and a moderate climate. So, maybe a trip to Portugal is in my future?
My female Jack Russell Terrier has decided that motorcycles are evil and must be chased.Thankfully, she never leaves the house without be leashed, so she cannot really chase them.But she will run hard to the end of the leash, barking madly, then running in a large arc back and forth across the yard until the motorcycle has topped the hill and is out of sight.
I have no idea why she suddenly hates motorcycles. I also wonder why all of a sudden we seem to have a lot of motorcycles driving past my house on the weekends. It is not a good combination.
Somehow I came across a Facebook group for people who use crockpots. I thought that was interesting, that so many people use crockpots and that they are such a subculture of the cooking world that they felt they needed a Facebook page to enhance their activtities.
So, I liked their page and checked out some of the recipes that were linked to the Facebook page. I even tried two of them – and they turned out great! But I have to admit that I am not a crockpot fanatic. It is just one more tool in my kitchen that is at my disposal for when I want to fix something that cooks slowly and makes the whole house smell wonderful when I walk in the door, tired and hungry.
Several years ago when Google introduced their free blogs, I had no idea what they were about or why anyone would want one. I had to be prompted by peers to even look at my first blog. Then I decided to try it and created one for myself. I had hoped that my family would embrace blogs as a way to stay in touch with each other, but they all resisted. Its no fun writing a blog if no one ever comes along to read what you are doing. Thank goodness the blog was free so I didn’t waste any money on something that just ended up being ignored.
Fun, Memories | Alice Pretchet | 
December 19, 2011 12:29 pm | 
Comments (0) 
Subscribe