Sunshine and friends

Boondocking area of Jojoba Hills SKP Park.

  One of the joys of traveling south is to meet up with friends we've made along the way. We are at Jojoba Hills SKP Park in Aguanga, CA and I finally feel like we've 'arrived' in the Southwest! No more Casino camping until our return. We love visiting this place and these people and enjoying the amenities and many activities.
   We went to church on Sunday at the Chapel in a neighboring RV community and it was a great experience. Songs we knew, friendly people, good teaching from the Word of God. And we got to ride over in an old restored trolley! I wish I'd gotten a picture of it, but I didn't even think of it at the time. In the afternoon I joined the Zumba Gold class and really got a workout!

Roasted drumsticks and pumpkin cheesecake cooked in the Sun Oven. Yum!

Roses from Diana Ruelen's garden.

    Now that we're where the sun shines and not in a parking lot I can finally get out my Sun Oven and do some solar cooking. Since the sun goes down so early (whose bright idea is this 'daylight's savings time' anyway?!) I have to get things going pretty early in the day. I made chicken drumsticks and veggies, then wrapped the pot in a wool blanket while I baked pumpkin cheesecake. Yum! We ate dinner a bit earlier than usual, but I didn't mind one bit! Then we went off for a walk, ending up at the Clubhouse. I got pulled into playing Hand and Foot (not at all hard!), but Jerry managed to sneak out. He's not a fan, and that's OK. He has enjoyed jogging the hilly streets around Jojoba as well as relaxing in the hot tub--when he's not puttering around checking or fixing things on the motorhome.
   We have taken advantage of the great shopping in Temecula, so we're all stocked up and ready for the desert. My freezer is packed! I've made more fermented salsa and Curtido, as well as water kefir, milk kefir and kombucha. Travels with my ferment-friends keeps me going. And I love to share these with anyone interested.
   All too soon our visit here is over. A week here just isn't enough time to do all we want to do and see all the people we want to see. But we made the most of our time here and we saw those we wanted to the most. Now off to another lovely place.

2 jars of Curtido and one of fermented salsa. Yumminess!

Amazing Sculptures

Let me check your teeth.....

El Zorro!

When we were in Borrego Springs a couple of years ago, we went around to look at all the amazing sculptures that are around town. These sculptures are the work of artist Ricardo Breceda. We were delighted to find that he has his place just a little ways down the road from Jojoba Hills in Aguanga, CA. Even though we weren't going to be around for his open house on the weekend, we stopped by to look at the row upon row of amazing metal sculptures. It was fun to be able to meet him in person and I got a picture with him, too! There is such a fun element of whimsy to them and it was fun to wander around and look at them. He is not only the sculptor, but the designer and as he told me, he has help making all of them. I was glad to hear that since I was astonished at how many there were. If one horse takes 3 weeks to make, the amount of time represented was a bit mind boggling!

Selfie in front of the Stagecoach that's near the road. There are even passengers!

Panning for gold, he's managed to collect a number of different coins.

This Mariachi trio is quite brilliant.

I was tempted by several of these smaller wall sculptures. Everything here is for sale, but no price tags!

Of meals and eating

By the time we get to Tachi Palace Casino in Lemoore, CA, we're ready for a couple days to rest up. By last night, I'd rested up enough to make a fun dinner. I had all the ingredients and since running the generator is no problem here, I was able to bake a pizza. Yes, grain-free and healthy! I used the crust recipe from Wheat Belly Cookbook (which I would love to share, but that would be stealing). Suffice it to say that is uses almond flour, coconut flour, ground flax, an egg and 1/2 c cheese to hold it together. It's quite filling and we find we can only eat half the pizza at a time. So, leftovers! Yay! I used dried tomato powder reconstituted and with Italian herbs, pepper and fennel added. No waisted 1/2 can of tomato paste! I love the Trader Joe's Chicken Spicy Italian Sausage since it's one of the few without garlic and has decent ingredients. I sliced up the frozen sausages, sauteed them with the onions and added olives and organic mozerella cheese for the toppings. Totally satisfying.
  I often get asked "But what do you eat?!" when people find out I don't eat grains, processed foods, corn, soy or garlic. Well, there's meat and veggies, for starters. Have you even just stood in the produce department and noticed how many different vegetables there are? With meat, we're usually limited to a few varieties of fish, pork, beef or chicken. Not a huge variety there. For grains there's usually wheat. No variety there. Of course if you go gluten free there are the various mixes of rice, almond, millet, quinoa, amaranth, coconut, and teff flours. Variety, but still not huge. But veggies, now there you can find all colors, flavors, and textures. There is so much variety that you can eat a different mix of veggies every meal for a week and still not duplicate. So it just makes sense that focusing on veggies and the nutrients, colors and variety they offer with enrich your eating and well being. I have come by the moniker "The Vegetable Lady" for obvious reasons!
  Healthy fats are another key thing that are so satisfying. Because fats take longer to digest, they keep you from feeling hungry longer. I've been pursuing the healthiest way for me to eat for a long time, and some of those methods left me pacing the kitchen trying to figure out what I could possibly eat that wouldn't cause me problems. I no longer do that. Healthy fats include butter, coconut oil, olive oil, hemp seed oil, avocado oil, flax oil, avocados, nuts and seeds. Unhealthy fats are vegetable fats cooked at high temperature, hydrogenated fats and rancid fats. Corn oil, canola oil and shortening are not good for bodies. The best info on fats I've found is in "Eat Fat, Get Thin" by Dr Hyman. I know there is a lot of conflicting information out there about fats, and he takes you by the hand and walks through the research to sort it out and make sense of it. Worth the read.
 A few weeks ago I took a picture of a typical dinner for us that I'll throw in as a bonus! Large green salad with shredded cabbage, mixed greens, cilantro, avocado, tomato and topped with live sauerkraut and flax oil. Next is steamed veggie mix of carrot, broccoli and cauliflower with melted butter. Mahi Mahi cooked with sauteed mushrooms on top completes it. Often for my desert, if I'm wanting something, it's kefir-cultured cream with English Toffee flavored stevia, cocoa powder creamed together and then some almond butter added. Topped with chopped nuts, it's pretty decadent and satisfying. We certainly aren't suffering any with our healthy and tasty food.

On the Road Again!

Fun gift and perfect for the road.

    After several months at our summer home in Olympia, we have put away the deck furniture, battened down the hatches, and hit the road. This will be the first time to leave so soon, and we don't expect to return until May when the weather get nicer. I've really enjoyed the Fall weather which has mostly been beautiful, but I'm happy to be back on the road and headed for the desert and the many friends we've made on our travels. Before we left, we had a Holiday Celebration, rolling them all together; giving gifts, and eating until we were stuffed! And all before Halloween. Crazy! But efficient. I love the tea towel I got from my daughter; it says it all!

Looking out their kitchen window to our parking space, home for one night. 

Dad is 91 and hanging in there!

My sisters, Judy and Sue sharing pics at Dad's place.

    Our first stop was in Canby, OR to visit some dear friends we've know for decades. It was handy to be able to park right across the street from their house in the field they own. We had a good visit and the next morning it was on to Albany and sister Sue's place. As soon as we got parked on the street across from her house, we took off for Turner to go visit my Dad, with sister Judy meeting us there. It was fun to gather there and visit with Dad. He was greatly cheered up by our visit. After relaxing for the evening, we were off to bed early and then up before dawn the next day so we could get over the Siskiyou Mountains before the coming storm made our trip difficult. We had thought to spend a couple of days in the area, but the weather changed our plans and added some urgency to our departure. Thankfully, we only encountered a few sprinkles and had a good trip. Stopping several times for breakfast, potty breaks and walking helped to keep us from getting too tired. But now, settled in for the night in Corning, CA, we are glad to no longer to moving, and to be able to relax a bit before another day of travel.
    Dinner was a green salad with avocados, steamed California Blend frozen veggies (appropriate!) with  and beef heart previously cooked, sliced and frozen and put in the steamer with the veggies. Yum! Top that off with Bubbies live sauerkraut and my homemade Curtido fermented cabbage mix and you have a delicious dinner. Desert you say? But of course: kefir cream with toffee flavored stevia, cocoa powder and nuts. I may have to cook all my food, but we're definitely not suffering.