Radically Retired

Tag: Family

  • It’s a Norwegian Thing

    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!
  • Family Tradition

    Family Tradition

    December 1st is traditionally when I start my Christmas cookie baking. It’s when my mom always started hers, so I guess the date is firmly ingrained in me from an early age.

    I bake the cookies that both of my grandmas and my mom made over the years, plus I always add a few of hubs’ faves from his memories of his mom.

    My feature photo is of sugar cookies – a must every Christmas.

    Each year, we exchange gifts with friends here in our park, and my gifts always include a selection of my home made cookies.

  • Love is All You Need

    Love is All You Need

    My cousin, Carrie has visited us in Texas a few times since we bought our place here.

    Hubs and I have enjoyed touring her around and I’ve especially enjoyed the fact that she loves to walk and hike.

    My feature photo was taken at Quinta Mazatlan, a fascinating and fun place to visit in McAllen, Tx

    We found this mural while hiking the trails that surround the historic adobe mansion.

    As I was making this post, I was reminded of the Beatles’ song, “All You Need is Love”.

  • 2016 – The Wrap Up

    2016 – The Wrap Up

    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.

  • It’s ALL Grand

    It’s ALL Grand

    Whether man made or Mother Nature made, there are more marvels in this world than one could hope to see in a lifetime.

    After a few days on the Vegas Strip and Fremont Street, we took my cousin, Carrie out of town to Laughlin, NV.

    On the way, we showed Carrie the spectacular and historical Hoover Dam (hubs and I had been there several times before). On our second day at Laughlin, we took in the West Rim of The Grand Canyon (first time for all of us).

    There’s nothing that beats the feeling of sharing these incredible sights and experiences with family.

    Beyond imagination for the time it was built
    Hubs, me, and Carrie ready to explore
    Carrie and Me (close cousins since Carrie was a little girl)
    Carrie was impressed
    These water diversion tunnels can cause anxiety just looking down into them
    We walked from NV to AZ
    Love this story!
    So much to learn here!
    We weren’t near the edge
    This is as close as hubs could get to the edge
    You have to see it to believe it!
    Carrie is a community theatre actor in our home town. She knows how to pose for a shot
    Joshua Tree Forest between Laughlin and the West Rim
    Now this is dining ambience!
    The skywalk is on the Hualupai Reservation
    Another great pose
    Memories are made of this
    She and the Joshua Tree
    Hubs and me lapping up the scenery
    Carrie and Hubs taking one last look
    Our hilight was the skywalk over the Grand Canyon. Hubs, who suffers severe acrophobia, chose to be the photographer from afar.
  • Priceless

    Priceless

    Before we took my parents on their first road trip vacation with us, a cousin recommended getting a little handheld tape recorder to record the entire trip: conversations in the vehicle, what we were seeing, weather reports, time of day, hi-lights from each day, as well as interviews with strangers like waiters, bell staff, locals and other travellers.

    I took her advice and what a treasure these recordings are now. Listening to the conversations and the laughter is just like doing those trips all over again.

    This past week, I hauled out the box of tapes and the original tape player/recorder for the first time in years, and so many memories are flooding back. It’s amazing how much one forgets while remembering the hi-lights. These tapes bring back every single detail.

    Priceless.

  • 🎶Gee It’s Good to be Back Home Again🎶

    🎶Gee It’s Good to be Back Home Again🎶

    This past week, we were away for a few days, visiting friends and family in the place we called home for over 20 years.

    Whenever we round the curve in my feature photo, I breathe a big sigh of relief and have the same sense of “home” that I had when we first moved to the area.

    Even though I was raised on the southern prairies, I’m sure it was the proximity to the northern tree line that welcomed and comforted me.

  • In Her Glory

    In Her Glory

    Our daughter wasn’t raised on a farm but loves everything about farm life. Her happiest days are when the new chicks arrive.