… Not just for the many flavours of ice cream, like the fellow in the mural, but to get everything done that I want to in a day.
This time of year is usually busy for me, as I prepare for Christmas.
Either this year is busier than usual, or another year added to my age has slowed me down a bit. Hmmm – I wonder which is true.
My goal for tonight and tomorrow morning, is to try to get caught up with the bloggers I follow.
I’m out of sync with my regular post times this week.
This is a busy week, so today will be my only post.
On Saturday, we made the two hour drive to Kingsville, TX to take in the Ranch Hand Festival.
This was our third trip to the festival and our second trip there with good friends from home who winter in a park near here.
One of the demonstrations that was new to all of us was the one by TAMUK (Texas A & M University Kingsville) arts department Javelina Printing Club.
Their printing press was a steamroller! My feature photo is a screenshot from a movie I found about them on Facebook – not my own.
The process: Designs are carved into a block of wood, and then ink is rolled over the whole slab.
Once this step is complete, the slab is laid face up on the ground and a large sheet of paper placed over it, and then thick matting is layered on top of all.
The steamroller then drives over and backs up over the lot.
And voila!
It was fun and interesting to witness this unique process!
There were many prints done over the course of the day, and this was apparently their 12th year at the Ranch Hand festival.
I don’t know how we missed it on previous visits, but am happy we found it this time!
This mural, on the side of a roadside service station in Saskatchewan, Canada – although weathered, depicts some history of the pioneers and farming in our province.
We’ve been stopping in Llano, TX every year on our way south since 2019.
I found the subject for my feature photo during a walkabout on our first visit there.
What started out as an incredible year of long distance travel from January, to and including July, ended up with shorter trips from August to December that focused on weddings of family and friends, my Dad’s 85th birthday party, and lots of quality time with our own small family.
Each part of the year held its own memories and treasures, and the best part was that hubs and I were both now fully retired, so neither of us had to miss a minute of it because of work schedules.
We kicked off our retirement with a year packed with everything imaginable. It’s almost as though we were compensating for all of the things we had to cut short or miss entirely in our working careers.
It was a good year.
For many years, Chicago has been home to giant murals.
It’s pretty easy to capture decent shots of them “on the way by” if you’re passing through during rush hour.
Carrying on with the incredible travel year that was 2016:
After hubs and I returned from the all-expenses paid vacay to the Mayan Riviera, things calmed down for a couple of months, and then I headed out on a road trip to Salt Lake City with two long time friends who had joined my MLM team.
The purpose of the trip was to attend the annual conference of the MLM company I had signed up with.
In addition to being a learning and team-building experience in SLC, the road trip itself both to and from the conference was fun and interesting.
Even though none of us belonged to the Mormon faith, Temple Square in Salt Lake City provides a great history lesson about the settlement of the state of Utah.
My dear friend, Lenna passed suddenly and unexpectedly just four years after this trip.
I’m so happy I have this trip in photos and in memories.
Now that we’ve finally settled in to our winter home, I’m able to resume some of my normal routine for blog posts.
I still have several murals to contribute to my Monday Murals theme, and a couple of other travel posts to add to my 2016 theme.
The M/W/F posting schedule seems to be working out, so my plan is to continue with those days.
I’ll also continue with Foodie Friday posts.
The mural in my feature photo is in Weslaco, Tx (a town a few miles from here that we visit often).
The mural’s message is a good reminder.
Two days ago, hubs and I made another bucket list hit.
We visited Clear Lake, Iowa where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) played their last concert before they were all killed in a fatal plane crash just a few miles out of Clear Lake.
After watching the documentary about Don McLean’s song, “American Pie”, (titled the same as this blog post), we knew we could drive a new route to be sure to visit the Surf (feature photo) and the memorial site in the farmer’s field that has been maintained since the crash on Feb 3, 1959. The memorial is about 3 miles from town.
Because I was introduced to 50’s R&R from the time I was around four years old (by my aunt, who was a teenager at the time), the whole day was powerfully meaningful for me.
We’re enjoying a new route south this year.
Our bucket list hit yesterday was the town of Blue Earth, Minnesota – the home of Green Giant Vegetables.
We enjoyed visiting the giant statue of the Jolly Green Giant, as well as a visit to the museum on the same property, which told the history of this well known brand of canned and frozen vegetables.
Radically Retired 