Too busy cooking to make a post yesterday

Hello, everyone.

For all USAians, I hope you had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.

We were busy all day, cooking and then enjoying family, so there was no post written.

The theme of the season changes, of course, once Thanksgiving is over, from:

to Advent, the season of preparation:

Cross-stitch Advent calendar, made by DM

I wish you all a blessed and fruitful Advent.

The season is turning

Hello, everyone.

I almost called this post "winter is here"--except that in my area the winters are so mild that anyone who lives where snow is regular would laugh themselves silly at the idea of our winter weather getting the name "winter."

Still, for a couple of nights this past weekend the low temperatures hit in the low to mid 50's. (That is in the 12 C temperature area. Quit laughing at us!) We brought in all of DH's orchids so they wouldn't get a fatal chill. The weather forecast for this coming weekend says we'll be doing it again, too. Our kitchen corner looked like this for a couple of days:

We also brought in the hanging spider plant.

This was given to me last May as a young plant with only one or two pups hanging down. The summer outside in the lemon tree agreed with it!

It's odd how busy one can be, while still having nothing to talk about...

Hello, everyone.

As the title says, we've been busy on a myriad of little, boring things around here.

We did make fruitcake, to share with our friends and relative who like it...and also to have some for DH to eat!

Fruitcake ingredients, ready to rumble.

And DH saw some unusual guests in the yard the other day.

He was sitting out in the "steel palapa"--a.k.a. under the carport--and he observed not one, not two, but three redbirds in the yard. Unfortunately, they were not inclined to all pose in a tidy row for him!

I'm so lucky that he grabbed my camera and snapped a few pictures of them.

It was Camino-like weather for a few days

Hello, everyone.

Our minds returned to the Camino in 2014 recently when the weather turned cool and we were able to open our windows for a few days.

We got frozen peeled-and-deveined shrimp for Friday evening's meal and made barra bread to eat with it. DH turned the shrimp into gambon al ajillo, and we ate the garlicky, olive-oil covered shrimp bits on slices of the bread. (Barra is a Spanish version of the French baguette. All of 4 ingredients, and you need to add steam to the first half of the baking.)

As part of the winding-down experience of remembering the Camino, a new quilting project came on deck. (Hey, the stash is still at tsunami-like levels around here. Using up fabric is winding down.)

This is a tree block that is about 12 inches square, before piecing together to make a runner.

 I had found a table runner pattern on Pinterest, for pieced trees in a really interesting gray and white assortment. The pattern is for 4 trees, plus edgings, and it seemed a little too long for my little table, so after making the 4 tree blocks, I only assembled 3 of them into the runner. (The fourth will become a smaller item of some kind.) The picture shows the piece (partly quilted) with basting pins.

Note to self: get some quilt basting spray and try it out!

The hibiscus in the garden bloomed. 

In the lemon tree at the back door, a whitewing dove. 

It wouldn't be a pilgrimage without at least one steep climb, right?

Hello, everyone.

We left Ponte de Lima after having the (totally unexpected) experience of drinking coffee at 7 in the morning. This was the on this trip that a coffee shop or bar was open that early in the morning.  We promptly found ourselves walking on lovely forest area paths and passed a dam with pretty water flowing over the top.

After that we came to a Fishing Park, a place where people could borrow poles and catch fish (pay by the pound for the fish) in a pleasant location. There was a snack bar with a nice, clean bathroom. (Don't laugh! Someone, somewhere will be glad to know that, if they make it to the Fishing Park, there is food, drink, and a bathroom.)

We passed the famous Fonte de Tres Bicas (Fountain of Three Mouths) and shortly thereafter came to a road crossing. Our way along the trail continued on dirt--not only straight ahead but steeply up! We stood there looking at it and trying to get up nerve to go. While we, and some other pilgrims, were doing that a young man walking solo came up, said "huh," and trotted right up the hill! After seeing that, we had to quit waffling and go.

We saw sap-gatherers marks on the pine tree trunks.

After we got to the top, and rested a bit on the considerately placed bench, we got to go down. There were even more rocks on the downhill side.

Note the yellow arrow hidden in the electric pylon. This was a standard place to put them on the Portuguese way--apparently folks aren't so in love with having yellow spray paint on their walls and rocks as all that.

DH went out onto the top of the dam to get this picture.

It's amazing how much less steep this things look when you aren't walking them! This is the uphill side. 

The down hill side. 

We reached Valencia/Tui on this day. This is the fort on the Portuguese side of the border.

 We reached the Spanish-Portuguese border this day and crossed over. There is an albergue close by the cathedral in Tui and we happily stayed there. An afternoon snack of tortilla de patata, a tour of the interesting cathedral, and dinner ended the day.

Returning to our pilgrim notes

Hello, everyone.

The mind returns to the pilgrimage over and over, when any little thing cues the thought. DH got a book of Portuguese home cooking--written by a person whose family came to the US before she was born, but who was raised in touch with the ancestral culture and foods--and we found a recipe that reminded us of the next day of walking in the sequence: after the day in Braga, the day walking from Barcelos to Ponte de Lima.
The recipe calls itself "Beans with Rice" and I got my hopes up--beans cooked separately from rice, then mixed for the plate, with onion and garlic. No ham bone, but we could fix that. Oddly, there is a bit of vinegar in the recipe in this cookbook. So I made it today--it turns out to be somewhat similar in taste, but not quite the same.

As you can see, there are both older and newer route marks.

This was just a little place on the side of the road. But this was the best meal we ate of the entire trip.

The tomatoes had a light vinaigrette, the pork cutlets were tasty, and the beans-and-rice was the perfect food for a pair of walkers that needed food, liquid, and salt. The soupiness of the dish was a major feature for us.

The ancient stone bridge of Ponte de Lima. The water was beautifully blue and calm. There were rowers rowing and a set of fake Roman soldiers on the bank of the river.

This was a beautiful walking day for much of it. We got into the town at a reasonable time (not as early as we like, but not hugely late) and had time to shower, wash clothes, and wander the town in search of dinner.

 

Zachary, Elizabeth, and the young John? Note that Elizabeth has a stuffed lamb in one hand.

The parish at Ponte de Lima was having a procession--this was the very last day of the weeks-long Festas de Sao Joao--with Roman "soldiers" in red, various Biblical personages in costumes, young ladies representing the Works of Mercy, a band, and even the parish priest. It was very festive.

After watching them all go by, we wandered around, found a grocery to buy some Pringles and fruit, and then we found a place to eat.

Stash bustin' again

Hello, everyone.

Some several years ago, I bought a floral rayon knit. The plan was to make one of the Burda World of Fashion wrap look tops with the integrated tie sash. As happens sometimes, the plan was never accomplished and the brown-and-cream knit languished in a box in the sewing room.

Yesterday I bumped into it again and pulled it out.

The pattern:

I have made this before and it comes out to  nice, flexible little tank top that can go under things or stand alone. The FBA (full bust adjustment) is already marked on my pattern piece tracings, too, so it was a straightforward layout. I did cut the front of the neck a little higher than the pattern shows and the hem a little longer.

I added Fusiknit to the shoulder seams for stability.

A general look at the print. It's busy by itself but by the time it's combined with a solid bottom and maybe a sweater or jacket it will be fine.

Fusiknit strips to add to the side seams.

Today I'll finish it up and have something to wear for fall. And a little less fabric in the stash!