Anacahuita, aka Mexican Olive or Texas Olive is an ornamental shrub native to this area of Texas.
Although the fruit is inedible, the ruffled flowers are showy and the shrub needs very little moisture to survive and stay healthy.
Author: Terry
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There Comes a Point in Life …
I’ve always wanted to try to make focaccia bread.
It’s a satisfying tasting experience to eat it warm and dipped in a plate of olive oil/balsamic vinegar.
Two days ago, I finally took the reins and made it!
I’ll be making it often now.
There comes a point in your life when you need to stop eating other people’s bread and make your own!”
~ Chris Geiger
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A Homely Ceremony
“The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight…
[Breadmaking is] one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with one of the world’s sweetest smells… there is no chiropractic treatment, no Yoga exercise, no hour of
meditation in a music-throbbing chapel. that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread.”~ MFK Fisher The Art of Eating
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NYE from Our Back Yard
The fireworks in our area of deep south Texas start on Christmas Eve and continue every night, with a few small bursts, until the grand finale on New Year’s Eve.
We can watch them from our back yard and if I take a walk around the yard, we’re surrounded by fireworks in all of the nearby neighbourhoods.
After the massive midnight display, the pops and big bangs continue until around 3 am and because our houses aren’t insulated and our roofs are mostly metal, sometimes a particularly loud pop nearby can sound like it’s directly over our roof or even in an adjacent room.
This was a completely foreign custom to us when we first started wintering here, but after six years, we’ve grown accustomed to it and actually look forward to it, even if it means a mostly sleepless night … thus, my late post today.
As is my custom, on New Year’s Day, I pop open a bottle of prosecco after lunch, and toast the new year with a mimosa.
Cheers to 2026, and with the new year, I look forward to positive changes in my life, and in the world at large.
I wish all of you health and happiness in the coming year!
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Just Ask a Question
Before we left Starbase, we noticed one Tesla truck that was bright orange.
It stood out from the pack of identical metal coloured ev’s like the proverbial sore thumb.
There was a fellow plugging it in to the charger and his wife/girlfriend was taking photos. There was another couple nearby who appeared to own one of the grey metallic clones.
Hubs thought that these people looked approachable, so he decided to stop and ask them some questions about the cyber trucks.
They were all extremely obliging, answered all of hubs’ questions, and even invited us to their Mars-themed beach party, which was to take place last Saturday evening.
We asked if they were Space X employees and they told us they were from Dallas and Missouri and were just major Tesla fans visiting the area over Christmas.
They told hubs that once you buy a Tesla cyber truck, you can customize it any way you wish to.
The young couple that owned the orange Tesla, had every electric kitchen appliance you could think of, plugged in to the box of the truck!
Friendly and fun folks 
Hubs shirt matched! 
They even had a sleeping tent on top! 
Funny name, and there’s a
story behind it, of courseOnce again, we learned that people are friendly and kind – all you have to do sometimes is ask a question.
P.S. Although we appreciated the invitation, we didn’t attend the Mars Beach Party. I would imagine that it was pretty “far out, man!”
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Lost in Space on Christmas Day
Our Christmas Day here in SouthTexas involves an hour’s drive over to Starbase at Boca Chica Beach.
This past year, Elon Musk was able to rename Boca Chica Village and the surrounding area to Starbase.
Each year, the growth in the area is mind-boggling. Christmas day is a great day to visit because many of the employees have the day off, and there aren’t many tourists.
This year, in addition to the massive expansion happening at the rocket production facility, there was a new hotel in progress, and Tesla Trucks galore.
Rocket production facility will be over one million square feet when completed 
New hotel behind the rocket production facility 
Tesla trucks everywhere We met a safety technician who explained to us that when the sales of Tesla vehicles dove this past year, Mr. Musk brought all of these trucks (and more in other lots at Starbase) for his Space X employees to lease at very reasonable rates.
This was part one of our Christmas day drive.
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“Swiss”mas Eve
My Christmas gift to myself this year was a raclette grill.
A part of my heritage is Swiss and many years ago, I enjoyed a raclette evening at the home of a nurse friend and colleague who had, as a young teen, immigrated with her family to Canada from Switzerland.
The evening and the meal was so enjoyable that, over the years, it was never far from my mind whenever I was planning to entertain.
This year, I finally purchased the grill and planned the meal for Christmas Eve with hubs’ brother and his wife.
It was relaxing and enjoyable. Each person grilled whatever they wanted from the variety of foods available, and the raclette cheese was constantly melting in the little shovels that sit under the grill.
Missing in my feature photo are the cooked baby potatoes and cooked mini carrots. There was no room on the table for them. The little ramekins on each plate held individual carrot salads.
The melted raclette cheese was rich and smooth without the long strings like melted mozzarella would have, and was a perfect topping for the potatoes.
It was a brand new dining experience for everyone but me. It was a brand new food prep experience for me.
We’ll definitely do this again, and often!
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The Eye of the Beholder
Last week, I made my annual Christmas macarons.
I make these every year as a part of our Christmas gifts to our friends here.
I decided this year to paint them with edible glitter paint. This was all good and well, until I discovered that the food grade paint brushes I purchased, were too thick for the designs I wanted.
I persevered. The red ones have a vanilla bean ganache filling. The painted tops were “supposed” to be gold ribbons and bows. Instead, they came out looking like mahjong tiles.
The white ones have peppermint white chocolate ganache filling. They’re “supposed” to have holly wreaths painted on them. They’re close, but not what I had envisioned.
The green ones have a rum/dark chocolate ganache filling and the painted designs are “supposed” to be abstract Christmas trees. Oh well.
The good news is, they came off the mats beautifully, they matured to the perfect consistency, and all of the fillings are delicious.
As the old saying goes, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.
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Sand Sculpture Paradise
Every year, before Christmas, we make the hour drive over to South Padre Island, TX to take in the new sand sculptures.
These amazing works of art are sculpted by sand artists from all over the world.
The only sculpture you’re allowed to touch is Santa’s chair, and I once again tried it out.
“I’ve been a very good girl, Santa!” -
It’s a Norwegian Thing
Hubs is Norwegian as far back as he can trace his roots on both of his parents’ sides.
One of their typical pre-Christmas activities is to make lefse, a Norwegian flatbread made with mashed potatoes and flour.
My mother-in-law made beautifully thin and soft lefse. In their family, good lefse is defined in comparison to their mom’s. She taught me how to make it, and I passed the skills on to our daughter, who will, in turn, teach both of our grandchildren.
I hadn’t made lefse since we started coming to Texas, but decided it was time, so purchased all of the equipment and yesterday, made a big batch (192 rounds), along with my sister in law, Lori. Hubs’ brother is also wintering in our park now and he loves lefse too. Lori had never made it before so wanted to learn and practice every step.
This was our Christmas gift to our guys.
It’s not an easy task and took us 8.5 hours of rolling and frying to make the amount we did. My feature photo is one stack of many we made yesterday. This amount used a 10 lb (4.5 kg) bag of potatoes.
One Christmas, many years ago, my mother in law famously made lefse from 100 lbs (40.5 kg) of potatoes!
The two- day process involves:
Day 1: Boiling the Potatoes 
Ricing the Potatoes 
Mashing the Riced Potatoes 
Day 2: Making and Rolling the dough 
Frying the rounds 
Cooling, then bagging the rounds 
And flour everywhere!
Radically Retired 