Like hubs, our neighbour here in South Texas has Norwegian heritage.
The day that we made Lefse, she stopped by to see how our recipe differed from hers.
Yesterday, she stopped by with a gift of several Kringla cookies that she always bakes to perfection.
We’re so very blessed to spend our winters in a diverse, loving, and caring 50+ community.
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.
A while ago, I wrote a post about my office … the special place just for me in our home.
In this space, I’ve surrounded myself with meaningful memories.
My feature photo today is of a souvenir hubs and our daughter brought me from Graceland, when they travelled there together in the semi. On either side of the musical teddy bear is a photo of each of our grandkids when they were little. They both loved pressing the belt buckle to hear Elvis sing “Love Me Tender”
The parlour guitar above was gifted to me by Mom. She learned to play on it when she was a young girl. Her parents bought it for her from an old lady who had been a classical guitarist.
Mom eventually taught me to play on this same guitar. The instrument is well over 100 years old. I have fond memories of my mom playing this guitar and singing in her clear, sweet voice, at all of our family gatherings. (BTW, at 91 years young, my mom still plays guitar and sings beautifully- she graduated to a 12-string about 20 years ago).
Today, we start making our way to Texas, where we’ll spend the winter.
We’re taking a new route again to catch some travel bucket list hits, so I’ll try to do a few posts along the way.
Each year at this time, we’re gifted freshly picked rhubarb from folks we know.
I chopped it up and made a fave dessert from our childhood.
When I was out for my morning walk yesterday, a sweet young girl ran out from her yard … hand extended, holding a dandelion for me.
After I thanked her, I asked if I could take her picture … she smiled broadly and replied, “Yes please!!”
I didn’t have her parents’ permission to post her photo, so I cropped it to delete her charming and smiling face.
Her beautiful gesture set the tone for my entire day!
Radically Retired 